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As a result of the most recent investigation, OSHA placed Ashley Furniture in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). Here’s what that means for Ashley Furniture—and what it could mean for your company if you end up there.
The SVEP
The SVEP is an OSHA National Emphasis Program (NEP) created in 2010 to replace OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Program. You may end up in OSHA’s SVEP if you have committed willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations in one or more of the following circumstances:
- A fatality or catastrophic situation;
- In industry operations or processes that expose employees to the most severe occupational hazards and those identified as “High-Emphasis Hazards”;
- Exposing employees to hazards related to the potential release of a highly hazardous chemical; or
- All egregious enforcement actions.
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“High-Emphasis Hazards” include fall hazards and hazards identified from OSHA’s National Emphasis Programs that cover amputations, combustible dust, crystalline silica, excavation/trenching, lead, and shipbreaking.
The SVEP was the first of OSHA’s NEPs to require all state plan states to adopt a similar program, and it includes referral procedures to ensure that companies that are enrolled by a state or by federal OSHA in the program will be enrolled companywide at all U.S. locations, not just in a single state or in states under federal jurisdiction.
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Ending up in the SVEP will subject your entire company (not just one facility) to:
- Mandatory follow-up inspections, to ensure compliance;
- Increased company/corporate awareness of OSHA enforcement, through notification of corporate offices and through national press releases;
- Corporatewide enforcement agreements;
- Enhanced settlement provisions that affect the entire company and that include requirements not ordinarily included in OSHA settlements, such as requiring the submission of injury and illness logs to OSHA’s regional offices; and
- The threat of federal court enforcement.
The way to stay out of the SVEP is to have a strong compliance program and safety culture. The resources at Safety.BLR.com® can help.