Category: Enforcement and Inspection

As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.

Free Special Report: What to Expect from an OSHA Inspection

Safety inspection, citations

OSHA Enforcement Roundup: Falls, Excavations, and … Rhinoceroses

What have OSHA’s compliance officers been up to lately? Take a look at some of the more significant enforcement cases from the past several months to find out. From the usual suspects like fall hazards and excavations to some less typical cases, recent enforcement activity illustrates the importance of a strong safety and health program […]

Balancing environmental enforcement and business

EPA Deals Out Big Fines in Q3

In Q3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized 158 settlement agreements with companies small and large across the United States. There was a definitive increase in enforcement actions, with only 106 penalties issued in the previous quarter. Here we highlight some of the biggest fines.

OSHA safety concept

OSHA Has Revised Its Enforcement Weighting System

OSHA has replaced its Enforcement Weighting System (EWS) with a new OSHA Weighting System (OWS) to encourage its field staff to conduct compliance assistance activities, in addition to performing enforcement inspections to reduce the deadliest workplace hazards.

Gavel, scales of justice and law books

ALJ Says Tribal Business Exempt from OSH Act

Requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) do not apply to a business exclusively owned and operated by a Native American tribe, an administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled. The decision of an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) ALJ vacates citations and penalties issued by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and […]

OSHA log, OSHA inspections

OSHA Reveals Latest Top 10 List of Violations at NSC 2019

At the 2019 National Safety Council Congress & Expo in San Diego, California, Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, presented the agency’s top 10 violations for fiscal year (FY) 2019 to a standing-room-only crowd of safety professionals. The order may have changed slightly, but the list remain remains the same as […]

Hazardous chemicals

Hazardous Chemicals and the General Duty Clause

The applicability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) is reasonably clear, but facilities with chemicals in amounts less than the RMP thresholds are finding themselves in trouble with the EPA because they are overlooking EPA’s General Duty Clause (42 U.S. Code 7412(r)(1)). Several times over the last 6 months the […]