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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151
In another move to implement President Clinton's efforts to reinvent
government, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will test
a system that would reduce penalties for employers with excellent safety and
health programs.
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph
A. Dear said, "The New OSHA promises a departure from any 'one-size-fits-all'
regulatory approach that treats all workplaces and all hazards equally. In
issuing penalties for safety and health violations, we will treat employers who
implement good safety and health programs differently from those who fail to
make such efforts."
The test will involve revisions designed to achieve penalty application
goals described in President Clinton's May 1995 National Performance Review
report "The New OSHA: Reinventing Worker Safety and Health." It will be
conducted in six OSHA area offices in: Harrisburg, Pa.; Austin, Tex.; Billings,
Mont.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta, Ga. (East); and Atlanta, Ga. (West) starting
Aug. 1 and run until Nov. 15.
"Our goal, as always, is to increase workplace safety and health, and
help ease the adversarial relationship between business and regulators. The
primary responsibility for ensuring safety and health will be in the hands of
managers and workers at individual worksites. The pilot will test whether these
policies will help achieve that goal," said Dear.
OSHA wants its penalty policy to provide:
- increased penalty reductions for smaller employers.
- better incentives for employers to implement good safety and health
programs.
- little change from present penalties for average-sized employers with
average programs.
- serious consequences for serious violators.
- penalties adequate for deterrence.
With the pilot test, OSHA hopes to learn how well the proposed changes
achieve the objectives; if the system works for compliance officers, and if the
system makes sense to employers.
During the same period, the six OSHA offices will also be pilot testing
the new Program Evaluation Profile (PEP), used to assess employer safety and
health programs in general industry workplaces.
Careful pilot testing is a critical element in all of the agency's
reinvention efforts, Dear said. OSHA is committed to experimenting with
different strategies to meet its mission of reducing injuries, illnesses and
fatalities across the nation.
Dear cited a "tremendous gap" between the agency's mission, to make the
six million American workplaces as safe and healthful as possible for more than
90 million workers, and the resources available to do the job--about $305
million in the current year. A new penalty policy that emphasizes partnership
and encourages safety and health programs, he said, will help to close that
gap.
A good safety and health program generally includes management
leadership; employee participation; analysis of the worksite to identify safety
and health hazards; effective elimination or control of the hazards; and safety
and health training.
Single free copies of the notices on the two pilot tests may be
obtained after Aug. 1, 1996 by sending a self-addressed label to the U.S.
Department of Labor, OSHA/OSHA Publications, P.O. Box 37535 Washington, DC
20013-7535. Telephone (202) 219-4667, fax (202) 219-9266.
(Editor's Note: See attached summaries of penalty revision and
program evaluation profile (PEP) to be tested.)
SUMMARY OF PENALTY REVISIONS TO BE TESTED
Key features of the revised system to be tested include:
- Stipulating that no penalties shall be proposed for
other-than-serious violations if the employer had 250 or fewer employees
(company-wide) at all times during the past 12 months and the current
inspection does not reveal any willful, repeated or failure-to-abate
violations. (This policy does not apply to violations of regulatory
requirements such as requirements for recordkeeping or for posting
citations.)
- Changing the penalty adjustment factors for size to:
- one to 10 employees, 80 percent reduction;
- 11 to 30 employees, 65 percent reduction;
- 31 to 100, 40 percent reduction;
- 101 to 250 employees, 20 percent reduction.
- There will be no size adjustment penalty reduction for employers
with 251 or more employees. (If the inspection finds any violations classified
as high-gravity serious, willful, repeated or failure-to-abate, the size
adjustment will be limited to no more than 40%)
- Providing a good faith penalty adjustment factor ranging up to an 80
percent reduction based on evaluation of the employer's overall safety and
health program. No good faith reduction will be given when a repeated, willful
or failure-to-abate violation is found in the current inspection or when the
worksite has no overall safety and health program or less than a developmental
program. Employers will receive no more than a 40 percent reduction for good
faith if the worksite has a lost workday injury rate at or above the national
average for the industry or there are any high gravity serious violations or
more than a few total violations. If a worksite qualifies for a 60 percent or
80 percent good faith reduction, no penalties shall be proposed for
other-than-serious violations.
- Increasing the penalty for high gravity serious violations to a
mandatory $7,000 -- the statutory maximum.
An employer who had a previous OSHA inspection within the last five
years with no citation for serious, willful, repeat or failure-to-abate
violations would receive a penalty reduction of 10 percent based on history.
The area director may determine that a reduction for history can be given in
other circumstances.
The area offices involved in the pilot test will determine the
appropriate reduction percentages for size, history and good faith and add
them, also adding any quick-fix reduction for abating hazards for each
violation to which it applies. The total may not exceed 100 percent. (If the
sum of all reduction percentages exceeds 100%, any percentage over 100 percent
is to be disregarded.) The result will be the proposed penalty issued to the
employer.
At the same time, the area offices are to calculate what the penalty
would have been using the current method to help in the evaluation.
SUMMARY OF PROGRAM EVALUATION PROFILE (PEP) TEST
- Purpose:
- To be used in assessing employer safety and health programs in
general industry workplaces.
- Elements and factors to be scored:
- (1) Management Leadership and Employee Participation. In addition to
those elements, the evaluation will include implementation [tools provided by
management including budget, information, personnel, assigned responsibility,
adequate expertise and authority, line accountability, and program review
procedures].
- (2) Workplace Analysis, including survey and hazard analysis,
inspection, and reporting.
- (3) Accident and Record Analysis, including investigation of
accidents and near-miss incidents and data analysis.
- (4) Hazard Prevention and Control, including hazard control,
maintenance, and the medical program.
- (5) Emergency Response, including emergency preparedness and first
aid.
- (6) Safety and Health Training (as a whole).
- Overall Score:
- An overall score for the worksite will be calculated by taking the
average of the six individual scores of the elements and dividing by six.
- Program Levels:
- The overall score on the PEP constitutes the level at which the
establishment's safety and health program is scored. A score of 5 is an
outstanding program, score of 4 is a superior program, score of 3 is a basic
program, score of 2 is a developmental program and score of 1 is no program or
ineffective program.
- Written Programs:
- Employer safety and health programs should be in writing to be
effectively implemented and communicated. However, a program's
effectiveness is more important than whether it is in writing. A small
worksite may have an effective program that is not written, but is well
understood and followed by employees.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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