What are the consequences of non-compliance?

Companies found to be out of compliance face several important challenges. From an employee standpoint, a non-compliance action from OSHA, confirms original suspicions that their workplace was not necessarily safe and that management is not actively involved with safety. This may create more distrust and anxiety amongst your work force and can spark additional complaints.

Furthermore, OSHA violations are publicly available and can create a poor company image. Lastly, a range of potential citations and penalties is possible for violations identified during an OSHA inspection. The area director has some discretion in determining the nature of, and the penalty for, a violation.

Citation categories and associated penalties include:

1. De minimis, penalties unlikely
2. Other-than-serious, $1,000 to $7,000.
3. Serious, $1,500 to $7,000.
4. Failure to post, up to $7,000.
5. Willful, $5,000 to $70,000.
6. Criminal willful (determined after a finding of guilt in a criminal proceeding), up to 6 months' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for an individual or a $500,000 fine if the employer is a corporation (for a first violation).
7. Repeated (determined in a follow-up inspection), up to $70,000.
8. Failure to abate, up to $7,000 per day.
9. Recordkeeping, typically an "other-than-serious" finding unless it involves falsification of records, which carries a potential 6-month imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.
10. Assaulting, interfering with or resisting an inspector in the performance of his or her duties, imprisonment for up to 3 years and a fine of up to $5,000.

Jeff Jensen
The Contractor Qualification Expert