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May/June 2023 issue

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Sector: Central government
News

US penalties set to almost double

Open-access content Monday 11th January 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

US Capitol

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) levies fixed penalties where its inspectors find regulatory violations. Since 1990 these fines have been fixed at $7000 (£4,830) per instance for "serious" standards breaches -- those that carry a risk of death or serious injury-”and a maximum of $70,000 (£48,300) for repeat and "willful" (deliberate) violations. Willful violations that result in a fatality are dealt with in the courts and carry fines up to $500,000 (£345,000) for a convicted organisation.

At the end of 2015, the US Congress passed a budget agreement that, among other measures, authorises OSHA to make a "catch-up" increase in penalties. The adjustment must not exceed consumer price inflation in the 25 years of the penalty freeze, but this would still allow OSHA to boost fines by 82%.

The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, passed under President George Bush, stopped OSHA increasing its penalties in line with inflation. The catch-up increase was made possible by an amendment to the act included by the Obama administration in the Bipartisan Budget Act 2015.

OSHA must make the adjustment before the beginning of August and is likely to announce the new levels in the coming weeks. The amendment also allows the agency to make inflation-linked increases in subsequent years.

The agency has made statements about the advantages of harsher penalties that suggest it is likely to take advantage of the full inflationary rise, which would take the penalty for serious failings to $12,744 (£8,793) and the maximum for wilful and repeat breaches to $125,438 (£86,552)

US labour campaigners have long complained that fine levels are too low. A report released in November by the AFL-CIO union federation said that in 2014 the median (midpoint) fine for fatal accident inspections was $5050 (£3,484).

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 HSE chair is everything like a dame

Tuesday 12th January 2016
Since 2007 Hackitt has served first as chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) then as chair of the HSE board which succeeded it. She was previously a member of the HSC between 2002 and 2005. She worked in the chemicals industry for 23 years for employers including Esso Chemicals at its Fawley refinery, before joining the Chemical Industries Association in 1998, becoming its director general in 2002.She is due to stand down as chair in March.
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 HSE consults on first innovation plan

Tuesday 19th January 2016
The consultation examines the influence new technologies can have on the industries HSE regulates. It says research is under way to reveal how “mature technologies”, such as robotics and remotely controlled work equipment in factories, which have been implemented in other sectors, can be successfully applied to agriculture.
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 Gangmasters authority’s remit to extend to construction

Wednesday 20th January 2016
The GLA, to be renamed the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) will also gain direct enforcement powers where it finds workers are being systematically exploited through unsafe working conditions or pay below the minimum wage.The announcement came in the government’s response to its consultation titled Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market which closed in December.
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 CITB invalidates 4,600 CSCS cards after fraud

Tuesday 26th January 2016
The fraud was revealed last October during an episode of Newsnight following investigations by the BBC and CITB. Thousands of applicants will have to retake their HS&E exam as the CITB announced it is recalling 6,000 tests, and more than 2,000 people are required to reapply for their Site Safety Plus certificate.
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Dame Judith Hackitt has been appointed as chair designate of EEF

 Hackitt to take on EEF top job

Monday 1st February 2016
She will move from her post of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) chair and will succeed Martin Temple CBE, who has served more than 17 years as director general and then chair of the body. Other members of the board include representatives from Jaguar Land Rover, Siemens, Tata and the Marshall Group.
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 HSENI consults on EMF Directive implementation

Friday 5th February 2016
“HSENI proposes to transpose into standalone Northern Ireland regulations only the requirements of the Directive which go beyond or are more specific than those covered by existing NI legislation”, the HSENI said in its consultation document. EMFs include radio and microwaves, light, X-rays and gamma radiation. The EMF Directive draft guidance classifies frequencies of between 100 kHz and 300 GHz as “high frequency fields”, exposure to which can cause health problems such as thermal stress, localised limb heating (eg knees or ankles) and deep tissue burns.
Open-access content
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