Rep. Miller, George [D-CA-11] has introduced legislation to revise the OSHA penalty structure. There are some interesting changes in this legislation:
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Repeat Violations – Increased from $70,000 to $120,000
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Serious Violations – OSHA has requested increase from $7,000 to $12,000.
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Built in inflation adjustment for penalty amounts
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Requirement of reporting of fatalities and hospitalizations of 2 or more employees (currently 3)
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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
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10 years imprisonment for a 1st offence violation that causes or contributes to the death to any employee – 20 years for subsequent offences
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Increases federal oversight of state OSHA plans
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Increases whistle-blower protection
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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.
