As of August 1, 2016, Ohio Occupational Safety and Health Administration—also known as OSHA— raised safety violation fines by 78%.
This is a large jump, but workers have anxiously awaited this since 1990. Workers’ safety has been a large topic of discussion after two tragic fatalities this year.
The most recent fatality occurred in March of 2016 when an Aqua Ohio employee Alexander Marcotte was working in a trench and it collapsed on top of him. He died hours later at the hospital.
The company was previously cited for at least 5 very serious safety violations and one for inadequate trench safety, but no safety modifications were made before this young worker was tragically killed.
OSHA’s new rule will increase maximum penalties for serious violations from $70,000 to $124,000. The last time the maximum fine penalty was adjusted was in 1990. It has been 26 years since OSHA last reviewed precautions to protect our workers.
In 2014 alone, there were 185 work-related fatalities in Ohio.
After seeing Aqua Ohio ignore multiple safety violations, how many other companies have in the past or are currently ignoring OSHA penalties?
This new safety violation rule will do the following:
- Increase the minimum penalty fine from $5,000 to $8,909 for “repeat” and “willful” violations
- Increase the maximum penalty fine from $70,000 to $124,709 for “repeat” and “willful” violations
- Continue to reduce/adjust fine amounts based on company size and Consumer Price Index
If you or a loved one was severely hurt or tragically killed on the job, acquiring a Workers Compensation attorney will provide you the guidance and experience needed during this difficult time.
As your Ohio workplace accident attorney, I’ll be there for you, and I’ll Make Them Pay!®
Author: Tim Misny | For over four decades, personal injury lawyer Tim Misny has represented the injured victim in in birth injury, medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury/wrongful death cases, serving “Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Columbus, Dayton and neighboring communities.” You can reach Tim by email at misnylaw.com/ask-tim-a-question/ or call at 1 (800) 556-4769.
