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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a West Texas metal fabricator for repeatedly exposing employees to fall, machine, and other safety hazards, placing the employer into the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) and seeking proposed penalties totaling $364,078. On October 18, 2021, OSHA opened an inspection of Kyoei Steel LTD, operating […]
On February 3, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it cited a northeast Texas sawmill and pallet manufacturer with 13 safety and health violations following a federal investigation into fatal injuries suffered by an 86-year-old worker. The agency is seeking $389,706 in proposed penalties. OSHA cited W.D. Townley and Son Lumber Company Inc. […]
On December 23, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule on debt collection in an initiative designed to enable the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other DOL agencies improve their collection of civil penalties (85 FR 83816).
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.
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 […]
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited a food manufacturer and staffing agency, seeking over $300,000 in penalties, for lockout/tagout and other violations after a temporary worker lost two fingers cleaning dough-rolling machinery.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited a Santa Ana, California, ceramic materials manufacturer for willful failure to guard machinery after an employee was fatally injured. The agency is seeking more than $250,000 in penalties for the cited violations.
Although delayed by the government shutdown, the EPA has finalized regulations adjusting its civil penalties to account for inflation. Therefore, effective February 6, 2019, the maximum civil penalties that the EPA may impose for violations of various environmental statutes have increased by just over 1 percent.