civil penalties
cmonforton | March 28, 2012[Update below (7/14/14)]
In 1991, Dan Quayle was US Vice President, General Norman Schwarzkopf led the 100-hour assault known as Operation Desert Storm, and Phil Collins had the record of the year. It was the last (and only) time that the US Congress amended the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) to update the monetary penalty amounts that could be assessed to employers who violate worker safety regulations. These changes were just a tiny part of the massive Omnibus Budget Reconcilation Act of 1990, but were significant in that they increased OSHA's maximum penalty amounts seven-…
cmonforton | March 26, 2012In October 2009, the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) made national headlines when it proposed a record-setting $87 million penalty against BP Products North America Inc. for the company' failure to correct serious safety hazards at its Texas City, Texas refinery. Ten months later, OSHA announced that it reached a settlement with BP regarding some of those violations and penalties, with the firm agreeing to pay $50.6 million.
It's not unusual for the penalty amounts proposed by OSHA to be reduced significantly to a figure eventually paid by the…