Assume that a fatality occurred at your facility one month prior to the OSHA ins

Question

Assume that a fatality occurred at your facility one month prior to the OSHA inspection. Review the citations and penalties that were assessed to your facility, and respond to the following questions: Which of the citations could be referred to the U.S. DOJ for criminal proceedings? What conditions would have to be met before the citations could be referred for criminal proceedings? Which individuals working at your facility could face criminal charges under the act? What would be the maximum prison sentence and fines that any individual would face? What would be the maximum fine that the company would face? If you were facing criminal charges under the act, what would be your best defense? How could you involve the OSHRC in the criminal case(s)? Your response must be a minimum of two pages in length, using at least one reference. All sources must be cited in the text and on the reference page, using APA style. Information about accessing the grading rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Explanation / Answer

OSHA Provisions

OSHA has a policy of different citations in different occurrences. The citation that OSHA settles on is determined by the degree of violation and the severity of the accident. The penalties are then imposed on the employer depending on the level of violations. OSHA has a policy of reducing the penalties for the small employers as well as those who act in good faith. There are however no reductions on the penalties for those who act willfully and willfully violate the provisions of OSHA.

In this case, the citation to take into consideration is the serious citation. The criminal proceedings could be best suited for the serious citation. This is due to the fatality involved in the accident. The fatality is one that can even cause death and hence amounts to a big extent of violation of the provisions. This could be adopted upon the proof that the employer is aware of the fatal working condition of the work place. The penalties could be reduced if the employer proves to have violated the OSHA requirements unknowingly.

The conditions that need to be taken into account before the citation is taken for the criminal proceedings include the following. The accident that has taken place need to be very serious and could even lead to death (Hill, et al. 2014). in addition to this, the employer should have not been aware that the fatal condition existed due to the working condition, methods or even processes and operations. alternatively, the body need to verify that the occurrence happened when the employer had no ability to diligently and reasonably notice the existence of such existence of the hazard.

Individuals in the company who could face the criminal charges according to the Act include the following. The owner of the company could face criminal charges if he has not implemented the preventive measures as it has been required by the OSHA provisions. In addition, he could face the charges if the measures he has put in place are not sufficient. The management charged with the ensuring that safety conditions are in place could face the charges if they are found to violate the provisions (Searer, et al. 2014). the affected victim could face the charges if the required measures are put in place but he failed to reasonably apply the measures in his job.

The maximum penalty that the individual can be fined is up to an amount of $7000 per individual. In terms of the prison penalty, an individual would receive a maximum of 6 months imprisonment for the violation. This applies to each violation that has been detected upon the inspection.

The corporation could be penalized to a minimum of $70000 to a maximum of $ 250000 fine for the violation of the provisions of OSHA under the serious citation (Hill, et al. 2014). This is exercisable for each of the violation proved to have been committed.

In case one faces the criminal charges, the best defense could be lack of awareness that such a violation existed. The person facing the criminal charges could proof that he was innocently not aware that such a violation existed and that he had all that needed to be done to conform to the requirements of OSHA.

One could involve OSHRC to bring about adjudication during the case proceedings. The commission could then offer substantial evidence that the accused had done enough to ensure the safety of the employee (Searer, et al. 2014). In addition, the commission could support the compensation of the employees if its inspection shows that the employer violated the provisions of OSHA.

References

Hill, H., Larson, R., Laux, F., & Searer, G. (2014, April). Evaluation and Testing of Building-Supported Facade Access Equipment. In American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structures Congress, American Society of Civil Engineers, Boston, Massachusetts.

Searer, G. R., Rubenacker, K. J., Bonowitz, D., & Mosalam, K. (2014, April). Structural Design Recommendations for Building-Supported Facade Access Equipment. In American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structures Congress, American Society of Civil Engineers, Boston, Massachusetts.

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