Enforcement

OSHA is raising its minimum and maximum penalties for OSH Act violations by 7.7 percent to account for inflation, an even larger hike than the prior year and one the agency is again ordering states to adopt in their own work-safety programs even as it awaits a federal judge’s ruling in litigation over whether that mandate is lawful.

OSHA has posted online a new batch of regulatory interpretation letters for the first time in more than six months, offering answers to employers’ questions for clarification on exit signage requirements, fall protections for certain cranes, and compliance with lockout/tagout standards during pipeline repair.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has set oral argument for early March in a construction firm’s clash with OSHA over the agency’s safety standards for crane assembly and disassembly, teeing up arguments on whether those requirements “clearly” apply to preparatory work as the agency says, and how to read any ambiguity in the rule.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is pressing OSHA to step up enforcement on traumatic injuries after the Labor Department’s (DOL) annual report on worker deaths from sudden trauma for 2021 found an 8.9 percent increase from the prior year -- a rise the group says should be “unacceptably high” for the agency.

OSHA is citing Amazon for 14 alleged recordkeeping and reporting violations as part of its high-profile investigation into reported safety issues at the retail giant’s warehouses -- the first public action it has taken since the Justice Department (DOJ) became involved in the inquiry, which the agency says is “ongoing” and could produce more citations.

OSHA is touting its latest in a series of enforcement actions against Dollar General over allegations of widespread unsafe conditions, such as faulty emergency exits at the retailer’s stores, even after the agency agreed to drop a court action designed to enforce what it said was an “informal settlement” stemming from an earlier round of citations.

OSHA is urging a federal appeals court to reject a Texas construction firm’s argument that its safety standards for crane assembly and disassembly do not cover preparatory steps, arguing that the rule is “unambiguous” and that even if its scope is unclear judges should defer to the agency’s reasonable interpretation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit is weighing competing briefs from OSHA and two subsidiaries of the healthcare giant UHS in an appeal testing when the agency can treat legally distinct companies as a “single employer,” as each side claims the other is trying to overturn foundational precedent on that question.

California lawmakers signaled at a recent hearing that they are open to new legislation that would speed up worker-safety rulemakings and bolster enforcement at the state’s OSHA (Cal/OSHA), after labor representatives complained that several critical safety standards are taking years to complete and enforcement is lacking at best in many key sectors.

Employer attorneys are highlighting a recent decision by an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) judge as a rare signal of the agency’s burden to show workers should be considered employees and not contractors under the OSH Act, just as the Labor Department is weighing a new rulemaking to define those categories.