AFS Government Affairs Representative—Waterman & Assoc., Washington, D.C. OSHA Cracks Down on Enforcement
A new severe violator program and increased penalties will take effect over the next few months.
increase enforcement. This month, OSHA is putting into effect its new Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which identifies employers with repeat, serious citations for in- creased, multi-worksite inspections and higher penalties. The agency says the program will
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“focus increased enforcement atten- tion on significant hazards and viola- tions” by concentrating on employers that have demonstrated “indiffer- ence” to workplace safety obligations through willful, repeated or failure-to abate-violations in four areas: • fatality or catastrophe situations; • industries that expose employees to the most severe hazards; among the “high-emphasis hazards” covered by the SVEP are falls, amputations, crystalline silica combustible dust, lead, and excavation and trenching;
• industries that expose employees to the potential release of highly hazardous chemicals;
• egregious enforcement actions. Once an employer is selected for
the SVEP, OSHA will undertake a number of enforcement steps, includ- ing enhanced follow-up inspections, and inspections at other worksites of the same employer—potentially on a nationwide basis. On a broader scale, OSHA also has announced plans to increase penal- ties by revising the calculation system used in enforcement proceedings. The administrative penalty changes are scheduled to take effect over the next several months. The average penalty for serious vio-
lations will be increased from $1,000 to between $3,000 and $4,000. OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels esti- mates the plan will triple or quadruple the size of the average penalty. The most significant changes to
MODERN CASTING / June 2010
he U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to fol- low through on its stated intention to significantly
the penalty schedule are: • An employers’ history of violations will expand from three to five years. If an employer has been inspected in the last five years, had no seri- ous, willful or repeat violations and hasn’t had a failure-to-abate notice, the employer will receive a 10% reduction for history.
• Penalties will increase by 10% (up to the maximum) for employers who have been cited for any high- gravity, serious, willful or repeat violation or have been cited for a failure-to-abate notice in the previ- ous five years.
• The time period for repeated viola- tions will be increased from three to five years.
• Area directors are authorized to of- fer up to a 30% penalty reduction to employers at an informal conference and will be authorized to offer an employer with 250 or fewer employ- ees an additional 20% reduction for retaining an independent safety and health consultant.
• The current “good faith” procedures in the field operations manual will be retained. The 15% Quick Fix reduc- tion, which currently is allowed as an incentive program to encourage employers to immediately abate hazards found during an inspection, also will be retained. However, the 10% reduction for employers with a strategic partnership agreement will be eliminated.
• At the discretion of the area direc- tor, high-gravity serious violations related to standards identified in SVEP will no longer need to be grouped or combined but can be cited as separate violations, each with its own proposed penalty.
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Visit
www.osha.gov/dep/svep-di- rective.pdf for more details on the SVEP directive. A copy of the OSHA memorandum on increased penalties can be viewed at:
http://osha.gov/dep/ OSHA-training-standards-policy- statement.pdf.
On the Hill WASHINGTON ALERT
OSHA Pursues Prevention Standard OSHA announced in April that it
will pursue an injury and illness pre- vention program standard, which the agency is calling I2P2. The potential rule would require manufacturers to develop and implement an injury and illness prevention program to address the hazards specific to each workplace. The regulation also has the potential
to impact the ongoing problem of a lack of permissible exposure limits for some chemicals by requiring employ- ers to assess chemical-related risks in their workplaces. However, the agency noted that the regulation would not be used as a substitute for other standards, such as ergonomics. According to OSHA, the I2P2
regulation would build off already- issued voluntary guidelines, such as OSHA’s Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines or Safety and Health Achievement Recogni- tion Program. Consensus standards, such as American National Standards Institute/American Industrial Hygiene Association Z10 and OSHA 18001, also would be used to assist in the rulemaking process. OSHA will carry out a series of three stakeholder meetings this month to as- sess the new proposed rule. Based on comments from the meetings, OSHA may formalize a proposed rule, which would be announced in the Federal Register as a Notice of Proposed Rule- making, subject to a public comment period, before a Final Rule would be implemented.
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The potential rule would require manufacturers to develop and implement an injury and illness prevention program to address specific workplace hazards.
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