Amphitheater workers complain to OSHA: Dirty drinking water, 1 bathroom for 100 employees
Ringo Starr performs at the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse on June 3. Workers at the amphitheater filed a complaint last week about working conditions, but the general manager said all problems have been corrected. (Lauren Long | llong@syracuse.com)
By Glenn Coin | gcoin@syracuse.com
on July 07, 2016 at 3:33 PM, updated July 08, 2016 at 10:45 AM
Update: SMG Corp. filed its response Thursday, said OSHA area director Christopher Adams. He said OSHA will review the response before deciding what to do next. We'll update the story as events warrant.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Workers at the Lakeview Amphitheater filed a complaint last week with OSHA, saying they're forced to breathe dust from the parking lot, drink dirty water and share a single bathroom.
The complaint was filed June 28 against SMG Corp., the company hired to run the amphitheater, which is owned by Onondaga County.
Kelly Carr, SMG's general manager for the amphitheater, said today all the problems have been corrected and that the company is filing an official response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration today.
The first page of an OSHA notice posted at the Lakeview Amphitheater. The amphitheater's general manager said all the problems have been corrected.Special to Syracuse.com OSHA told SMG a reply was due today or OSHA will conduct its own inspection.
The OSHA notice said that it had received a complaint of "these alleged hazards:"
1. Potable drinking water not available for employees. The water from provided drinking sources contains dirt and/or rocks.
2. No OSHA poster displayed.
3. Employees exposed to dust from general environmental conditions, including but not limited to parking areas and roadways.
4. One bathroom provided for up to 100 employees.
5. No SDS sheets available for chemical products used, including various solvents.
"We believe most of the items were without merit, and those that were have been addressed and corrected," Carr said. He declined to say which complaints he believed to be without merit.
Carr said OSHA notified SMG of the complaint on June 29, and all the problems had been corrected by the July 4 Symphoria concert. He said that information will be detailed in the response to be sent to OSHA today.
He declined to provide a copy of that response with Syracuse.com. "Usually we don't share internal documents," he said. Christopher Adams, the area director for OSHA's Syracuse office, said he had not received SMG's response yet, but would review it when it was submitted. If the corrections appear to be have been made, he said, OSHA would probably end the matter.
"Once they provide (the response), we'll take a look and make a decision at that point," Adams said.