OSHA Reflects on "Another Successful Enforcement Year"

According to an article in BLR, "OSHA says data released last month indicate it continued to exceed enforcement goals during fiscal year 2008 (FY 2008). The agency claims its emphasis on identifying and eliminating serious safety and health hazards "has resulted in an unprecedented 80 percent of all violations issued being in the most serious categories."

"Nationwide, the agency logged 87,687 violations of standards and regulations, with 67,052 of these cited as serious. The proportion of violations classified as endangering employees was at the highest level ever during FY 2008, according to OSHA. In a press release the agency adds: "This administration made more criminal referrals for wrongdoing under the Occupational Safety and Health Act than any previous one." During FY 2008 OSHA conducted almost 39,000 inspections, surpassing its goal for the year by 2.4 percent."

The interesting part is the proliferation of criminal referrals. As safety guys, we need to stress this fact to our field personnel when they don't take safety as seriously as they should.