The Obama administration is requesting an additional 50 million dollars from Congress for a reported 130 new OSHA inspectors. Priorities include everything from derrick safety to crystalline silica dust exposure. The administration is also concerned that penalties are too low for employers who fraudulently report low illness & injury rates in higher hazard industries. It appears that OSHA & Cal OSHA have not been as forgiving on willful & repeat violations, increasing the department of labor's revenue to never before seen heights.
So far this year we have seen large penalties for companies such as BP and other multinational corporations but statistics show that small business are also under the administrations microscope. The time to re-evaluate the health and safety of your organization is now. We expect to see a significant increase in small business citations.
