OSHA has made a link between terrorism and workplace safety in New York City — it may not be what you think.
One year after an attempted car bombing in Times Square, OSHA sent a letter to 63 theaters in Manhattan warning them that future inspections will include reviews of emergency-action plans, including evacuation methods, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Investigators traced the failed bomb to Faisal Shahzad of Connecticut, a naturalized U.S. citizen with ties to the Pakistani Taliban.
A street vendor spotted smoke coming from an SUV parked outside the Minskoff Theatre where The Lion King is performed.
Police quickly cleared the area and shut down Times Square for 10 hours.
The bomb misfired because it was made poorly. However, if it had been made properly, it would have created a fireball capable of shredding cars and killing people in hundreds of feet in all directions.
The WSJ says the letter from OSHA came in response to a December report on emergency preparedness in New York City’s theater district by the New York state Assembly subcommittee on workplace safety.
The report was issued following a roundtable to discuss concerns among theater employees that existing emergency evacuation plans needed “careful reexamination.”
It recommended OSHA “issue clearer guidance on which theaters are required to establish Emergency Action Plans.”
