The Occupational Safety and Health Administration have increased inspections of companies around the south.   This division of the U.S. Department of Labor is charged with insuring worker safety.  In the past, people thought of OSHA as the organization that investigated worksites after an accident or death.  The reality is that they issue more fines inspecting companies that think they are in compliance.  Now that includes Moving and Storage companies.

 Here are two examples:

A Florida moving and storage company was recently fined $14,600 for warehouse violations.  Although this does not come close to the Oklahoma storage company that was fined $114,000, it is still a lot of money.   

In October, a Fort Myers trucking company was charged $125,000 in punitive damages plus having to pay an employee back wages and compensatory costs.  The employee was fired for refusing to drive two vehicles that he considered unsafe.  OSHA ruled the driver’s firing as “retaliation of a whistleblower”.  

Fines are not the only cost companies can face.  In addition being subject to huge fines for reoccurrences, companies have a public record and could be barred from bidding on certain government contracts.  In addition to that David Michaels, the Head of OSHA, recently appeared before Congress advocating increased fines.  

The amazing thing is that most fines do not come from rules you would expect; failure to maintain the OSHA 300A form or using uncertified forklift operators.   They were for requirements that most companies would not even know existed.  As I prepare my clients for the possibility of an audit, I mention fire extinguisher inspections.  I always get the comment “that is not a problem, we have them inspected every year.”  It is a problem because once per year does not satisfy the OSHA guidelines. 

OSHA is going to touch every part of your business where employees are involved.  The time to prepare is not after or during a major accident or after you have been notified that OSHA is going to perform an inspection.  The time to prepare is now.  Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn Insurance has developed a checklist to make it easy for our clients to conform.   Please contact us if you would like more information.  We can help.