Penalties for OSHA Fines Will Increase Aug. 1 On Aug. 1, monetary penalties issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for regulation infractions are slated to rise by up to 150% depending on the type of violation. Type of Violation Serious Other-Than-Serious Posting Requirements Failure to Abate Willful or Repeated Current Maximum Penalty $7,000 per violation $7,000 per day beyond the abatement date $70,000 per violation New Maximum Penalty $12,471 per violation $12,471 per day beyond the abatement date $124,709 per violation Last fall, the president signed a budget bill that allowed the agency to enact a catch-up adjustment and raise fines annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This marks the first time in 25 years that OSHA fines have gone up. These are for individual violations—not an overall total for the number of violations a business may receive. Previously, OSHA was one of few federal agencies with civil penalties that do not increase with inflation. OSHA intends to provide guidance on the implementation of the new penalties by Aug. 1. Additionally, to address the impact they may have on small businesses, the agency plans to continue providing penalty reductions based on employer size and other factors. States that operate their own Occupational Safety and Health Plans are required to adopt maximum penalty levels that are at least as effective as federal OSHA’s. How can you prevent this from happening at your business? Develop a written safety program highlighting how your business will comply with the OSHA regulations (osha.gov) OSHA's 2015 TOP TEN Conduct compliance training as required by OSHA with your employees and document the training with employee sign-in sheets (osha.gov/Publications/osha2254.pdf) Walk around your job sites on a daily basis and search for hazards and fix them before employees are injured. Get employees involved in your safety program. They do the hands-on work and probably have a lot of ideas on how to improve the safety and efficiency of the business. Create safety committees to explore additional ideas that will work in your business. 14 Most Frequently Cited Violations for Fiscal 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2015) 1. 1926.501 – Fall Protection (C) 2. 1910.1200 – Hazard Communication 3. 1926.451 – Scaffolding (C) 4. 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection 5. 1910.147 – Lockout/Tagout 6. 1910.178 – Powered Industrial Trucks 7. 1926.1053 – Ladders (C) 8. 1910.305 – Electrical, Wiring Methods 9. 1910.212 – Machine Guarding 10. 1910.303 – Electrical, General Requirements (C) = Construction standard *As of 01/05/16
15 Publizr Home