Rising material prices and labor costs aren't the only thing roofing contractors will need to worry about due to economic conditions in 2024. The U.S. Department of Labor announced in a Jan. 11 news release that it will be increasing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2024.

In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than Jan.15 of each year.

This year, Jan. 15 falls on a federal holiday, so the new OSHA penalty amounts will become effective Jan. 16, 2024.

OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $15,625 per violation to $16,131 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $156,259 per violation to $161,323 per violation. Both are a 3.2% increase.

Visit the OSHA Penalties page and read the final rule for more information.