H.R.1648 – Protecting America’s Workers Act
Representative George Miller that has been in congress since 1975 has introduced legislation to revise the OSHA penalty structure. There are some interesting changes in this legislation that could tremendously affect our industry relating to fines and penalties.
-
Repeat Violations – Increased from $70,000 to $120,000
-
Serious Violations – OSHA has requested increase from $7,000 to $12,000.
-
Built in inflation adjustment for penalty amounts
-
Requirement of reporting of fatalities and hospitalizations of 2 or more employees (currently 3)
-
5 years imprisonment for a 1st offence violation that causes or contributes to serious bodily harm to any employee but does not cause death to any employee – 10 years for subsequent offences
-
10 years imprisonment for a 1st offence violation that causes or contributes to the death to any employee – 20 years for subsequent offences
-
Increases federal oversight of state OSHA plans
-
Increases whistle-blower protection
-
Allows multiple general duty citations – one for each affected employee
These would be massive changes to the enforcement of the OSHA rules.
You can read the bill at this link.
