OSHA Steps It Up

The tone has changed in the OSHA Administration and efforts to ramp up and crack down are already in motion. More resources are being allocated to enforcement, and penalties and fines are being increased. Now is a good time to review your safety program and ensure that it is iron-clad. Here is a brief overview of some of OSHA’s recent and planned actions.

Improved record keeping

Part of the stage for stronger enforcement was set with the initiation of the记录保存国家重点计划（NEP）2009年10月。该计划的目的是评估雇主记录的伤害和疾病数据的准确性。保存NEP的记录涉及检查企业准备的职业伤害和疾病记录，并在发现雇主的受伤和疾病不足时适当执行监管要求。检查包括记录审查，员工访谈以及对工作场所的安全性和健康检查有限。

Harsher penalties for violators

提议Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA)would rev up the OSHA Act by raising penalties for violations of the law, strengthening workers’ voices in the workplace, expanding the rights of victims and their families, expanding OSHA coverage to public employees, and requiring the abatement of serious, willful and repeat hazards during the citation contest period.

“好工作是安全的工作，” OSHA劳工助理部长David Michaels在拟议的Pawa上说。该法案已经成立了多年，但是在当前的环境中，颁布的可能性很大。

Increased civil penalties

美国劳工部的职业安全与卫生管理局正在实施新的Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP)and increasing civil penalty amounts.

迈克尔斯说：“对于许多雇主来说，投资工作安全只有在有足够的激励措施遵守OSHA要求的情况下才会发生。”“更高的处罚和更具侵略性的有针对性的执法将提供更大的威慑力，并进一步鼓励这些雇主为员工提供安全健康的工作场所。”

This program includes increased OSHA inspections, including mandatory OSHA follow-up inspections.

监管议程

In April OSHA released its regulatory agenda setting forth the regulations that have been selected for review or development during the coming year. There were several key points of this agenda that demonstrate OSHA’s more aggressive approach to holding employers to a standard.

OSHA正在制定一项新规则，该规则将要求企业制定伤害和预防疾病计划。该规则可能会对美国的几乎所有企业产生巨大影响，因为它要求雇主实施一个主动计划，该计划涉及计划，实施，评估和改进保护员工安全和健康的流程和活动。对企业的经济影响将是重大的。

Another rule that is further along in the process is theCooperative Agreements。目前，正在使用联邦资助的现场咨询计划与OSHA合作或获得安全和健康成就识别计划（SHARP）地位的企业免于检查。在这项拟议的规则中，OSHA建议重新考虑免除此类业务的执法，并允许合规安全和卫生官员继续进行咨询访问和授予敏锐地位的地点的站点引起的执法访问。

TheNAICS更新和报告相关修订Occupational Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Requirements企业/行业目前不受记录保存要求的重新考虑。它还修改了有关某些伤害和死亡的报告要求。目前，OSHA使用SIC代码来对豁免记录保存的行业进行分类。NAICS代码更为具体。多个NAIC代码通常存在于单个SIC代码中。这意味着OSHA将能够“微调”哪些特定业务在以前更加“广泛”类别中的豁免。

提议rule for record keeping to add a new column forWork-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD)is another step that will allow OSHA to take a closer look at injuries and illnesses that occur in the workplace. Currently, there is no specific OSHA regulation for ergonomics, but there are guidelines. Lack of employer diligence in avoiding MSDs could result in a General Duty Clause citation, which states that the employer must protect the employee from all recognized hazards.

ed。注意：Shannon DeCamp在Technetrain，Inc。工作，以实现OSHA的最新事件，请访问www.technetrain.com。