The Types of OSHA Violations To Be Aware Of
If you run a business in the construction or tower maintenance industries, one crucial component contributing to your success is your relationship with OSHA. Otherwise known as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA is the government organization dominantly responsible for ensuring labor workers are safe on the job. As such, they’ve conducted endless hours of research into what makes a workplace safer for its employees, and as a result, they’ve developed strict guidelines that companies must follow. These rules are for the overall wellbeing of the working individual and function to best protect workers from situations that could cause them injury or death. Still, while many businesses are conscientious about staying within OSHA’s expectations, there must be steps in place to handle those that aren’t so accommodating.
OSHA violations encompass every recorded instance when a specific company, or one of their locations, hasn’t met the legal standards of safety for their industry. These violations are the means by which OSHA can cite employers of wrongdoing and hold them liable with a monetary penalty. Because of this, you’ll need to know what to be on the lookout for in your line business so that you can stay compliant. These are the different types of OSHA violations to be aware of and what each of them could mean for your company.
The Importance of Avoiding OSHA Violations
When OSHA issues safety violations as a result of an inspection, it’s often followed by a citation to fix what isn’t meeting the set standard. From there, the company has one month to either contest the violation on record or comply, make the required changes, and pay the fine laid out for them. This process requires a lot of time, paperwork, and commitment on your part to do better for the sake of your employees and your business’s financial stability. As such, it’s best to educate yourself on all relevant OSHA standards and keep yourself compliant from the very beginning. Otherwise, you risk not only the repercussions of a violation but also a record of those past errors.
Core OSHA Violation Categories
As for the specific violations themselves, there are several different categories that they can fall into. The category for each particular offense is dependent on how severe the issue was and whether it was in blatant disregard of OSHA-established rules. The six main types of OSHA violations to be aware of are as follows:
De Minimis
This is the least severe form of violation, issued only when a company has slightly deviated its standards from those that OSHA has set. An example of this would include using equipment that’s barely over the official maximum limit. Because these changes have no real impact on worker health or safety, there’s no enacted fine involved with them. However, inspectors will still make a note of these contradictions in the company's file.
Other-Than-Serious
Other-than-serious violations have a bit more of an impact than de minimis violations. These offenses do not present an immediate threat to workers, but they have the potential to do so in the right conditions. One instance of this could involve poor recordkeeping practices that lead to worker confusion on the job site. Though they aren’t often a current danger, other-than-serious violations still come with a fine and a citation to correct the issue.
Serious
As their name suggests, serious violations are much more severe. An inspector will issue one of these when an identified workplace hazard could directly result in worker injury, illness, or even death. This could be from things like failing to fix damaged equipment or not providing worker safety training. Typically, the only grounds for appealing a violation of this magnitude is if the employer didn’t know or couldn’t have known of the problem. If it’s evident that they did know, they face a hefty fine, and the offense could potentially escalate to a willful violation.
Willful
Willful violations are those in which there’s registered proof that the employer either knowingly didn’t correct the hazard or was unresponsive to the realization of the threat. This is the most serious category of citation and, likewise, requires businesses to pay as much as several thousand dollars per offense. Additionally, if an employee dies on the job, this becomes a criminal citation with an even larger fine.
Repeated
It’s also important to note that employers can receive citations for past violations that they’ve failed to fix before the next inspection date. In fact, if an inspector finds offenses that are identical to previously recorded ones, they can tack on an additional fine as a repeated violation. However, keep in mind that, should the business already be in the process of challenging the previous write-up, a repeated violation would not be valid.
Failure To Abate
A failure to abate violation occurs after the initial inspection and citation process. The company has until a set date to either remedy the mentioned problems or begin the filings for contesting the claim. Should they take neither action, they can receive another fine for every extra day they take to comply. These charges can quickly add up, making it that much more important that you don’t allow it to get to that point.
How To Comply With OSHA Violations
If you plan to comply with your previously obtained violations, the most crucial thing to remember is to keep an open line of communication with OSHA. This administration requires immediate notification when you make their specified changes and a document detailing the repairs in question. This paperwork must be signed by a member of management and received by OSHA within the allotted time. You must also pay any outlying penalties that accrued as a result of the violation.
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