The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a federal regulatory agency authorized to inspect and examine the safety of certain workplaces in the private sector such as construction, maritime, and general industry works (“OSHA”). Thus, it is important for all employers to know whether their facility is covered by OSHA, a state plan, or a combination of both. An enterprise-wide violation presumes that certain violations exist at all of the employer’s worksites within CAL/OSHA’s jurisdiction. CAL/OSHA can now issue an “enterprise-wide violation” against employers with multiple worksites. For example, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s Authority’s (CAL/OSHA) recently expanded its enforcement authority beyond what would typically be exercised by OSHA. It can also determine the way violations are characterized and the amount of penalty assessed. Whether OSHA or the applicable state’s agency has jurisdiction over an employer’s operations can determine how certain standards are interpreted and enforced. How the standard might be applied depends on which entity – OSHA or an applicable state agency – has jurisdiction over each facility. Less than a month later and after ongoing inspections, OSHA imposed several more millions of dollars in penalties for additional violations discovered in other retail locations within its jurisdiction.Īs the case involving this retail chain demonstrates, employers are subject to violations occurring at all of their multistate locations under the same or similar standard. This subjected all of the chain’s work sites that were within OSHA’s jurisdiction to an OSHA inspection and exposure to additional liability for violations.
This citation triggered the “severe violator” designation. The implications of certain workplace safety regulations and potential financial consequences for non-compliance can depend on the program responsible for enforcing health and safety standards in the employer’s location.įor example, in October 2022, a popular retail chain that has thousands of stores across the United States faced millions of dollars in proposed penalties imposed by OSHA after several of its locations-those that were within OSHA’s jurisdiction-were cited with multiple willful and repeat workplace violations. Employers need to identify whether their worksites fall under the jurisdiction of OSHA, a State Plan, or a Hybrid Federal-State Plan. All states in the United States have the option to participate in the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) program, implement a separate state program that addresses workplace safety (“State Plan”), or run a hybrid program of the two (“Hybrid Federal-State Plan”).
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