OSHA looking to increase civil, criminal penalties

OSHA is recommending legislation that would increase civil penalties and index them for inflation, as well as increasing criminal penalties.

OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels has said before that OSHA penalties need to be stronger and previously took administrative action to do so.

In testimony before Senate committees focused on the chemical and fertilizer industries, Michaels said that OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard and the EPA’s Risk Management Plan regulation were created at about the same time, but the penalties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act are “much weaker.”

“This imbalance in penalties should be corrected,” Michaels said.