The Department of Labor recently announced updates to penalty guidelines aimed at improving worker safety. These changes are expected to support small businesses and eliminate workplace hazards. This announcement comes in the wake of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) budget for the next fiscal year, which includes a plan for nearly 10,000 fewer workplace hazard inspections due to an 8 percent funding cut and a more than 12 percent reduction in staffing.
The new guidelines reduce penalties for small businesses and those with no history of serious violations that fail to comply with worker health and safety standards. The time frame for quickly abating a hazard has also been extended by redefining “immediately” to mean up to 15 days. Experts predict that these penalty reductions, combined with a drastic cut in inspections, will likely lead to more worker illnesses, injuries, and deaths.
OSHA penalties for endangering workers’ health and lives are already considered low compared to penalties for other federal violations. The maximum fine for a serious violation is now $16,550 and about $165,500 for a willful violation. However, most penalties are reduced based on the company’s size, history of compliance, rapid remediation of a hazard, and good-faith efforts to correct a problem.
The new penalty policy changes extend fine reductions to businesses with up to 25 employees and expands the 20 percent fee reduction for a history of compliance to companies that had never been inspected. Critics argue that reducing penalties and inspections will make conditions on the job even more hazardous. The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of U.S. unions, reports that OSHA’s ability to protect workers has greatly diminished over the years due to budget cuts, staffing reductions, and low penalty rates.
The administration argues that the policy changes were made to minimize the burden on small businesses and increase prompt hazard abatement. However, critics believe that by changing the criteria for penalty reductions, the administration has removed the already weak deterrent for violating the nation’s worker safety and health laws.