Enforcement

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) third unanimous decision in less than a week rejecting an OSHA fine for employers’ alleged failure to install safety equipment is drawing a warm welcome from employer attorneys, with one calling it evidence of a “trend” toward scrutiny of agency enforcement decisions.

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is citing more health care and other facilities for allegedly not protecting employees from COVID-19, most recently acting against six hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and a police department with more than $100,000 in proposed fines.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has for the second time in a matter of days struck down an OSHA citation for an industrial accident because the agency failed to prove that a worker’s risky behavior was part of “normal operation” for the facility, underscoring the potentially high bar to make that showing.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in a new decision has vacated an OSHA citation for crushing hazards at an Air Force contractor’s on-base metal shop, holding that the agency failed to show that protections at the site were lacking based on whether an accident was “reasonably predictable.”

OSHA has settled its enforcement case against a Colorado contracting firm over a 2018 falling accident that left a worker with a traumatic brain injury, averting any decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) on the scope of worksite inspection or training requirements.

OSHA is continuing to unveil citations against employers over alleged failures to protect their workers from COVID-19, but labor unions and other Trump administration foes say the small financial penalties the agency is seeking are further evidence that its response to the pandemic has been unacceptably weak.

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) has recently fined more than a dozen companies a total of over $500,000 for allegedly failing to protect workers from COVID-19, with the bulk being levied on a frozen food manufacturer and the temporary employment firm it uses at more than $200,000 each.

OSHA has issued what appears to be its first citation to an employer for failing to protect workers from COVID-19 infections under the OSH Act’s general duty clause, a provision that attorneys have predicted will be the agency’s main authority for enforcing its array of sector-specific virus guidances during the pandemic.

Michigan’s state workplace safety agency is targeting its COVID-19 enforcement on retail businesses through an “emphasis program” focused primarily on restaurants with grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores as secondary priorities, and applying the state’s existing safety rules rather than issuing a pandemic-specific standard.

Attorneys representing employers say OSHA is actively tracking workplaces’ compliance with COVID-19 guides crafted by the agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warning that even though the documents are formally non-binding, employers who ignore them risk an OSHA enforcement action.