53° and Overcast
Image
Lasership, a “last mile” shipping company, based in Virginia, that specializes in local deliveries from a large facility it shares with two other firms on Kenwood Drive, has been under investigation recently by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to the agency.
According to Ted Fitzgerald, U.S. Department of Labor, Regional Director for Public Affairs, OSHA’s Braintree office opened a safety inspection on June 10, 2021, at Laser Ship Inc., 10 Kenwood Circle, Franklin, MA 02038 (Inspection Nr: 1536184.015). “This inspection is ongoing,” he noted
Fitzgerald cautioned that OSHA does not discuss the specifics of ongoing inspections. However, he explained, the purpose of an OSHA inspection is to determine whether or not an employer is in compliance with the OSHA safety or health standards that apply to that particular type of workplace or work situation.
“If an inspection identifies violations, OSHA could issue citations to the employer,” he said. Fitzgerald did not say whether the inspection was initiated by an employee or someone else, but the OSHA web site says a "complaint" from some source was what initiated the inspection process. While hardly an objective source of information, comments about Lasership, purportedly from current or former employees from Franklin on the indeed.com web site varied widely. One said, the company was very organized and meticulous, a second said “structure is missing” and the "route system is old." And a third said, there is “always a threat of termination,” and “anyone can drive for them.”
According to the Lasership website, the company had it start as a courier service in Washington, DC in the 1980s. It now operates more than 60 distribution centers and 4 sort centers across 23 states that service over 140 million consumers in the US.
Fitzgerald said OSHA has up to six months from opening an inspection to complete it. “It is too early to estimate a completion date for this inspection,” he added.
