More fatalities lead to sterner enforcement
- The Justice Department is stepping up prosecution for violations of OSHA’s worker safety laws in response to a recent spate of fatalities in the workplace.
- The agency is willing to charge violators of OSHA laws even in the absence of Title 18 offenses, which says it’s a crime to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or other U.S. laws
- In the past, OSHA violations generally have not been charged criminally by federal prosecutors.
- The DOJ can leverage more criminal charges by combining OSHA Act crimes with Title 18 offenses and other environmental crimes under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and federal laws regarding hazardous waste.
New California law amends COVID notification
- California passed a law that allows employers to post a notice of potential exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace rather than providing a written notice.
- Employers subject to the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard still appear to be required to provide written notice to employees, independent contractors, and other employers of potential exposure.
- However, notification to the local public health authority is no longer required in the event of an outbreak, but California still requires disclosure under the COVID-19 Prevention Program Regulation
- The law provides relief from the burden of notification, but also creates potential confusion about when these notifications are required.
Washington State renews OSHA charter
- Washington State Labor Secretary Marty Walsh renewed the two-year charter for the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, the agency announced.
- NACOSH advises, consults with, and makes recommendations to the secretaries of labor and health and human services about occupational safety and health.
- The committee also established a workgroup on heat injury and illness prevention.
- The workgroup met for the first time in February.
Ohio contractor faces $1M in fines
- A Millersburg, Ohio, contractor with a long history of disregarding workplace safety standards faces more than $1 million in penalties after an OSHA inspection found their employees working at dangerous heights without fall protection.
- The infractions occurred at Charm Builders Ltd.’s West Virginia work site.
- OSHA found Charm Builders allowing employees, some at heights up to 28 feet, to work without required protection, and exposing them to the construction industry’s most deadly hazard.
- OSHA issued citations for 12 violations – six egregious-willful, five repeats and one serious – for failing to ensure the use of fall protection, not training employees on fall hazards, allowing unsafe use of portable ladders, and not making sure workers used safety glasses.