Washington — OSHA can provide penalty reductions to more employers, specifically smaller ones, under updated guidance that went into effect July 14.
Penalty reductions of 70%, which previously applied only to employers with 10 or fewer employees, can now be given to employers with 25 or fewer employees.
“All employers should be offered the opportunity to comply with regulations that help maintain a safe working environment,” Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said in a press release. “Small employers who are working in good faith to comply with complex federal laws should not face the same penalties as large employers with abundant resources.
“By lowering penalties on small employers, we are supporting the entrepreneurs that drive our economy and giving them the tools they need to keep our workers safe and healthy on the job while keeping them accountable.”
Among the other revisions to OSHA’s Field Operations Manual are updated guidelines on 15% penalty reductions for employers who take immediate steps to address or correct hazards.
That includes penalty reductions for employers who have a “documented and effective safety management system, with only incidental deficiencies.”
As an example, the FOM states: “An acceptable program should include minutes of employee safety and health meetings, documented employee safety and health training sessions, or any other evidence of measures advancing safety and health in the workplace.”
OSHA inspectors can also recommend a 15% penalty reduction for employers with 25 or fewer employees “who have implemented an effective safety and health management system but have not documented it in writing.”
Additionally, the guidance expands penalty reductions for employers “without a history of serious, willful, repeat or failure-to-abate OSHA violations.”
The release adds: “Under OSHA’s revised policy, employers who have never been inspected by federal OSHA or an OSHA State Plan, as well as employers who have been inspected in the previous five years and had no serious, willful or failure-to-abate violations, are eligible for a 20% penalty reduction.”
OSHA fines issued before July 14 will remain under the previous policy, but “open investigations in which penalties have not yet been issued are covered by the new guidance.”
