Tag Archives: OSHA

Should You Be Contesting That OSHA Citation?

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Going down the road of litigation isn’t always the right path to take when your organization is on the receiving end of an OSHA citation.

Your company has just been cited for a safety violation or workplace incident by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). What should you do now?

You have 15 days to respond and according to John Ho, the co-chair of the OSHA workplace safety practice at international law firm Cozen O’Connor, contesting an OSHA citation shouldn’t necessarily be your automatic response. There are many factors to consider when determining a course of action, he says, explaining that a decision should weigh issues that may have significantly greater liabilities than the actual OSHA penalties imposed.  

“Lawyers are expensive and usually you’re going to spend more money on litigation, even if you win,” Ho says. “To fight a $30,000 to $50,000 OSHA (fine) – the cost/benefit … Read more...

Is Your Organization Prepared for an OSHA Inspection?

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OSHA expects to complete approximately 31,400 inspections in 2022, rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.

Will you be ready if an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector comes calling?

In 2021, OSHA conducted 24,333 inspections, including 13,749 unprogrammed inspections, which were prompted by employee complaints, injuries, fatalities and referrals.

During two years of COVID-19, the U.S. regulatory agency performed fewer inspections and most of these were limited to onsite investigations of fatalities, catastrophic accidents and coronavirus issues. The tide turned and OSHA has significantly stepped-up efforts to hold employers accountable for failures to protect workers and keep them safe.

This year has seen more OSHA visits and greater fines imposed. It was recently reported that OSHA expects to complete approximately 31,400 inspections in 2022, rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. OSHA has increased maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations from $13,653 to $14,502 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated … Read more...

What is Incident Management in Safety? (And How Does It help Your OSHA Recordkeeping?)

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Incident management, the process of identifying, documenting, responding to and eliminating workplace injuries and illnesses, is a fundamental obligation for many employers. An important aspect of incident management in safety is OSHA recordkeeping and determining what incidents should be tracked and what data needs to be collected and reported to regulators can be confusing.

Say you reported to your manager that you had a headache. You’re not sure what caused it and are given three acetaminophen capsules. Is this considered a first-aid case by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or is it a recordable injury incident that must be tracked? What if you were only given one capsule? Is it still first aid or should it be recorded by your incident management system? 

An employee goes on one day of light duty at work. Is that a recordable? What if it lasts two days? A worker sprains an ankle … Read more...

OSHA Set to “Sharpen Its Teeth” in 2022: More OSHA Citations, Inspections Part of the Occupational Safety and Health Forecast

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Higher OSHA violation penalties, more inspections and an increase in OSHA’s penalty authority are all possible developments on the U.S. workplace health and safety front in 2022.
The total number of federal OSHA inspections increased in 2021 over 2020, and it is likely we will see that trend to continue this year.

Higher OSHA citation penalties, more inspections and an increase in OSHA’s penalty authority are all possible developments on the U.S. workplace health and safety front in 2022, according to a law firm specializing in OSH matters.

With the Biden administration expected to funnel more federal money toward the agency that oversees health and safety in American workplaces in the coming year, observers can expect to see an increased effort to hold employers accountable for failures to protect their workers.

The total number of federal OSHA inspections increased in 2021 over 2020, and it is likely we will see that trend to continue this year, noted Aaron Gelb, a partner with Conn Maciel Carey, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm. He made his observations during a … Read more...

Majority of Private Sector Workforce in U.S. Impacted by OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Standard

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Occupational Safety and Health Administrationannounces an emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of coronavirus.
84 million workers covered under an emergency temporary standard aimed at protecting workers from coronavirus.

The waiting and speculation is over: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job. It is estimated two-thirds of workers in the private sector are included in this mandate.

Under this standard, covered employers—which includes any employer with 100 or more employees total—must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to choose to either be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work.

Since 2020, the coronavirus has led to the deaths of 750,000 people in the United States, and the infection of millions more, making it the deadliest pandemic in the nation’s history. Many of … Read more...

U.S. Department of Labor Initiates Rulemaking to Protect Workers from Heat

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Work-related heat stress is a well-known and largely preventable hazard both indoors and outdoors.
Work-related heat stress is a well-known and largely preventable hazard both indoors and outdoors. OSHA is developing a national emphasis program on heat inspections and launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard.

Both indoor and outdoor workers can be exposed to working conditions made hazardous by heat, and this past summer’s record-breaking temperatures have made it impossible for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ignore the dangers of work-related heat stress and exposure.

Record-breaking heat in the United States in 2021 endangered millions of workers, exposing them to heat illness and injury in both indoor and outdoor work environments. Workers without adequate climate-controlled environments are at risk of hazardous heat exposure, and workers of color are exposed disproportionately to hazardous levels of heat in essential jobs across these work settings.

In concert with a Biden-Harris administration interagency … Read more...

What Does the COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate for U.S. Government Contractors Mean for You?

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A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors
A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors.

A recent vaccination mandate from the U.S. government will have a tremendous impact on the workforce of contractors and subcontractors that have contracts with the federal government. Many employers and employees are facing decisions they never expected to have to make.

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors. The COVID-19 Workplace Safety Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors requires the employees of federal contractors to be fully vaccinated by December 8 and imposes other pandemic-related workplace safety requirements.

On September 9, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his Path Out of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan. One of the main goals of the plan is to get more people vaccinated. As part of that plan, the president signed Executive Order 14042, … Read more...

Falls Top the OSHA Top 10 List of Safety Violations for More than a Decade

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OSHA revealed the Top 10 safety violations for fiscal year 2021 at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo and once again, falls top the list.
OSHA revealed the Top 10 safety violations for fiscal year 2021 at the NSC Safety
Congress & Expo and once again, falls top the list.

One of the most highly anticipated events at every NSC Safety Congress & Expo is the announcement of the list of top safety violations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On Oct. 12, OSHA announced its preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety standards for fiscal year 2021 and for the 11th year, falls topped the list.

Kevin Druley, the associate editor of Safety+Health magazine, introduced Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, who presented the list virtually during the 2021 NSC Safety Congress & Expo, the world’s largest annual gathering of safety professionals.

Scott Gaddis, Vice President, Global Practice Leader – Safety and Health at Intelex Technologies Inc., joins David Wagner from Industrial Scientific to discuss “Why … Read more...

Labor Rights Week 2021: Building a Future that Empowers all Workers

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Labor Rights Week empowers workers

This year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is recognizing Labor Rights Week from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2021.

“Many immigrant workers have performed essential duties throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” write Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Jessica Looman, acting administrator for DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in a DOL blog. “It is important that they have meaningful access to information about their rights as they work diligently during these challenging times. It’s also important that employers understand their responsibilities and meet their obligations. We are committed to working together through education and compliance assistance.”

During Labor Rights Week, Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, DOL is hoping to get the word out that ALL workers have the same right to a safe workplace and fair pay, as well as the right to report possible violations without retaliation. That’s because … Read more...

OSHA Issues Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Healthcare Workers from COVID-19

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on June 10 it will issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect healthcare workers from contracting coronavirus. The standard focuses on healthcare workers most likely to have contact with someone infected with the virus.

In addition to the healthcare-focused ETS, OSHA is issuing updated guidance to help employers and workers in other industries protect workers who are still not vaccinated, with a special emphasis on other industries noted for prolonged close-contacts like meat processing, manufacturing, seafood and grocery and high-volume retail. The agency also issued a new general industry guidance, and both the guidance and the ETS are aligned with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Too many of our frontline healthcare workers continue to be at high risk of contracting the coronavirus,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “As I said when … Read more...