Employee safety is at the core of OSHA’s objectives. Achieving worker safety requires employers to take the necessary steps to ensure employees know how to achieve safety goals. Understanding these essential insights every employer should know about OSHA protects you and those who work to achieve your business goals. The Texas labor and employment attorneys at Fee, Smith & Sharp work closely with employers to ensure compliance with OSHA industry standards and initiate preventive measures that protect against violations.
OSHA Requires Employers To Proactively Safeguard Employees
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal agency that ensures the rights and protections of workers through training, education, outreach, and collaborative work with state OSHA programs. OSHA guidelines continually evolve to address industry changes and workers’ safety, requiring employers to remain current through education and monitoring legislative changes. To strive toward safe working conditions, OSHA requires employers to provide the following:
- Workplace safety and health training in a language employees understand
- Safe machinery
- Necessary safety equipment for performing a job
- Protection against toxic hazard exposure
- Reporting of worker injuries
- Copies of reports to an employee when a job-related injury or illness occurs
Every industry has unique OSHA standards that apply. Employers must proactively identify and incorporate updated industry standards to meet requirements. OSHA also strives for employee protection when speaking out about workplace hazards without fearing retaliation.
OSHA’s Right to Inspection and Your Right to Representation
Employers and employees may legally designate someone to serve as walkaround representatives during OSHA inspections, accompanying the OSHA official. Employers with more complex OSHA compliance standards may request a labor and employment attorney in Texas from our firm to be present during a walkaround and support the right to a fair review. Employees may also choose a third-party representative to participate in the walkaround if the OSHA officer has reasonable cause to believe the party is beneficial to the inspection.
OSHA’s Right to Conduct Interviews and Your Right to Be Present
OSHA’s right to interview is part of the inspection and investigative process. Employers may legally request that an attorney or company representative be present for interviews with individuals in a managerial position.
OSHA may interview employees in non-managerial positions within the company in private. Employees have the right to request a representative or attorney to be present during the interview. Other rights, such as ending an interview or refusing to record an interview, are available to employees. OSHA investigators may then pursue additional legal options to initiate an interview.
OSHA Citations May Occur Without an Injury Occurrence
An inspector will monitor working conditions, look for hazards and violations, ask questions, and interview workers in a walkaround. They will document their findings and ask for records to ensure you meet compliance. An employer may experience more frequent OSHA walkarounds when an adverse event occurs or the nature of the work is high-risk.
OSHA inspectors have the right to issue citations when a hazardous situation exposes workers to unsafe conditions, regardless of whether an injury occurs. Citations may also arise when subcontractors or other workers on the job site experience exposure to workplace hazards due to a company’s failure to meet safety standards. An OSHA inspector must follow strict guidelines for inspections, citations, and proposed penalties.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act also includes a General Duty Clause, which allows OSHA to cite employers for safety violations they fail to prevent or address that fall outside of an industry’s standards. This clause applies when no particular OSHA standard covers a hazard.
Time Limits Exist for OSHA Citations
The most assured way to know of OSHA’s closing an inspection of your business is to inquire online on the Establishment Search page. OSHA has six months from a violation observance to complete its investigation and issue a citation. Ultimately, issuing a citation can take months as long as it occurs within the time limits.
Concealing information from OSHA or misleading OSHA representatives during an inspection provides additional time to cite any safety hazards an entity commits. OSHA has six more months from the date of discovering the hazard or the date a discovery should occur to issue a citation.
Contesting a Citation or Negotiating a Settlement With OSHA is Possible
Employers have 15 working days from receiving a citation to contest in writing OSHA’s citation, penalties, or specified abatement date. As an employer, you may request an informal conference to discuss a citation within the designated time frame. Negotiating a settlement may be possible before moving forward with a formal contest. Fee, Smith & Sharp are fierce negotiators, working to save you time and money by facilitating the negotiation process.
Employers who fail to reach a settlement must file a Notice of Contest in writing within the allotted 15-day period. Failure to do so designates the citation as a final order. The next step is to contest the citation to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission in a hearing before an administrative judge.
Penalty Increases Are In Place For OSHA Violations
OSHA adjusts maximum penalties for violations by employers to account for inflation. The penalties you pay as an employer may change annually. The current maximum penalty amount is $16,550 per serious and other-than-serious violation. Willful or repeated violation penalties are a maximum of $165,514 per violation. Maximum failure to abate penalties are $16,550 per day beyond the abatement date OSHA establishes.
States implementing Occupational Safety and Health Plans must be as assertive in their penalties as OSHA. Learn more about the penalties your business may face for safety violations based on location and whether state plans or federal laws apply. Negotiating OSHA penalties effectively requires a legal advocate who comprehensively grasps and applies local and federal laws.
Discuss Strategies for OSHA Compliance, Inspections, and Defending Against Safety Violations
Understanding essential insights into OSHA as an employer protects employees and your rights. Strict penalties may apply to OSHA violations, costing your business. Speak with a Texas labor and employment attorney at Fee, Smith & Sharp to learn how we can better prepare your business to meet OSHA regulations and safeguard against citations.
