March 4, 2013 by Fred Hosier
An employee died from injuries sustained while working with equipment that touched an overhead power line. A worker for the same company suffered injuries previously in a similar incident. Now the company faces almost half-a-million dollars in OSHA fines.
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Tags: electrocution, overhead power line, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, willful violation
October 10, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A food manufacturer in Massachusetts has agreed to pay $540,000 in OSHA fines in connection with a fatality. An employee was crushed to death in a machine used to make hummus.
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Tags: crushed to death in machine, lockout/tagout, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, Tribe Mediterranean Foods
August 17, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A New Hampshire company has been cited 62 times for violations of OSHA’s lead standard since 1998. Now it faces $185,900 in additional fines for, you guessed it, new violations of the lead standard.
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Tags: lead exposure, lead exposure monitoring, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, willful violations
August 13, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Safety incentives and injury reporting; an update on OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program; an unintended consequence of safer cars; and how does your body measure up to those of Olympic athletes? It’s all in this week’s Safety News Summary.
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Tags: first responders, Olympics, safer cars, safety incentives, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
July 16, 2012 by Fred Hosier
In 2010, OSHA established its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) to concentrate the agency’s resources on inspecting employers that have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. It replaced the Enhanced Enforcement Program.
The violations must include one or more of the following circumstances:
- a fatality or three or more hospitalizations that led to one or more willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violation
- industry operations or processes that expose employees to the most severe occupational hazards and those defined as “High-Emphasis Hazards” that led to two or more willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations
- exposure to hazards related to the potential release of a highly hazardous chemical that led to three or more willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations, or
- egregious (per-instance) enforcement actions were found.
Ramifications for employers include mandatory follow-up inspections and inspections of other work sites of the same employer where similar hazards and deficiencies might be present.
OSHA enacted the SVEP in conjunction with several administrative changes to the penalty calculation system.
On August 16, 2012, OSHA issued employer removal criteria from the SVEP program to all federal OSHA offices. Generally, an employer may be considered for removal from the program by an OSHA Regional Administrator after:
- A period of three years from the date of the final disposition of the SVEP inspection citation items including: failure to contest, settlement agreement, Review Commission final order, or court of appeals decision.
- All affirmed violations have been abated, all final penalties have been paid, the employer has abided by and completed all settlement provisions, and has not received any additional serious citations related to the hazards identified in the SVEP inspection at the initial establishment or at any related establishments.
In the event an employer fails to adhere to the terms and provisions of the agreement, the employer will remain in the program for an additional three years and will then be reevaluated.
Tags: high-emphasis hazards, per-instance enforcement, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, SVEP
May 3, 2012 by Fred Hosier
An engine cooling manufacturing company has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) following a fatality last year and previous serious injuries to workers. The company now also owes OSHA $210,000.
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Tags: energy control, machine guarding, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, worker crushed to death
March 14, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has filed 16 safety violations against a company in Warrior, AL, in connection with the death of a worker on Sept. 12, 2011.
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Tags: caught in machine, crushed to death, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
February 21, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Publix Supermarkets faces $182,000 in OSHA fines in connection with the amputation of an employee’s hand.
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Tags: amputation, Publix, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
January 5, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A worker’s complaint brought OSHA to a Houston company. The complaint was substantiated, and OSHA found even more violations that added up to a hefty fine because the company had been cited for them before.
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Tags: machine guards, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, willful violations, worker complaint
October 4, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Following the death of a worker inside a machine used to sort recyclables, OSHA has fined a Marietta, OH, company $186,300 for a total of 21 violations.
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Tags: lockout/tagout, Marietta Industrial Enterprises, recycling machine, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
