OSHA “Willful”
And “Repeat” Citations
And Criminal Referrals Increase
OSHA issued more “Willful” and
“Repeat Violation” citations in 2008 than in 2007 and
it looks as though the upward trend is continuing. There
are more OSHA inspectors in the field today than there
have been in years. Here’s what they’re looking for:
- Companies with injury/illness
and days away rates above their industry coverages.
- Industries with high fatality
rates.
- Companies previously fined
for willful or serious violations.
- Industries identified by OSHA
as having major health and/or safety issues or are
the subject of a National Emphasis Program.
According to OSHA’s figures for
Fiscal Year 2008, 80% of the citations they issued between
October ’07 and September ’08 were for Willful, Serious
or Repeated violations. Twelve (12) of these inspections
resulted in criminal referrals; 121 resulted
in fines of $100,000 or more.
OSHA is targeting landscaping;
oil and gas field services; residential building construction;
and highway, street and bridge construction.
They’re also looking closely at workplaces which have
the risk of fatalities from trenching collapses,
falls from a height, forklift incidents, electrical
problems and being struck by an object.
How can you protect your company?
The easy answer is not to have any violations of the
OSHA regulations; especially not a repeat violation.
Willful violation citations are issued when the OSHA
inspector has reason to believe the employer intentionally
disregarded an OSHA rule, or just plain didn’t care.
Willful violators run the risk of going to jail.
A better answer is to make
sure you have a WRITTEN HEALTH AND SAFETY PROGRAM that
addresses the known and reasonably anticipated hazards
in your workplace and is up-to-date (not more than 3
years old).
A hazard assessment which
identifies all the operations, procedures, equipment,
raw materials, intermediates and final products and
all the hazards associated with them; will not only
show OSHA your “Good Faith” but may uncover some hazards
that are present TODAY, of which you may not have been
aware.
OSHA is clearly on the move
to go after businesses that ignore the health and safety
of their employees.
Atlantic Environmental’s staff
is highly experienced in making Health and Safety Hazard
Audits, revising or developing safety programs, and
evaluating work sites for potential violations of OSHA
violations. We would be happy to discuss your needs
and concerns. Call us at 1-800-344-4414 or e-mail info@atlenv.com.
