Update Applicable to:
All employers.

What happened, and what are the details?
OSHA annually adjusts its penalties for inflation. The adjustments are effective for penalties assessed after January 15, 2023. The new maximum penalty for serious, other-than-serious, and posting requirements is $15,625 per violation. The new maximum penalty for failure to abate (correct safety violation) is $15,625 per day beyond the abatement date. The new maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations is $156,259 per violation.

Effective March 27, 2023, OSHA Regional Administrators and Area Directors will now have the authority to cite certain violations as “instance-by-instance” (IBI) citations. These IBI citations can be issued for “high-gravity” serious violations of standards specific to certain conditions. These include lockout/tagout, machine guarding, permit-required confined space, respiratory protection, falls, trenching, and cases with other-than-serious violations specific to recordkeeping. The new guidance covers enforcement activity in general industry, agriculture, maritime and construction industries. Previously, IBI citations applied only to willful citations. 

In practical terms, the new guidance permits OSHA to increase proposed fines. In the past, OSHA often grouped several incidents into one violation and issued a single proposed penalty. Now OSHA is authorized to cite each incident as a separate violation with a proposed penalty. For instance, instead of being cited for one combined serious violation with a proposed penalty of $15,625, OSHA can issue three citations for three incidents (e.g., three machines without machine guarding) with a proposed penalty of $46,875. OSHA will issue a press release after issuing IBI citations against an employer.

For more information, please see the links below:

U.S Department of Labor News Release

Article 1 – Article 2

What do employers need to do?
Employers should review the links provided above and the OSHA safety standards to ensure they are up to date with OSHA policies and retain counsel as soon as possible if served with a subpoena from OSHA.

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