The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued new enforcement guidance to make its penalties more effective in stopping employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements, according to www.osha.gov.
OSHA regional administrators and area office directors now have the authority to cite certain types of violations as “instance-by-instance citations” for cases where the agency identifies “high-gravity” serious violations of OSHA standards specific to certain conditions where the language of the rule supports a citation for each instance of non-compliance. These conditions include lockout/tagout, machine guarding, permit-required confined space, respiratory protection, falls, trenching and for cases with other-than-serious violations specific to recordkeeping.
The change is intended to ensure OSHA personnel are applying full authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Act where increased citations are needed to discourage non-compliance. The new guidance covers enforcement activity in general industry, agriculture, maritime and construction and takes effect 60 days after Jan. 26. The current policy has been in place since 1990 and applies only to egregious willful citations.
OSHA also is reminding its regional administrators and area directors about their authority to not group violations and instead cite them separately to more effectively encourage employers to comply with the intent of the OSH Act.