I recently wrote an article for New Hampshire Business Review on “What To Do if an OSHA Violation Arrives.”
Accidents happen. It can happen to even the most safety-minded employers. An employee falls from a ladder and breaks a bone. A worker is injured on a piece of machinery. Someone becomes ill after inhaling chemical fumes. Any of these situations, and countless others, can lead to an OSHA inspector visiting your workplace. Most often, when such an inspection follows a workplace injury, OSHA will most likely find at least one violation of one or more safety standards. When that happens, OSHA will issue a Citation and Notification of Penalty.
The Citation will identify the specific violations found, with references to the particular OSHA standards at issue, along with a deadline for abating the violation, and the proposed penalty.
The first thing that employers must do when they receive an OSHA citation is to post a copy of the citation at or near the place where each violation occurred. The posting requirement is meant to make employees aware that they may be exposed to hazards in the workplace. OSHA regulations require that the Citation remain posted for three working days or until the violation is corrected, whichever is longer.
To read the rest of the article, click here.