Audit to look into OSHA penalty reductions
December 4, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, Who Got Fined and Why?, enforcement
It’s no secret: Companies hardly ever pay fine amounts that OSHA initially issues. Sometimes, the amounts are reduced significantly. Is that about to change?
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Inspector General has announced its audit targets for 2010. On the list, “Impact of OSHA’s Penalty Reductions.”
OSHA’s penalty structure is designed to provide companies with an incentive to correct violations.
Reductions in fines can come from several sources. An inspector can recommend discounts to the original fine amount. OSHA supervisors, including area directors, regional administrators and Department of Labor attorneys can further reduce the size of a penalty, which are often significantly less than statutory maximums.
Stated audit objectives include determining whether penalty reductions encouraged companies to correct violations.
No word on exactly when the audit will be completed.
Earlier this year, acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab said OSHA’s current penalty structure wasn’t enough of a disincentive to force some companies to address safety hazards.
Do you think OSHA reduces its penalties too often? Let us know in the Comments Box below.
SafetyNewsAlert.com delivers the latest Safety news once a week to the inboxes of over 270,000 Safety professionals.
Click here to sign up and start your FREE subscription to SafetyNewsAlert!
Tags: Jordan Barab, OSHA penalty reductions, violation abatement
Loading ...
December 8th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Would love for OSHA to decide what its direction is: to change behavior and conditions or be a money maker. It’s unnerving to keep reading these articles: getting rid of the Voluntary programs to partner with OSHA; getting rid of negotiating with OSHA; adding untrained and novice investigators who may levy fines that you can’t contest; etc. Please OSHA. Let’s work together to make things better for employees — but let’s do it sanely. Let’s stop taxing employers to death and fining them for everything known to mankind. Set a strategic direction; work with everyone to get them there and change behaviors, attitudes and conditions. Most companies are really trying! Really. We are.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:53 am
The problem is not the reductions. The problem is that some compliance officers write citations incorrectly in the first place. At my previous job, we had over $750,000 in proposed fines, most of them because the inspectors didn’t know what they were doing. CO’s are humans, too. They make mistakes like anyoone else. They do their jobs to the best of their ability, and they are not always correct. Nine times out of ten, the fines were reduced or omitted by their supervisors in review, not by us.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:53 am
The final amount was $2500.
December 8th, 2009 at 9:43 am
No, if they do not reduce the fines, how are small companies supposed to come up with the cash flow to pay fines and fix non-compliances. The reductions you receive are for trying to be compliant in all other areas, for trying to fix things prior to the end of the inspection, having good written programs in place, size of the company, etc. Incentives to react immediately. If anything they should impose stiffer fines for companies who do not correct issues identified during an OSHA audit.
Without these reductions, especially in the current economic times, OSHA could cause several more small companies to have to close their doors.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:16 am
This is all about money and the government trying to get it out of every source possible. It’s not about safety anymore. Look at the stats - injuries and deaths have fallen in the past several years due to company diligence - not the threat of fines. All OSHA wants to do is increase revenue.
Change we can believe in - indeed.