OSHA isn’t budging on 8.8 mil fine
July 28, 2009 by Jim BurgerPosted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Lawsuits, Who Got Fined and Why?, cost of safety, enforcement
It’s been a little over a year since the feds announced the third-largest penalty in OSHA history. Imperial Sugar was fined $8.8 million in the wake of a combustible-dust explosion that killed 14 employees.
And the case hasn’t been settled.
The fact that the appeal is dragging on is significant. But how it turns out may be even more significant.
When the fine was announced, company CEO John Sheptor said he hoped the whole thing would be settled “in a few weeks,” according to an article in the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.
In the same article, plantiffs lawyer Mark Tate explains why that hasn’t happened: “(OSHA’s) pressing its case as doggedly as private lawyers would. Proposed OSHA fines used to get settled for pennies on the dollar. But not this time.”
This chart, posted by probublica.org, lends credence to the “pennies on the dollar” comment. Many of OSHA’s largest proposed fines eventually withered into small fractions of their original figures.
Does this mean OSHA is now overreaching? Or is developing a bite that matches its bark long overdue? Let us know what you think in the Comment Box below.
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Tags: combustible dust, fines, Imperial Sugar, OSHA, settlements
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July 28th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
This seems more like a case of deep pockets.
There have been many other facilities with OSHA combustible dust hazard citations just as severe if not more than Imperial Sugar. Yet the fines are not as high. The OSHA IMIS database will assist in illustrating this fact. Now with the new administration Imperial Sugar will be prime example to others in the manufactruing sector that OSHA means business that will challenger business (Republicans) versus labor(Democrats).
Addressing combustible dust hazards with an OSHA comprehensive general industry combustible dust standard is long overdue. Yet should industry take the blunt of the blame where OSHA has historically failed due to policy mandates of varying administrations?
July 28th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Informative post on disparity of OSHA citations @ OSHA Underground: “My case is bigger than your case” http://tinyurl.com/mb86w6 Another viewpoint on disparity of OSHA citations @OSHA Aboveground: “Penalties Across the Country” http://ow.ly/iqre
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 am
This is another “if it bleeds, it leads” scare tactic against OSHA. Let the entire process be completed before making conclusions. Why should OSHA take the blunt of the blame for the historical failure of industry to control their hazards? The only historical failure that I have seen from OSHA is the fact that the penalties have always been too significantly reduced but collecting penalties is not in line with keeping OSHA’s mission.
Maybe this time the employer won’t see the penalties as “just the cost of doing business”.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
OSHA’s mission is to ensure a safe workplace for the employees and workers - not to fine companies. The large fines should come only after a company fails to follow recommendations and/or requirements.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
The more I experience OSHA and workplace issues, the more I realize that OSHA needs to fine employees of employers who are trying to do the right thing. If the employer is negligent then give the employer a fine. If the employees are not following regulations, then fine them. They are the ones putting themselves and other workers at risk. With the lawsuit happy environment we live in, you can’t even fire someone for violating a safety rule without facing some form of litigation. So you end up paying the courts anyway. Safety people try to help change culture and it is getting better, but if OSHA wants to make some changes, they need to start at the bottom. The worker ultimately cares only for the WIIFM, “What’s In It For Me”. It is frustrating to see anyone injured, and it is frustrating when a company will not comply, but even more frustrating is when the employees will talk the talk but when thier supervision is not around they don’t walk the walk. When they get hurt, they blame the company, they blame the government, but they don’t take responsibility for themselves. Personal responsibility for ones own actions on and off the job is the answer. OSHA is there to protect employees. Maybe OSHA needs to protect employees from themselves. Just an observation.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
Isn’t 14 fatalities and the leveling of the facility in 3 seconds some sort of proof that a company failed to follow the recommendations and/or requirements or maybe even the LAW? Work as a CSHO for awhile and see both sides before criticizing OSHA too harshly.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Your observations are appreciated, but ultimately the employer is responsible for their employees. I understand the frustrations of safety training and it going in one ear and out the other. I like the ” whats in it for me” phrase. I have taken that and made some thing in it for the employees. Incentive safety programs here have almost eliminated not only injures but safety hazards. Another thing we have done is made them acountable to each other. In this way I don’t have to watch over them 24/7 and I, as the employer am being responsble for my guys and gals.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am
We have all been there. The staff meeting where Production wins over Safety. Companies get caught and deserve fines. Its the only way they learn. If the fine is not big, then they write the check and figure its just another cost of doing business. Even the ones with positive attitudes for safety improvement seem to lack the energy to say Safety is more important than Production. The CEO of the sugar company was in an article in Forbes magazine recently talking only about rebuilding and moving on. His company has demolished old plants that were in trouble with OSHA and just built fresh plants elsewhere. He is making enough profit to just try and play a game with OSHA of hide and seek. I have no sympathy for him. No one likes it when OSHA walks in the door for an inspection but it would be a real zoo if there was no regulatory oversite.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Actually, OSHA is not responsible for ensuring safe workplaces, the EMPLOYERS are. OSHA promulgates laws to facilitate that end, enforces laws, provides consultation services and works with NIOSH to further resaerch on employee safety and health. Employers are also responsible for training, oversight and disciplining their own employees, not OSHA!
If the employer fires people for unsafe acts it sends a clear message. Employers don’t wait for the federal government to discipline employees who are late or do not show up for work or who have production problems. If an employer waits around until the Federal government shows up - if they do show up - to provide employee discipline and enforce workplace safety, what does that tell employees about their employers’ perspective on Employee/workplace safety?
OSHA fines clearly have not provided a deterent, since many Occupational exposure and Safety and Health advances are led by the EPA (who has significantly more success providing a deterent with their fines.) Long overdue - not overreaching.
August 4th, 2010 at 9:39 am
First, I do not have all the facts on this case. However, the fine seems just a bit much. Second, once OSHA judges the company responsible for this accident, the families will use the findings and get their just compensation- even though there is no dollar amount to pay for the life of a loved one. Third, I would much rather have the money going to the families than to OSHA and this federal government. Fourth, really 8.8 million dollars!!!??? In my safety career I have never reached a destination with strong arm tactics. Solutions are reached by a conversion of the mind. I think OSHA might have its heart in the right place but its hands are working against itself.