Report from the ABA OSHA Conference

We are attending the ABA Occupational Safety and Health Law Meeting this week in Santa Barbara, California. This morning a hot topic is developments in OSHA’s enforcement programs and initiatives, including the “enforcement weighting system,” the increase in penalties, enterprise-wide enforcement, severe violators enforcement program, and criminal prosecutions, etc.

 

The Solicitor of Labor, Patricia Smith, is here, and she stressed that OSHA will continue to push for enterprise-wide relief as an effective tool for preventing violations. As many employers know, this has historically been a controversial issue in OSHA law because principles of due process and fundamental fairness are strongly  implicated when OSHA attempts to enforce alleged violations against facilities where no actual alleged violations were observed or cited by OSHA. Ms. Smith also stressed how the agency believes criminal prosecutions can serve as a very important deterrent. This is an important reminder that OSHA continues to come down hard on employers and push harsh enforcement initiatives.

 

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