Recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) developments are a growing cause of concern for many employers and manufacturers in the United States. Effective Aug. 1, OSHA is expected to increase its fines for workplace safety violations by more than 80 percent. At the same time, OSHA and the Department of Labor (DOL) are making it harder than ever for employers to police safety violations.
In February, the DOL sued U.S. Steel Corp., alleging that U.S. Steel’s policy mandating that employees immediately report workplace incidents violates the OSHA Act because it allegedly discourages employees from reporting workplace injuries. According to Richard Mendelson, OSHA’s regional administrator in Philadelphia, “U.S. Steel’s policy discourages employees from reporting injuries for fear of retaliation. Because workers don’t always recognize injuries at the time they occur, the policy provides an incentive for employees to not report injuries once they realize they should, since they are concerned that the timing of their report would violate the company’s policy and result in some kind of reprimand.”