Employers Beware! Proposed Fine Increase for Violating OSHA Safety

May 20, 2014. The 'OSHA Hobgoblin' is lurking around the shadows of Congress in the form of Senate Bill No. 665 re-introduced on March 22, 2013. The bill's purpose? To significantly increase fines and penalties imposed against employers for violating OSHA safety regulations. For decades, OSHA has had a "me too" complex complaining that other federal agencies have much greater civil and criminal enforcement powers than OSHA does.

If the bill is passed:

• Fines for willful and repeat violations would increase, with the minimum increasing from $5,000 to $8,000 and the maximum from $70,000 to $120,000.
• The maximum fine for serious, failure-to-abate and other-than-serious violations would increase from $7,000 to $12,000.
• If a violation causes an employee’s death, civil penalties could range from $50,000 to $250,000, with $25,000 the minimum for companies with 25 or fewer workers, and
• The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration could also pursue criminal charges against a company for an employee’s death, including fines and up to 10 years in prison for owners and managers. Criminal penalties for serious bodily injury to an employee could include up to 5 years in prison.

You can read the testimony of David Michaels, OSHA's agency head presented before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senate, on April 27,2010 HERE.

Despite OSHA's relatively successful program enforcement numbers since the agency's inception in 1971, this 'wanna be bad-boy agency' wants more power to punish. Trends concerning overall accidents and injuries in the workplace across the county have decreased during the past decades. Employer awareness for the need to increase safety training and awareness in the workplace has produced positive results. Working safely means increased profitability for the employer, enhanced production, and happy workers. The need for OSHA to keep up with other federal agencies' enforcement authority is arguably unnecessary and may be inviting government excess and abuse.

For more information regarding OSHA safety regulations, contact the Goosmann Law Firm at info@goosmannlaw.com or call 712-226-4000.

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