OSHA continues to cite employers aggressively, and at the same time is suggesting and frequently mandating certain types of abatement. This may overstep their authority, but many employers enter into a formal or informal OSHA settlements trying to avoid expensive litigation and abate alleged violations following agency’s suggestions or mandates.
Small employers may not realize that they may be exempt from “programmed” OSHA inspections if they employ 10 or fewer employees and operate in a low-hazard industry.
If you are like me, when you first heard that Congress and the President had agreed upon a bipartisan budget bill that would fund the government for the next two years, you said to yourself, “It’s about time.” But as proof that nothing comes free, buried deep in the bill is a provision that will raise the maximum OSHA fines by over 50 percent in 2016.
A federal appeals court has ruled against OSHA in a case stemming from a fatal accident involving a lathe at a manufacturing plant, saying that the agency’s interpretation of its regulations on machine guards “strains a common sense reading.”
In a significant ruling, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has tossed out a machine guarding citation issued by OSHA to an energy company.
The OSH Review Commission recently opened a new chapter in the dispute over how the OSHA statute of limitations should be interpreted.
If there is any doubt OSHA is serious about recordkeeping enforcement, take a look at violations just announced against an oil and gas services company.
OSHA is recommending legislation that would increase civil penalties and index them for inflation, as well as increasing criminal penalties.
All of a sudden, OSHA is spending an inordinate amount of time inspecting the machines and equipment in plant maintenance areas.
OSHA has substantially increased its inspections of worksites where temporary workers are employed, following up on an initiative announced 18 months ago directed at temporary staffing agencies.