DOL announces adjustments to civil penalties
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s civil penalty amounts for violations of workplace safety and health standards increased in 2024 based on cost-of-living adjustments. The adjusted maximum penalty amounts took effect in January.
New maximum penalties for willful and repeat violations increased from $156,259 per violation to $161,323 per violation. Maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations increased from $15,625 per violation to $16,131 per violation.
States operating their own Occupational Health and Safety Plans are required to adopt maximum penalty levels that are at least as effective as OSHA’s federal penalties. Additional information is available at osha.gov/penalties.
Contractor faces $281,485 in proposed fines for fall hazard exposure
During the summer of 2023, Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found Appleton, Wis.-based Bacilio Rios, who operates as Chilos Construction, did not provide employees with required fall protection when they were performing residential roofing work, exposing them to fall hazards, according to OSHA. The company is not an NRCA member.
In July 2023, OSHA observed three workers employed by Rios near the peak of a home in Appleton and another employee operating a leaf blower on the home’s roof with no form of fall protection.
Rios was cited with four repeat violations and $281,485 in proposed penalties. The violations included the company’s failure to provide fall-protection equipment and train employees how to use it; improper use of ladders; and failure to train workers regarding hazards related to falls and ladders. Rios was cited for similar violations in October 2022.
NRCA’s classes, webinars and products offer information to ensure you can keep your employees safe on job sites. Visit NRCA’s bookstore at shop.nrca.net for more information.
Florida bill would expand working hours for minors
Florida’s House Bill 49, introduced by Rep. Linda Chaney in September 2023, would amend state laws to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to begin work at 6 a.m. (as opposed to 6:30 a.m.) and remove limits previously forbidding minors from working more than 30 hours in a school week and more than eight hours on school days. Additionally, it would add a provision allowing work during school hours if the individual is homeschooled, has dropped out of school or is enrolled in a virtual education program.
The alterations also would allow workers over the age of 15 to work more than six consecutive days per week and to work more than four consecutive hours without a 30-minute meal break; this provision is currently limited to workers over the age of 18.
Critics of the bill have voiced concerns the bill would incentivize minors to either work excessively outside of school hours or drop out of school to work full-time.
The Florida House of Representatives passed the bill Feb. 1, and it awaits Senate consideration.
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