OSHA is on the warpath. The agency is issuing record-setting fines; every week fining companies hundreds of thousands of dollars; scaring companies into spending more on safety to stay out of trouble. Here are recent examples of OSHA’s new high-profile enforcement:
In a high profile enforcement cases, OSHA recently cited SeaWorld of Florida LLC for three safety violations, including one classified as willful, following the death of an animal trainer in February. The total penalty is $75,000.
OSHA has cited Asphalt Paving Specialists Inc. for alleged safety violations resulting in an employee being injured at its Davie, Fla., worksite in March. Penalties total $62,200.
The company is being cited with one serious violation for failure-to-abate with a proposed penalty of $60,000. In June, an inspection revealed that the company failed to provide blood monitoring every six months for workers exposed to high levels of lead concentrations, after the same hazard had been cited in an earlier inspection.
A three-member assessment team led by Mr. Johnnie Banks from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is deploying to the scene of last Monday’s anhydrous ammonia release at the Millard Refrigerated Services, a warehouse and distribution center in Theodore, Alabama, 15 miles south of Mobile.
OSHA has ordered the Utah Transit Authority, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, to immediately reinstate a wrongfully discharged employee to his former position and pay more than $130,000 in back wages with interest, compensatory damages and attorney's fees, an agency press release said. OSHA's recently completed investigation determined that the Utah Transit Authority discharged the worker in violation of the whistleblower provision of the Federal Railroad Safety Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced in a recent press statement the release of a new Program Information Bulletin pertaining to the prohibition of advance notification of federal mine inspectors on mine property. The PIB reminds mine operators, miners' representatives and MSHA enforcement personnel that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) prohibits providing advance notice of inspections conducted by MSHA inspectors. In addition, the PIB clarifies potential consequences for anyone who violates this advance notice prohibition.
In a recent letter to OSHA on the proposed ‘Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment’ rule (29 CFR, Part 1910), the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) urged OSHA to utilize existing fall standards and the voluntary consensus standards process widely used in industry as it develops the new rule.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and The Fire Protection Research Foundation, an affiliate of the NFPA, will be hosting a two-day long symposium on New Strategies for Dust Explosion Hazard and Control, set to take place on October 20 and 21 at Embassy Suites Kansas City-Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri, according to an NFPA press release.
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