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OSHA fines set to increase 78 percent

Construction companies issued citations for violating OSHA’s regulations and standards are going to be subject to higher fines beginning  August 1,2016.


For the first time in over 25 years, the maximum civil penalties for OSHA violations are set to increase by 78 percent, eports ConstructConnect. An exemption in the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 prohibited OSHA and other agencies from increasing civil penalties due to inflation but that all changed when the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was passed by Congress and signed into law last November.

The bill included the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, a provision that would allow a one-time catch-up adjustment for federal agencies to adjust their civil penalties based on inflation since their last increase. Subsequent increases will be tied to year-over-year inflation increases.

For OSHA, the catch-up adjustment will be based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from October 1990 to October 2015 which was roughly 78.16%. As required by the Inflation Adjustment Act, the Department of Labor issued an interim final rule on June 30, 2016, regarding the new penalties for a number of its agencies, including OSHA that goes into effect on August 1, 2016.

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