OSHA OK’d to rake in larger fines: Court opens floodgates for expensive citations

OSHA just got authority to increase the size of fines for safety violations.

A recent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) decision has affirmed OSHA’s policy of assessing per-employee penalties when the cited regulation clearly prohibits individual acts rather than a single course of action.

The case goes back more than 16 years to a GM plant in Oklahoma City. A conveyor activated, caught the head of an employee, and killed him instantly.

OSHA assessed penalties totaling $2.78 million.

One reason for the huge fine: OSHA calculated some of the fines for training on a per-employee basis.

GM appealed. Finally, the review commission said the violations are susceptible to citation on a per-employee basis.

The key was the language of the statute that applied in this case. This one requires employers to “instruct each employee.” That language triggers the per-employee fines.

GM’s fine was reduced, but the new total is still huge: $692,000. (Secretary of Labor v. GM, OSHRC Docket Nos. 91-2834E & 91-2950, 12/4/07.)

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a court ruling that bolsters OSHA’s use of more expensive willful citations.

Two companies had been cited for 141 willful violations and faced fines of more than $1 million. OSHRC grouped the violations together and reduced the total fines to $140,000.

OSHA appealed, and a federal appeals court said OSHRC overstepped its bounds by reducing the number of violations.

The case now goes back to OSHRC to recalculate the fines. Even if the minimum for a willful violation is used, the companies still face combined fines of more than $700,000. (Secretary of Labor v. Jindal United Steel Corp., U.S. Circuit Crt. 5, Nos. 05-61087 & 05-61089, 2/21/07.)

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