Nothing has changed since then until this year 2023. Generally speaking, the employer has the fundamental responsibility of providing a safe working environment to their employees that are in accordance with the OSHA health and safety standards.
Depending on the industry and nature of operations, employers must adhere to several of the rules and regulations. There are rules for general industry, construction, agriculture, shipyards and maritime.
These rules are tools that explain procedures that every employer must follow in order to protect their workers from adverse working conditions.
When rules have been complied with, it mitigates the exposure of workers to risks and hazards in the workplace that could cause serious injury, illness and fatality.
If you’re wondering what are those OSHA requirements for employers to abide by; here are some of the most important ones you must know as a business owner.
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Duties of Employers to Comply the OSHA
- Compliance with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act – in general, when there is no OSHA standard that applies to a dangerous situation, the OSH Act is what is you should know about. The Act states that the employer has the sole liability to keep the workplace free any known serious hazards.
- Creation of safety procedures that serve as main guidelines in the implementation of health and safety in the workplace – having a compilation of plans on how to perform work procedures can definitely lessen the risks associated in doing the activity. Oftentimes, the company’s safety procedures are what to be followed instead of what has been written by OSHA because of them being in higher standard. Creation of procedures involves update of the current one.
- Provision of safety training and awareness for employees – depending on the industry you are in, you, as an employer has the obligation to supply the necessary training to your employees. If you’re involved in construction work where the work environment is at most critical, regular training of workers is required. One tip we would like to give you with regard to this aspect – conduct the training onsite so that site and equipment-specific issues can also be addressed during the training. The training must be in the language the workers can understand.
- Keeping and retaining records of workplace injuries and illness – These can be filed electronically or by means of physical filing, or both can be done. Why is keeping records important? Basically, when something serious happened in the workplace such as an accident involving a fatality, you have something to show to the OSHA inspector as proof of your compliance protecting you from being cited with a violation. In addition, keeping records establishes action to be taken for future accident prevention.
- Provision of personal protective equipment to the workers – the employer must ensure the provision of personal protective equipment to their workers who will be exposed to risks at hazards at no cost to them. Earplugs/muffs, safety glasses/goggles, face shields, safety vests and boots, hard hats are some of the common gears that are given to workers. In a dangerous situation such as working in a confined space, a respiratory device may be needed.
- Reporting to OSHA within eight (8) hours when there is a fatality in an accident, or twenty-four (24) hours if the involved workers suffer hospitalization or loss of limb or eye. A hotline is provided in this circumstance, call 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA) to report; you may report also in person to the OSHA office nearest to the location of the accident.
- Letting OSHA inspector enters the workplace premises – Once in a while, OSHA conducts regular workplace inspection without advance notice to the company. As an employer, you must let the inspector enter your premises and do his job.
- Answering cited violations by attending the conference – Whatever the nature of the violation, OSHA gives citations to the employer that needs to be addressed in an informal talk at the nearest OSHA office. OSHA may recommend measures and employers must take action to resolve the issues. The employer must provide evidence of compliance with the cited violation in order for fines not to be imposed.
- Making sure that the tools and equipment are in good working order and properly maintained – regular maintenance of tools and equipment not only boosts efficiency when running and lengthening the life span, it improves work conditions and prevents accidents and thus injuries.
- Prominently displaying signs, labels, colors, posters, and other materials to warn workers of potential hazards while in the area - it is crucial to put these materials to draw the attention of the workers and by-standard in the work area that may not be obvious in order to warn them of the danger. Color guidelines must be followed in order not to confuse people.
- Not to retaliate when an employee wants to exercise his rights under the Whistle Blower Act – it is prohibited for employers to take retaliatory action against the employee who wants to be under the custody of the Act. Never discriminate against the employee, deny his promotion, receive monetary rewards, reduce hours, fire or lay him off.
- Complying with the SDS Requirements for Employers – In order to handle safely hazardous chemicals in the workplace, employers must make sure that safety data sheets are easily accessible to communicate hazards associated with the chemical. Hazard communication training must also be provided to the workers prior to work commencement.
- OSHA Requirements for Employers Regarding COVID – The past years and this year 2023 has brought a new set of challenges with regards to dealing with COVID. The employer can refer to the guidance “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace” to assist employers in preventing the spread of the virus in the workplace. Please be informed that current rules regarding employer responsibilities in dealing with COVID may change.
- Creation of Emergency Action Plan – companies that have 10 workers or fewer are still required to have an emergency action plan, however, with this number being small, the plan can be transmitted verbally to the employees so that they are informed what to do during an emergency. For companies with a big number of employees, the plan has to be detailed and complete. The plan contains maps, exits and floor plans; it also contains safety procedures for what to do during emergencies such as fire, hurricane, chemical spills, and other emergency situations.
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OSHA Violations are Categorized into Six (6) Kinds
It is important to know the six (6) categories of violations to make it easier for employers to determine where they will fall if they failed to comply with the OSHA requirements and when a violation has been cited. Here are the types:
- Serious violation – as per OSHA, a violation is categorized as serious if the employer knew about the hazard in the workplace that could cause serious injury or fatality but did not do anything to correct it. It is up to the inspector to evaluate the fines to be imposed on the employer, but typically it ranges up to $13,494 for every serious violation found by the inspector. This fine can still be reduced depending on the size of the company and the gesture of good deed of the employer to comply.
- Other-than-serious – this violation can be cited in a situation when the health and safety of the workers are compromised that would unlikely cause serious injury or fatality to the workers. One such is of this is poor recordkeeping of incident records. Because of its much less severe nature, other-than-serious violation can be cited with a very minimal monetary penalty and in some cases with no penalty at all.
Read this related article: Do Employers Need to Provide Forklift Training for Each Make and Model? - Willful violation – is the most serious violation that an employer can commit. It is said that a willful violation is committed when the employer knows that he’s violating the law and continue doing so with no intention of addressing the issues.
Because of it being the most severe, OSHA can impose fines of up to $134,937 for every violation found by the inspector If there is fatality as an outcome of the willful violation, the employer may face a criminal charge with a minimum penalty of $250,000 with a great probability of imprisonment. Unlike the serious violation, it cannot be remedied with good faith. - Repeated violation – as its name implies, this is the commission of the same or almost similar violation that had been cited in the past (in the last five years). OSHA may impose fines of up to $70,000 for each repeated violation. However, a repeated violation cannot be imposed if the previous one is waiting for a final decision or is under appeal.
- De minimis violation - this violation is the least serious category, in fact when de minimis violation is cited, the employer will not receive any fines but just verbal advice from the inspector. The cited de minimis violation will be put on record for reference on the employer’s inspection file.
- Failure-to-abate violation – as its name infers, a failure-to-abate violation is cited if the employer hasn’t addressed the issues within a given timeframe of compliance. Employers may not receive any monetary penalty but a strict verbal reminder instead.
