August 1, 2016, otherwise know as TODAY, marks the day that OSHA will begin issuing fines 78% higher since the (now) previous fine structure dating back to 1990.
Since SSG, nor anyone else has argued any informal cases under this new fine structure, we are not sure to what extent these massively inflated percentages will be raised during routine citations. OSHA is rarely obligated to charge the maximum penalty per citation regardless of the category. That being said, they now have 78% more "square footage" to play with inside this new penalty structure, and an 18.4 million budget cut to make-up in 2017.
We want to remind our readers of this change that takes effect today, but more than that, we want you to stay tuned as we seek to provide you a "boots on the ground" perspective on how OSHA is working within this new structure.
If you have any questions about this or the several other OSHA changes taking place this year, please reach out to us by either of the following:
info@summitsafetygroup.com
417-823-7233
We look forward to hearing from you,
-Jake Woolfenden