The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced it is expanding the criteria for placement in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) list. The result will be more employers on the SVEP list with beefed-up enforcement against them.
OSHA is including "more mundane violations" as qualifying employers for inclusion on the list, said David Smith, an attorney with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Atlanta. Employers' greatest risk is being cited for two repeat violations at one site, which will happen all too easily, he cautioned. Employers consequently may want to fight the "little citations"; otherwise, they may have to face the consequences of being on the SVEP list, he said.
Those consequences include mandatory follow-up inspections, being publicly listed as a severe violator while they are in the program and, for large employers, warning letters to top company officers and OSHA press releases about the severe violations, said Peter Spanos, an attorney with Taylor English in Atlanta.
If on the list, "the company's OSHA log of workplace-related injuries must be submitted to OSHA on a quarterly basis, instead of being available just during inspections," Spanos said.
Broadened Program
Until Sept. 15, an employer could be included in the SVEP if it had a fatal or catastrophic incident arising from a willful or repeated violation of a safety standard, noted Courtney Malveaux, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Richmond, Va., and...
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