OSHA Enforcement

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As part of the final rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illness, issued in May 2016, employers  had a phased in compliance deadline for the electronic submission of recordkeeping forms.  For 2017, employers with establishments with 250 or more employees and establishments with less than 250 employees but 20 or more in certain…

Employers do not have to report a worker as having an injury if they instruct the worker to do regular stretching exercises for a “minor discomfort,” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded in an interpretation letter released on May 24, 2017.

In the letter, OSHA responded to a question on whether “an employee’s…

Two Massachusetts contractors were operating as a single employer at a worksite in Massachusetts when at least two employees of a roofing crew fell from a wooden plank in October 2014, an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission administrative law judge has ruled.  To read the full article, written by Brad Hammock, click here.

In February 2013, OSHA issued an interpretation letter in response to a request from the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, which clarified that employees at a non-union worksite could elect to have a non-employee who is “affiliated with a union” or with a “community organization”…

On April 19, 2017, the Department of Industrial Relations for the State of California issued an important update to Cal/OSHA’s new Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction.  The standard is substantially similar to Federal OSHA’s new rules for silica.  The new standard is found under Title 8 section 1532.3 of the California Code of…

Earlier today, OSHA issued a memorandum to all Regional Administrators informing them that “we have decided to delay enforcement of this standard [1926.1153] until September 23, 2017.” The agency noted that the additional time is necessary for the development of guidance materials and training for compliance officers. OSHA explained that it is currently developing educational…

The House of Representatives has voted to block a new Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordkeeping rule implemented in the last weeks of the Obama Administration. “Clarification of Employer’s Continuing Obligation to Make and Maintain an Accurate Record of Each Recordable Injury and Illness” was published in the Federal Register on December 19, 2016, and…

In August 2016 we reported on the substantial increases to OSHA fines for violations of safety and health regulations as part of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. (Sec. 701 of Public Law 114-74).  This law allowed OSHA a one-time “catch-up” adjustment for civil penalties followed by annual increases in…