Another enforcement front for OSHA: Details on Severe Violator program

Details have emerged on another prong in OSHA’s campaign to step up enforcement: the new Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

The program, which would identify employers with repeated, serious citations, was announced last year, but details only came to light recently when OSHA sent a 27-page draft directive to officials in states with state plans. (Those states have their own workplace safety programs.)

The Labor and Employment Practice at the Morgan Lewis law firm recently published a summary of that directive.

Here is an overview from Dennis Morikawa at Morgan Lewis:

“According to the draft Directive, the SVEP will ‘focus increased enforcement attention on significant hazards and violations’ by concentrating on employers that have demonstrated ‘indifference’ to workplace safety obligations through willful, repeated, or failure-to abate-violations in four areas:

(1) Fatality or catastrophe situations
(2) Industries that expose employee to the most severe hazards, including those identified in the draft Directive as ‘High-Emphasis Hazards’
(3) Industries that expose employees to the potential release of highly hazardous chemicals
(4) Egregious enforcement actions

“Once an employer is selected for the Severe Violators Enforcement Program, OSHA will undertake a number of enforcement steps including enhanced follow-up inspections as well as inspections at other worksites of that same employer, potentially on a nationwide basis.”