Welcome

Quick OSHA Penalties Facts:

• The Bipartisan Budget Act (Act) was signed into law on Nov. 2, 2015
• The Act allows OSHA to increase the maximum penalties for safety and health violations
• The increases will become effective by Aug. 1, 2016
• The penalty amounts will continue to be adjusted for inflation each year

On Nov. 2, 2015, President Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (Act), which is a two-year budget deal. One provision in the Act will allow OSHA to increase the maximum penalty amounts it imposes on employers that violate occupational safety and health standards. These increases will become effective Aug. 1, 2016.

Justification for Increased OSHA Penalties

Many government agencies have the authority to adjust their maximum penalty amounts annually to reflect the cost of inflation, as shown by the consumer price index (CPI). However, OSHA has not been allowed to adjust its maximum penalty amounts since the penalties were enacted 25 years ago. The Act will allow OSHA to adjust the maximum penalty amounts to reflect inflation.

OSHA will be allowed to increase its maximum penalties in 2016 and adjust them annually for inflation starting in 2017

Catch-up Increase

The Act requires OSHA to implement the new maximum penalty amounts in two phases:

• An initial catch-up adjustment.
• An ongoing subsequent adjustment period.

The initial catch-up period took place in 2016 and  allowed OSHA to make a cost-of-living adjustment to account for the previous 25 years of non-adjustment. This catch-up increase is capped at 150 percent of current OSHA penalty levels.
The Act requires OSHA to indicate the actual amount of the catch-up increase through an interim final rule. Most predictions and speculations surrounding the actual increase amounts hover around an 80 percent increase, because the current CPI index is around 78.2 percent higher than what it was when OSHA’s current penalties were adopted.
However, the Act also gives OSHA the discretion to increase the current maximum penalty amounts by less than the cost-of-living adjustment if it determines that the full increase will:

• Have a negative effect on the economy.
• Result in social costs that outweigh the benefits of the full increase. The Office of Management and Budget must agree with this determination.

The table below shows the speculated 80 percent increase, the maximum increase allowed by the Act, and how those increases would affect maximum OSHA penalty amounts in 2016.

Annual Adjustments

After the initial catch-up provision takes place in 2016, the Act allows OSHA to update its maximum penalty amounts for inflation each year.

The first annual inflation adjustment will be allowed for 2017. OSHA will be required to publish annual updates by Jan. 15, 2017, to signal this increase and every year thereafter in the Federal Register.

To learn more about how this could potentially affect your business, talk with Razer Safety and Health Consulting.

OSHA Final Rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

Many employers with more than 10 employees – including electrical contractors around the country – are required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. Minor injuries requiring first aid only do not need to be recorded.
As part of a new reporting rule issued by OSHA, all employers will be required to submit their 300A Summary electronically beginning on Jan. 1, 2017.
Companies with 250 or more employees must start providing additional information in 2018, including the 300A Summary, the 300 log form and all 301 or incident reports that have been purged of employee and physician names and addresses.
OSHA has given all employers of 20-249 employees until July 1, 2017, to submit the 300A electronically via its web portal for the calendar year 2016. The deadline is July 1, 2018, for calendar year 2017.
OSHA does not prohibit post-incident testing and incentive programs as long as they do not discourage reporting of injuries in any way. If a contractor, for instance, only did post-incident testing after an incident or accident, that could be deemed discriminatory and possibly discourage reporting.
A Drug Free Work Place program that has pre-employment testing, random testing and reasonable suspicion testing, along with post-incident testing, would be a program that does not discriminate against an employee simply for being involved in an accident or incident. The total program would discourage drug use in the workplace and protect all employees from these exposures.

For additional information on OSHA’s webpage on the new reporting rule, go to OSHA's Final Rule.

Final Rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Frequently-Asked Questions OSHA's Final Rule FAQ