On January 2, 2018, the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has increased the maximum
civil penalties (
fines) for serious, other-than-serious, and posting requirements to $12,934, from $12,471. Failure to Abate violations have increased to $12,934 per day beyond the abatement date from $12,471 and Willful/Repeat violations have increased to $129,336 from $124,709. These civil penalty increases were mandated by
Congress, on November 2, 2015, through legislation that required all federal agencies to adjust their civil penalties to account for inflation. OSHA increased their penalties on August 1, 2016, the link to our previous blog post discussing that increase is below. Moving forward, as the legislation requires, the penalties will be adjusted each year based on the
Consumer Price index. OSHA will continue to do penalty reductions based on the size of the employer and other factors.
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| Properly Using Table 1 Will Avoid a Violation |
According to April 24, 2018, article by Bloomberg Environment, OSHA and state programs have cited the silica rule 116 times since September 23, 2017. With OSHA ramping up enforcement of the respirable
crystalline silica rule (1926.1153) incorrectly following Table 1 procedures (cited 27% of the time), and not measuring worker exposures (cited 30% of the time), can result in a serious violation at the cost of $12,934 each. Not training workers about silica or not having a silica exposure plan may result in other-than-serious violations that could cost $12,934 each.
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| Using this Equipment, we can Measure Silica Exposures |
OSHA's website discussing the increase in civil penalties
can be found here. While the OSHA website discussing the silica rule requirements
can be found here.
OSHA Fines Increase By 78%, Will That Lead To An Increase in Safety Consulting & Training?(futureenv.blogspot.com)
OSHA's Silica Standard - What's All The Fuss About? Part One(futureenv.blogspot.com)
New NIOSH Study Supports the OSHA Annual Fit Testing Requirements for Filtering Facepiece Respirators(blogs.cdc.gov)
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