OSHA Inspections, Fines On Rise

Thursday, June 3, 2010

By Bill Caton

OSHA fines and jobsite inspections are increasing and Latino jobsite safety as well as health hazards will be emphasized in the coming year, said Mobile Area OSHA Director Kurt Petermeyer.

Petermeyer, speaking recently to the Montgomery Section of the Alabama AGC, said OSHA will target Stimulus-funded jobs, but not open shop jobs.

“On my word I can assure you that (OSHA focusing on open shop contractors) is not the case at all,” he said. “We don’t even know if a job is open shop or union before we arrive.”

“We have started focusing on Stimulus jobs,” Petermeyer said. “Information is fed to us as sites open up. There will be a substantial emphasis on those types of sites receiving funding. The big focus will be on road building crews.”

The OSHA director said fines will increase from $1,000 for a serious violation to $7,000, but small employers “25 employees and under in size will receive a reduction for size. That will put you in the $3,000-$4,000 range.”

Also, the Mobile Area OSHA staff is increasing from 10 to 15, leading to 50-60 additional inspections a year, but a contractor “may see more of a presence because of the economy and the fewer number of jobsites,” Petermeyer said.

He also said that communication with Spanish-speaking employees is an emphasis. “It’s a big push for us to make sure that employers are able to communicate to them effectively. We have sample programs in Spanish. You have to have someone to be able to talk to them. Most on-the-job accidents are preventable. (We need) good communication on jobsites.”

Petermeyer covered other areas of interest as well:

1. A crane standard will be coming out, probably in the next few months. Training of operators will be the centerpiece.

2. A confined space standard probably will come out in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

3. Repeat violations used to go back three years, but will soon go back five years.

4. OSHA will have a continued emphasis on landscaping. Crews on a jobsite using zero-radius lawnmowers could draw an OSHA inspection.

5. Health hazards will be a focus for the next four years. Of particular interest are silica, lead exposure and asbestos in buildings that are being rehabbed.

6. The Struck-By Alliance is important to OSHA because inspectors continue to see struck-by accidents on moving equipment.

7. Program Inspections, where the inspector will tell the contractor what the inspection is for in an opening conference with onsite management and then end with a post-inspection conference, will focus on trenches and fall protection. Forty percent of OSHA inspections come from falls.