CHICAGO—A federal judge has upheld a subpoena issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requesting inspection reports from an insurer of a company where two workers were killed in a grain bin accident last July.

In his May 2 ruling, Judge Philip G. Reinhard upheld the recommendation of the magistrate judge in Hilda L. Solis vs. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co., which requires the workers compensation insurance company to testify and present documents concerning inspections and reports it prepared for Haasbach L.L.C. when two teenage workers died in a grain engulfment at Haasbach’s Mount Carroll, Ill., site last year.

Grinnell argued that enforcing the OSHA subpoena would cause a “chilling effect” by discouraging businesses from allowing insurers to conduct safety inspections if the resulting reports can be used against businesses during litigation or enforcement proceedings by the unit of the U.S. Department of Labor, according to court documents.

The Chicago federal judge ruled in favor of OSHA and ordered that all records requested be given to OSHA.

Grinnell must now produce documents and reports from March 12, 2008, to June 23, 2010, prior to May 27, according the court order. If the insurer still asserts that certain materials are under privilege under the terms of this order, the court would allow for a review.

“The court affirmed OSHA’s authority to obtain relevant information from an employer’s workers compensation insurance company,” OHSA Assistant Secretary David Michaels said in a statement. “This is not surprising legally, but it does illustrate that workers compensation and OSHA are not separate worlds divorced from each other.”

Citations and fines issued

Following an investigation into the July 2010 deaths, OSHA issued 25 citations to Haasbach and fined the company $555,000. Aside from the two teens killed in the grain elevator incident, a 20-year old man also was seriously injured when all three were entrapped in corn more than 30 feet deep.

At the time of the accident, the workers were “walking down the corn” to make it flow while machinery used for evacuating the grain was running, according to OSHA reports.

Grinnell could not be reached for comment immediately.