Safety Tidbit #2-2 – OSHA Penalties Are Getting a Raise!

Safety Tidbit #2-2 – OSHA Penalties Are Getting a Raise!

In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. The new law directs agencies to adjust their penalties for inflation each year using a much more straightforward method than previously available, and requires agencies to publish “catch up” rules this summer to make up for lost time since the last adjustments.

 “Civil penalties should be a credible deterrent that influences behavior far and wide,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Adjusting our penalties to keep pace with the cost of living can lead to significant benefits for workers and can level the playing field responsible employers who should not have to compete with those who don’t follow the law.”

The new method will adjust penalties for inflation, though the amount of the increase is capped at 150 percent of the existing penalty amount. The baseline is the last increase other than for inflation. The new civil penalty amounts are applicable only to civil penalties assessed after Aug. 1, 2016, whose associated violations occurred after Nov. 2, 2015.

OSHA’s maximum penalties, which have not been raised since 1990, will increase by 78 percent. The top penalty for serious and other-than-serious violations will rise to $12,471. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $70,000 to $124,709.

An interesting violation is the failure-to-abate where the $12,471 maximum penalty can be assessed daily for each day the hazard remains unabated.  The $$$ add up pretty fast.  Remember, these maximum penalties are assessed before any permissible reductions.  There are four permissible reductions that are usually taken into consideration prior to the citation being sent to the employer:

            1. Gravity of the violation,

            2. Size of the employer’s company,

            3. The Good Faith of the employer,

            4. The employer’s history of previous violations.

Gravity considers the severity and probability of each violation and is a major reduction in penalties.  Severity looks at the injury which could result from the violation.  Severity is divided into three categories, high, medium and low.  Probability looks at the likelihood injury or illness could occur. Probability is either greater or lesser so that’s pretty easy.

The Size of the employer is the total employee count. A Good Faith is a penalty reduction in

recognition of an employer’s effort to implement an effective safety and health management system in the workplace.  History deals with the outcome from an OSHA inspection. If you had an inspection and it resulted in Serious, Repeat, Willful or Failure-to-abate violations you shouldn’t expect any reduction for history and you might get a 10% increase just for good measure.

Remember, the main purpose of the penalties is to deter employers from not complying with the OSHA Standards and to level the business playing field. Everyone should be permitted to work without worrying about getting injured or killed doing their job.

Thanks for reading and I hope this Safety Tidbit was informative ~ Bryan