The U.S. already experienced perilous conditions
- OSHA is reminding employers to be aware of weather-based hazards in the dead of winter that can compromise workplace safety.
- Companies must plan, equip, and train their workers for jobs impacted by winter weather in an effort to prevent injuries, illnesses, and fatalities during winter storms.
- The U.S. has already experienced significant winter weather events during 2022-2023, with much of the country having been impacted by heavy snowfalls, icy conditions, arctic cold, and/or brutal winds.
- Extreme weather could continue to increase with each passing season and workers will have to perform their jobs in difficult conditions.
Company contests OSHA fines
- DA Smith Drilling Co. in Colorado is contesting eight federal citations issued more than a year ago for safety violations, and associated penalties totaling nearly $190,000.
- OSHA fined the company after two workers died in an explosion at an Oklahoma dam in May 2021.
- The two employees were killed when the explosion occurred at the Robert S. Kerr Dam east of Tulsa.
- A third worker with DA Smith Drilling was higher up the shaft and suffered minor injuries.
FedEx worker dies in North Dakota
- OSHA has opened an investigation after a 29-year-old man died at FedEx Freight in West Fargo, N.D.
- The man was attempting to recoup shifted inventory on a pallet inside a trailer.
- The pallet tipped over and crushed him.
- OSHA has six months to complete its investigation, issue citations, and propose monetary penalties if violations of workplace safety or health regulations are found.
Adjustment to civil penalties
- The U.S. Department of Labor announced changes to the OSHA civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023.
- OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $14,502 per violation to $15,625 per violation.
- The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $145,027 per violation to $156,259 per violation.
- In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect.