Due to OSHA’s failures to implement their own programs, companies will now feel more pressure and harsher punishments. The Inspector General of the Department of Labor found that OSHA, under its Enhanced Enforcement Program, failed to conduct necessary inspections and enforce the enhanced settlement provisions for ninety-seven percent of the employers that qualified under it. [...]
A federal jury returned a guilty verdict in a rare Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”)criminal prosecution, finding an electrical contractor liable for the 1999 electrocution death of a novice lineman. Federal prosecutors accused the company, L.E. Myers, of willfully violating five OSHA provisions. The contractor faces a maximum penalty of five years probation and [...]