Stronger criminal penalties needed for OSHA violations, group says

Sep 09, 2008

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 needs to be updated to include a criminal enforcement program that sufficiently investigates and prosecutes violators, a new report says.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, a Washington-based nonprofit, nonpartisan group that "promotes the vitality of the U.S. Constitution," on Aug. 29 released Prosecuting Worker Endangerment (.pdf file) from author David M. Uhlmann. Uhlmann is an environmental law professor at the University of Michigan Law School and former chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the Department of Justice.

In the report, Uhlmann said current law offers too many loopholes for employers or midlevel managers to avoid the heftiest penalties. He contrasted OSH Act provisions with environmental laws: Both were enacted in the 1970s, and violations of them were limited to misdemeanors. Within 10 years, however, penalties for violating some environmental laws had been upgraded to felonies, he said.