On May 31, OSHA announced a pilot program aimed at protecting workers who report violations of law, safety and health—a severe violator enforcement program for employers that “continually and willfully” disregard the rights of whistleblowers.
 |
OSHA’s Whistleblower-Severe Violator Enforcement Program (W-SVEP) will be similar to its existing Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which includes employers that routinely ignore federal workplace safety and health regulations and mandates follow-up inspections to ensure compliance. W-SVEP became effective on May 27, 2016, in the agency’s Kansas City Region, which includes employers in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, and those companies under federal enforcement in Iowa.