Michigan Didn't Issue Fines In Many Asbestos Violations

DETROIT (AP) - A newspaper reports Michigan's state worker safety agency didn't issue fines in the majority of asbestos abatement cases where it found serious violations during the past seven years and not one company was fined the maximum $7,000, a newspaper reports.

The Detroit Free Press reports in a story Sunday that fines weren't issued in two-thirds of the more than 4,000 violations Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration closed between February 2009 and February 2016. MIOSHA spokeswoman Tanya Baker took issue with those numbers, saying the newspaper looked at each violation individually. She says the agency grouped related violations and assigned a penalty to just one of them.

She said the agency's penalties are designed primarily to provide an incentive toward correcting violations and to be a deterrent to others.