OSHA Fine Increase for 2025

It's a brand new year, and everyone knows what that means: adjustments to OSHA fines based on inflation!

Here at TT&S, we sincerely hope that isn't the first thing you think about with the new year, but it's important to remember that those fines can be a steep judgment placed on your company's safety program.

The newest adjustments include a maximum of $16,550 for serious or other-than-serious violations, and $165,514 for willful or repeated violations. Remember, that is a fine per EACH violation, not a cumulative total per OSHA visit.

What a fine ultimately will be is a complex question that includes a large set of criteria. OSHA has an equation that takes into account the gravity of the violation, the size of the employer's business, the good faith efforts of the employer, and the employer's history of previous violations.

Once the penalty has been exacted, an employer has a few different options to respond to and potentially negotiate. But the truth still stands: OSHA penalties are there to enforce health and safety regulations, so keep your safety program sharp!

Near Miss Programs: A Crystal Ball into Safety

Does your company have a near miss reporting program?

Maybe it's already embedded into your incident reporting procedures. But when is the last time someone has reported a near miss?

While it takes some work to make employees comfortable reporting near misses, those reports are extremely valuable. They are like a "second chance" for your company to rewind and make some changes before someone gets hurt or property becomes damaged.

Let's take a step back here and discuss what a near miss is.

Near misses are basically just what they sound like. It's an event where no one was hurt, property was not damaged, but it almost happened. Here are some examples that hopefully don't hit too close to home.

In the old way of doing things, these incidents would not have resulted in a report since there was no injury, illness, or property damage. But in that case you would have lost a golden opportunity to learn from the event and prevent it from repeating in the future.

Employees should be encouraged to report near misses. However, if they are at all concerned they may be punished for reporting, they will not be incentivized to report. It's important to stress that no one will be punished for reporting a near miss. Best practices dictate that employees should be incentivized and recognized for reporting any near misses as well.

Once you have that near miss report in hand, your work is not done. It's a great idea to treat these reports the way you would an incident report. Open an investigation, determine root cause with an analysis, and open up any action items needed to mitigate the potential for a related incident in the future.

It's not every day that we get to have specific safety knowledge about our company or industry handed to us on a silver platter. Take advantage of the opportunity and keep everyone just that little bit safer!
 

PPE Fit for Employees - Now a Requirement

A new PPE requirement for construction will be going into effect mid-January 2025. While providing PPE to employees has already been the responsibility of the employer, the new requirement mandates that employers must also ensure construction PPE fits properly.

The final rule (available here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/12/2024-29220/personal-protective-equipment-in-construction) summarizes some of the hazards that can come from PPE not fitting properly:

"In some cases, ill-fitting PPE may not protect an employee at all, and in other cases it may present additional hazards to that employee and to employees who work around them. For example:

• Sleeves of protective clothing that are too long or gloves that do not fit properly may make it difficult to use tools or operate equipment, putting the wearer and other workers at risk of exposure to hazards, or may get caught in machinery, resulting in injuries to the wearer such as fractures or amputations. 
• The legs of protective garments that are too long could cause tripping hazards for the worker with the improperly fitting PPE and could also impact others working near that worker. 
• Protective clothing that is too small may increase a worker's exposure to hazards by, for example, providing insufficient coverage from dangerous machinery or hazardous substances. 
• The issue of improperly fitting PPE is particularly important for smaller construction workers, including some women, who may not be able to use currently existing standard-size PPE. 
• Fit problems can also affect larger workers, and standard-size PPE does not always accommodate varying body shapes."

It's been a long road to recognizing the issues with one-size-fits-all PPE. With the change, it would be a good idea for companies to inventory their current PPE over the off season and stock up on different sizes as needed prior to the beginning of construction season in spring 2025.