As OSHA practitioners and environmental, health and safety professionals know, avoiding repeat citations is often a central issue when resolving an OSHA enforcement matter. OSHA policy instructs the agency to consider several factors when determining whether to characterize a citation as “repeat.” One of those factors involves a situation in which there has been a change in corporate structure or ownership between the initial and subsequent violations.

Friday, March 13, 2020 is often viewed as the day America began to feel the impact of COVID-19. The following week, businesses throughout the country either transitioned to remote work or had to reckon with how to operate in a different manner while trying to protect workers from exposure to the virus.

OSHA’s recent enforcement activity serves as a reminder to employers across all industries of the obligation to record work-related COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations and fatalities. An employer’s failure to comply with OSHA’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements could result in significant penalties.