Alert: OSHA Steps Up Enforcements

Alert: OSHA Steps Up Enforcements

OSHA has announced three enforcement efforts that impose increased obligations on employers and result in increased penalties for violations. They include:

1.      Rescinding the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) and replacing it with the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). OSHA has replaced the EEP with the SVEP to increase its enforcement efforts against employers who have demonstrated an “indifference” to workplace safety obligations including situations that result in fatalities or catastrophic events and industries that expose employees to the most severe hazards, including those identified as “high-emphasis hazards”. Due to the persistent high level of amputations, the printing industry has been classified as a high hazard industry and any printer receiving a citation could be subject to the SVEP.
 
Under the SVEP, OSHA will conduct follow-up and nationwide inspections to at companies with more than one location, issue press releases, and will seek enhanced settlement agreements including requiring the employer to hire an independent safety and health consultant, applying settlement agreements company-wide, if there is more than one location, imposing corrective actions if violations cannot be fixed in a short period, require employers to report work-related injuries and illnesses on a quarterly basis, and require employers to report for a specific time period any serious injury or illness requiring medical attention, and to consent to inspections based on that data.
 
2.      OSHA is altering its penalty classification and assessment scheme, which will result in increased fines for violations. They will be expanding the time frame they use to consider an employer’s history of violations and issuing repeat citations from three to five years, increasing the minimum fines for serious violations, and limit area directors to only allowing a 30% maximum penalty reduction for employers during an informal conference. The old policy was to allow area directors to reduce the penalty by up to 50% and now, to obtain any penalty reduction beyond this 30%, area directors will have to obtain approval from regional administrators. As a result of the changes, OSHA predicts that the average penalty for a serious violation will increase from $1,000 to $3,000 to $4,000.
 
3.      OSHA plans to initiate a rulemaking for an injury and illness prevention program. Under the rule, OSHA would require employers to create a plan for identifying and remedying risks associated with hazards and OSHA violations. The rule would contain three distinct parts requiring employers to plan, prevent, and protect employees from workplace injuries and illnesses. Under the rule, OSHA would require employers to create a plan for identifying and remedying risks associated with hazards and OSHA violations.

Printing Industries of America can help. Contact our Environmental, Health and Safety Department at 800-910-4283, ext. 792 to determine if your company is at risk.

Additional information regarding OSHA and the printing industry can be found at www.printing.org/osha.

Tools and Resources
How to Prepare for the New Aggressive OSHA Inspections Webinar Archive (free to members)
OSHA Primer (free to members)
How to Avoid OSHA’s Combustible Dust Citation
OSHA Targets Amputations
What You Need to Know for Safe Equipment Operation

Published on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 (updated 05/19/2010)

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