Business Notes AUTOS

After making a roaring comeback from near bankruptcy, Chrysler has long seemed invulnerable to adversity. Suddenly, though, the proud No. 3 automaker's image has suffered back-to-back black eyes. Last week the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Chrysler $1.6 million for 811 alleged workplace violations at a Newark, Del., plant that produces Chrysler LeBarons, Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliants. The penalty, the largest ever imposed by OSHA, came only twelve days after a U.S. grand jury indicted Chrysler for selling cars as new that had actually been driven -- with their odometers disconnected -- by employees.

The most serious of the OSHA citations involved charges that Chrysler knowingly exposed employees at the Delaware plant to dangerous levels of lead and arsenic. OSHA Assistant Secretary John Pendergrass said the conditions "put workers in jeopardy" and called the agency's action the "only possible response to a totally unacceptable situation." Though the company did not admit any wrongdoing, it will pay the fine and correct the problems. Gerald Greenwald, chairman of Chrysler Motors, the carmaking division, noted that the Delaware facility was not typical of the company's factories. Said he: "Risk of injury or illness to our employees will not be tolerated."