Email Document Reference

Enter your email address below and the reference for this document will be sent to shortly from webmaster@ceesi.com.

Title: Osha Defense 101: Avoiding The Osha Liability Pyramid
Author: Mark A. Lies II, Elizabeth Leifel Ash
Source: American Gas Association 2009
Year Published: 2009
Abstract: Under the Obama Administration, employers have already seen OSHAs enforcement budget increase. The Democratically-controlled Congress has publicly announced its intention to amend the OSHA law to increase civil and criminal penalties. OSHA representatives have also identified new aggressive inspection strategies directed toward certain hazards or groups of employers. Over the next four to eight years, at least, employer can expect increased enforcement activity from OSHA, including more workplace inspections, more citations issued, higher penalties, and higher severity classifications, even criminal exposure for individual managers. Thus, it is critical for employers to understand their potential exposure for violations of health and safety regulations and to develop enterprise-wide strategies for responding to OSHA inspections and citations. A recent decision from the OSHA Review Commission, the judicial body within OSHA, illustrates the pitfalls of navigating OSHA law and is a clear signal of the trends that will emerge from the agency over the next several years. Sec. of Labor v. E. Smalis Painting Co., slip op., O.S.H.R.C. Docket No. 94-1979 (Apr. 10, 2009) (Smalis). The cumulative impact of a history of citations resulted in an OSHA liability pyramid of multiple citations and millions in penalties. From large-scale construction sites to office buildings and factories, all employers can glean important lessons from Smalis.

In order to prevent spam and automated file downloads for documents within the Measurement Library, please follow the instructions below and then you will be able to email a reference to this article.