"The Trump administration slashed fines for safety violations by small businesses and other employers and plans to reduce already rare workplace inspections. Experts say that will lead to more worker injuries, illnesses and deaths."
"The Department of Labor announced “updates to penalty guidelines” to improve worker safety on Monday that it said will support small businesses and eliminate workplace hazards. The announcement follows the release of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s budget for the next fiscal year, which includes a plan for nearly 10,000 fewer workplace hazard inspections amid an 8 percent funding cut and a more than 12 percent reduction in staffing.
The new guidelines reduce penalties for failing to comply with worker health and safety standards at small businesses and those of any size with no history of various serious violations. It also extends the time frame for quickly abating a hazard by redefining “immediately,” which used to mean during the inspection or on the day that it occurred, but now can take up to 15 days.
These penalty reductions, combined with a drastic cut in the already rare inspections, will surely lead to more worker illnesses, injuries and deaths, experts say.
Penalties from OSHA for endangering workers’ health and lives are already “embarrassingly low” compared to those for other federal violations like harming wildlife, Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor for the agency during President Barack Obama’s two terms, wrote on his blog about workplace health and safety."
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