Are OSHA Fines on the Rise?

Just as it is critical to inspect fall protection equipment for the warning signs of wear, damage, and fatigue, it is also vital for employers to monitor trends in OSHA policy and regulations. In a press release dated April 22, 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a revamping of OSHA’s penalty structure. According to the release (which can be viewed by clicking here), the Agency was making “administrative changes to its penalty calculation system.” In short, the Department of Labor found OSHA’s penalty structure, much of which dated to the 1970s, to be an insufficient deterrent to non-compliance.

The release does state that OSHA will continue to adjust penalties for small employers, although some concerns and reservations about this exist in the business community. Details on penalty adjustment factors (History Reduction, History Increase, Repeat Violations, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, Gravity-Based Penalty, Size Reduction, Good Faith, Minimum Penalties, and Additional Administrative Modifications to the Penalty Calculation Policy) can be viewed at the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.

An article by Eric J. Conn of the Washington DC law firm of Epstein-Becker-Green reveals some interesting trends on OSHA penalties. The article (which can be viewed here) shows that OSHA penalties, which had been relatively steady in 2009 and 2010, increased dramatically in 2011. For example, the average penalty for a “serious violation” increased from $1,053 in 2010 to $2,132 in 2011. Also of note, the number of what OSHA terms “significant cases” increased by about 30% in the same period, more than doubling its 2006 level. The article also mentions that the penalty reduction for small businesses has been cut, increasing the financial burdens on employers with smaller workforces. Conn urges employers to conduct their own, attorney-client privileged OSHA compliance audits.

The lesson employers can take from the current trend in OSHA fines is: beware. That might sound a bit severe, but it certainly is in an employer’s interest to conduct in-house safety inspections regularly, document all findings of these inspections accurately, and correct all problems promptly.

A bright note is that manufacturers of fall protection equipment can help you make informed choices about equipment purchases, and how to best protect workers—tailoring your fall protection systems to your facility, custom-building key equipment, answering questions about worker training, avoiding redundancy, and cutting costs.

Thank you for reading,

Michael Evanko
Marketing Manager

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Overhead Crane Blogger
Mar 25, 2012
10:40 AM

Being in the overhead crane industry, we have seen much more OSHA site visits to our customers than in the previous years. Especially those that have had higher injury rates, or previous violations. Like you said, inviting OSHA in for an audit is a great way to see how your doing. Just remember that whatever is written up will have to be addressed and corrected as soon as possible.