Is Your Business Compliant With OSHA Regulations?

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, implements and enforces federal occupational safety regulations. A Brooklyn business attorney can help you ensure that your business is fully compliant with OSHA regulations.

What laws and regulations govern workplace safety in New York and New Jersey? What does compliance with OSHA regulations require? And under what circumstances or time will a New York or New Jersey employer need the advice and services of a Brooklyn business lawyer?

What is the Occupational Safety and Health Act?

The Occupational Safety and Health Act took effect in 1970. It’s a federal law designed to improve health and safety in private-sector workplaces by requiring private-sector employers to provide safe working environments.

Under the law, employers are obligated to remove all known hazards from the workplace or take steps to reduce the risk of on-the-job accidents and injuries. OSHA may enforce health and safety regulations by imposing fines and other sanctions against non-compliant employers.

What Does OSHA Require?

OSHA has established and enforces thousands of safety regulations for different working environments and industries. Separate standards are implemented and enforced, for instance, for the construction, agriculture, and maritime sectors.

OSHA also establishes and enforces general safety and health regulations that almost all employers must comply with. Generally speaking, to ensure compliance with most OSHA regulations, here’s what employers must do:

  1.  Identify all safety and health hazards, inform employees of those hazards, and provide appropriate and reasonable protection from those hazards, including safety gear and personal protective equipment when needed, at no cost to employees.
  2.  Provide employee safety training to reduce the risk of injury, sickness, and death.
  3.  Maintain accurate records of job-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths, share those records with employees, and inform employees about any OSHA citations.
  4.  Notify OSHA about workplace fatalities, serious injuries, and hospitalizations.
  5.  Establish a fire safety plan and train employees about preventing and responding to fires.

Additionally, employers are not allowed to retaliate against employees who report safety concerns to OSHA or other regulatory authorities.

What Are a Worker’s Health and Safety Rights?

OSHA regulations also protect employee rights, including but not limited to:

  1. the right to be told about workplace hazards and the OSHA regulations that address those hazards;
  2.  the right to safety and health training in a language that employees understand;
  3.  the right to review on-the-job injury data, to make copies of workplace medical records, and to access workplace accident investigation and safety inspection reports;
  4.  the right to report safety concerns to OSHA and to speak privately to OSHA investigators without fear of employer retaliation.

How Are Employers Penalized for Non-Compliance?

The penalties that may be imposed on employers for non-compliance with OSHA regulations depend on the type of violation and whether an employer has been cited previously. Fines are increased annually. (The amounts listed here are those for 2024.) Non-compliance violations include:

  1.  ‘Other-than-serious’ violations are violations unlikely to cause injuries or death. Employers face a maximum fine of $16,131 for an other-than-serious violation, but OSHA inspectors may reduce the fine for employers who take swift and decisive action.
  2. ‘Serious’ violations may cause injury or death. The maximum fine is $16,131, but it may be reduced based on an employer’s actions and the type of violation. Serious violations include possible hazardous chemical exposure and failure to provide proper training.
  3. Employers who commit willful violations face considerable penalties and may be fined up to $161,323 per violation. OSHA will not consider an employer’s good faith in these cases but may adjust penalties based on an employer’s size and history of violations.
  4. OSHA aggressively deals with repeated violations when an employer has been cited for a violation that is the same or comparable to one cited within the previous five years. A maximum fine of $161,323 per repeated violation may be enforced.
  5. Employers who are cited for health and safety violations are given a deadline to remedy the situation. For failing to remedy the situation (“failure to abate the violation”), employers may be fined $16,131 per day past the abatement date.

Are Criminal Penalties Ever Imposed for OSHA Violations?

Most OSHA violations are considered civil rather than criminal. However, an employer may have criminal liability if an employee is killed because of an employer’s willful violation of OSHA regulations or if an employer has lied to OSHA regarding a hazard or a violation.

In these cases, if an employer is found liable for willingly and knowingly violating OSHA regulations, that owner could be sentenced to six months in custody and fined up to $250,000 (or double the gross gain or loss that resulted from the violation).

How Will a Business Attorney Help You?

Mishandling an OSHA citation only exacerbates an employer’s problems. New York and New Jersey employers who are cited for OSHA violations should contact a Brooklyn business attorney as quickly as possible.

A good business lawyer will advise you regarding compliance with OSHA violations and take the appropriate steps to have any fine reduced or, if possible, eliminated. However, with so many lawyers in New York and New Jersey, who can you trust to protect your business interests?

Cited for an OSHA Violation? Contact the Law Offices of Vincent Miletti

At the Law Offices of Vincent Miletti, we offer the advice and representation that employers need to protect their rights and interests. We provide quick legal assistance and advice following workplace incidents, and help employers defend themselves against OSHA citations.

In addition to helping employers deal with OSHA regulations, Brooklyn business lawyer Vincent Miletti also advises and represents New York and New Jersey employers and business owners who are:

  1. targeted by other regulatory agencies;
  2. seeking legal protection for their intellectual properties -and-
  3. facing discrimination or harassment lawsuits or being accused of violating employee rights.

Contact the Law Offices of Vincent Miletti today for more about our OSHA defense services and other ways we can assist your business. You can use the intake form on our website’s Contact Us page, or call our offices in Brooklyn at 314-648-2586 or New Jersey at 609-293-5928.