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The recently passed Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 allows for significant increases in OSHA civil penalties and fines by factoring in adjustments for inflation, retroactively to 1996.  And the bill apparently allows for continued increases in OSHA fines for future costs of inflation. Since 1990 maximum OSHA fines for "Other Than Serious" and "Serious" was $7,000 and the maximum for "Willful" and "Repeats" was $70,000 but not anymore... Sec. 701. Civil monetary penalty inflation adjustments. Section 701(a) establishes the short [...]

This has been one of the highest traffic blogs on our website since we posted it a few years ago, so we wanted to add more valuable information for readers. Although this is a very specific topic, flammable chemical storage requirements, there are many more OSHA regulations that companies should be aware of including how to maintain OSHA compliance and how to develop and manage an OSHA safety training program. Given the overwhelming number of complicated regulations that many [...]

Here's a good article that weighs the pros and cons of contesting OSHA citations through the Informal Conference process. This blog post is the 8th highest traffic page on our website, so I have added my own comments and updates (August 2021) in parentheses & bold text where appropriate based on our extensive experience helping clients navigator OSHA enforcement actions. OSHA's tempting offer: Should you settle? - M. Lee Smith Publishers M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC Date: June 22 2005 [...]

Update:  These OSHA construction confined space rules are still in effect. Learn more below in our original blog post from 2015. The "Skinny" In May of this year, OSHA announced a new rule that will significantly enhance confined space compliance requirements for the construction industry. Why? According to OSHA: "Manholes, crawl spaces, tanks and other confined spaces are not intended for continuous occupancy.  They are also difficult to exit in an emergency. People in confined spaces face life-threatening hazards [...]