OSHA Enforcement

OSHA continues its aggressive enforcement with more citations, higher penalties and hard-hitting press releases. At a recent American Bar Association meeting in New Orleans, OSHA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary Richard Fairfax discussed OSHA’s increased enforcement. According to Fairfax, OSHA has set a goal of 42,000 inspections for the 2011 fiscal year. In addition, OSHA is looking to increase the number of follow-up inspections. If the agency is successful in reaching its goals, it will exceed last year’s total violations issued, which is the highest number of violations issued in years. The agency had more significant (cases involving a total penalty of $100,000 or more) and egregious cases in fiscal year 2010 than it has had in quite some time.