OSHA’s Walk-Around Proposal Could Pose Challenges

October 3, 2023

OSHA proposal could prompt more challenges

  • OSHA released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow easier access for non-employee representatives to participate in worksite inspections.
  • Under the proposal, employees could select any third party to represent them on a walk-around inspection, as long as it’s determined their participation is reasonably necessary to the conduct of a thorough inspection.
  • If adopted, the proposal will open the door for outside, non-employees without any safety expertise to access sensitive workplace inspections.
  • For example, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking suggests employees at a workplace may designate a union official to serve as their walkaround representative, even if the union does not represent the relevant employees in collective bargaining.
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Contractor agrees to pay $370,680 for safety failures

  • An Oklahoma construction contractor entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $370,680 in criminal and civil penalties to avoid federal prosecution on one count of ignoring federal safety regulations that resulted in a worker fatality in St. Joseph in 2019.
  • The action follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that found Skinner Tank Co. did not require employees to use fall protection while working on the roof of the 56-foot soybean storage tank, nor provide fall protection training.
  • An employee on the roof died after falling more than 50 feet to the ground. OSHA’s inspection also revealed that the company provided inaccurate safety information to its employees by telling them that wearing fall protection actually presented a greater hazard than not wearing it.
  • After issuing civil citations, including willful violations for failing to require the use of fall protection and provide fall protection training, and proposing $415,204 in penalties, OSHA made a criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice under the criminal provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
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Construction company faces fines after employee falls to death

  • An Oklahoma construction company has agreed to pay $370,680 in criminal and civil penalties in order to avoid being criminally charged over the October 2019 death of a worker who fell 50 feet while working atop a soybean storage tank.
  • OSHA said Yale-based Skinner Tank Co., which builds welded steel storage tanks nationwide, was initially issued civil citations for willful violations for failing to require the use of fall protection.
  • The company also failed to provide employees with fall protection training, according to OSHA.
  • The company had also faced $415,204 in fines.
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Watchdog group criticizes OSHA for pr

  • The U.S.  Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General criticized OSHA’s enforcement efforts at warehouses and online retailers.
  • The report analyzed OSHA warehouse inspections from October 1996 through December 2021, a period that covers three different presidential administrations and much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • OSHA Assistant Secretary Doug Parker said in a response included with the report that the office’s criticism of inspection policies was unfounded.
  • OSHA said the report overlooked recent actions
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