Along with fine increases, OSHA inspection lengths may rise

January 8th, 2016 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enters 2016 with some major changes possible for two of its programs that most directly impact businesses: inspections and fines. Much has been made about the administration's decision to increase fines commensurate with inflation since the last such adjustment occurred in 1990. The change in the amount of the fines mandated by OSHA would normally be relatively small, had an exception not been made by the Federal Civil Penalties Adjustment Act in 1990, according to Smart Business. Instead, the change needed to keep up with 25 years of inflation will push the cost of the financial judgments significantly higher.

An example provided by Packaging World puts the significant increase into a real-world application. OSHA inspectors commonly ask for training records, logs, written plans, and other materials at the onset of an inspection. Lack of a specific document currently incurs a $7,000 fine per violation. Under the increased schedule, OSHA would penalize non-compliant businesses with a fine of $12,700. With an increase of $5,700 per fine - and the fact that multiple fines are sometimes incurred during inspections - it's easy to see how these changes would seriously impact businesses.

There's still some time before OSHA will move to the new, more expensive fine schedule. OSHA won't start placing the larger penalty amounts on companies until Aug. 1, so businesses still have about eight months to come to terms with the changes and take the necessary steps related to EHS compliance to prevent future fines from occurring. Some businesses may use the increase - estimated at approximately 80 percent by Smart Business - as the impetus to improve EHS programs and take further steps to improve employee safety and wellness.

Longer inspections coming
While much of the attention about OSHA's changes has focused on the increased cost of fines and penalties, there's another important aspect to consider. Smart Business pointed out OSHA may change the way it approaches its inspections in the new year. Instead of conducting a certain number of inspections per month or year to meet an established quota, OSHA would focus more on in-depth visits that would take longer periods of time and could dig deeper into operations to find potential problems. This approach would cut down on total inspections performed per year, but would also increase their scope and severity.