What You Need to Know About OSHA & EPA Fine Increases

by Karen

In 1990, the average cost of a gallon of gas was $1.16 and you could get a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk for less than $5.00. It was also the last time that that several federal agencies increased the maximum penalties charged for regulatory violations.

Congress recently changed this, however, by enacting legislation that required federal agencies to adjust their civil penalty rates for inflation over the past 25 years.

Going forward, agencies will adjust penalties for inflation annually, but for some agencies, this one-time readjustment means increases as high as 78 percent. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are among the agencies that increased fines on August 1, 2016.

Regulators hope that the increased fines will help make compliance a priority, while some industry groups feel that fines were already high enough. Here’s a look at the increases:

OSHA

Type of Violation	Current Maximum Penalty	New Maximum Penalty
Serious Other-Than-Serious Posting Requirements	$7,000 per violation	$12,471 per violation
Failure to Abate	$7,000 per day beyond the abatement date	$12,471 per day beyond the abatement date
Willful or Repeated	$70,000 per violation	$124,709 per violation

EPA

Statute	Old Penalty Range	New Penalty Range
Clean Air Act (CAA)	$25,000 — $200,000	$8,908 — $356,312
Clean Water Act (CWA)	$1,000 — $100,000	$1,782 — $257,848
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)	$25,000 — $75,000	$153,907 — $161,721
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)	$10,000 — $75,000	$21,563 — $161,721
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)	$5,000 — $25,000	$14,023 — $93,750
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)	$ 5,000 — $125,000	$9,375 — $1,311,850
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)	$5,000 — $25,000	$8,908 — $37,500
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)	$1,000 — $5,000	$2,750 — $18,750

The best way to avoid these higher fines is to perform audits and conduct employee training to help ensure that your facility is doing all it can to comply. It also pays to check on your facility’s compliance with these top OSHA violations and EPA hazardous waste fines.

TAGS: Audits and Inspections, Safety

2 Comments

Jonsays:
08/22/2016 at 2:03 pm Reply
Could you please provide some sources for this article? I would like to research this topic further.
- Brittanysays:
  08/23/2016 at 9:32 pm Reply
  Hi Jon,
  
  Thanks for reading the post. You can find more info about the fine increases at these sites: https://www.osha.gov/penalties/ and https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-07/documents/finalpenaltyinflationguidance.pdf.
  
  Do not hesitate to reach out with any additional questions or comments.
  
  Thanks,
  Brittany

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