OSHA to Increase Penalty Amounts

On November 2, 2015 President Obama signed a budget deal which included an amendment which allows OSHA to increase its penalties issued for the first time since 1990. The previous 2990 law prohibited OSHA from adjusting its penalties based on inflation. OSHA is now required to issue an interim final rule increasing its penalties to account for current inflation levels, which would raise proposed fines by about 80 percent. This means the maximum penalty for a “willful” violation would go from $70,000 to about $127,000 and the more common “serious” violations would go from $7,000 to about $12,700. This adjustment must occur before Aug. 1, 2016. SGIA will continue to monitor this activity and announce when the final rule will go into force. Sign up to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.