In宣布上个月扩大了将雇主归类为严重违反安全人员的标准，美国职业安全与健康管理局官员道格拉斯·帕克（Douglas Parker）挑出了德克萨斯州埃尔帕索附近的钢铁制造商。The美国劳工部职业安全与健康助理秘书，他posted a blogstating that OSHA had placedKyoei Steel Ltd.在其严重的违规者计划中，该计划对公司进行了众多重新检查，直到被允许退出为止。

A burned hand in October 2021 and an amputated finger last January were among the injuries suffered by employees of Kyoei, wrote Parker. OSHA counted 10 incidents at the company's plant in five years, including five machine-guarding violations. In April,OSHA提议$ 364,000针对制造商的罚款。

而Kyoei无法联系官员发表评论，该公司加入了该计划中的其他更杰出的建筑供应商和承包商，该供应商和承包商目前包括Otis Elevator和PPG Industries。

在OSHA宣布的变化下，更多的公司可能被标记为严重的违规者。至少有一个工会将这些变化视为促进工人安全的促进，但是代表雇主的律师认为，现在OSHA确定的危害太多，可以将公司纳入该计划。

Since OSHA started the program in 2010, it has focused enforcement and inspection resources on employers that either willfully or repeatedly violate federal health and safety laws or fail to correct previous violations. About 700 companies in all industries have landed in the program, including many construction firms.

以前，雇主可能会在该计划中未能达到有限数量的标准考虑高危害。其中包括秋天，截肢和可燃灰尘；晶体二氧化硅，铅和谷物处理 - OSHA正式强调的所有危害。

但是，现在，OSHA消除了高强调危险元素。

"To fall into [the program] now, an employer merely needs to receive two or more high gravity repeat or willful violations or failure to abate notices, in the same inspection or involving any hazard or standard,"埃里克·康（Eric Conn）写道，代表雇主并撰写OSHA辩护报告的律师。“这是一个实质性的变化，将导致成倍的雇主符合条件的资格”。

删除的标准

执法还有其他变化。In the past, a company could be removed from the program three years after the final order date.

But an employer up for现在，删除必须等到收到验证日期后的三年后，它已经减轻了所有与程序有关的危害。退出，雇主必须consent to an enhanced settlement agreement that includes use of a safety and health management system with seven basic elements in OSHA's recommended practices for such programs.

东大西洋地区木匠委员会工业和劳工遵守行业和劳动委员会总监罗恩·迈什克（Ron Meischker）说，这些变化是一件好事。

“If under the new rules an employer is compliant for three years, that allows you to lower the intensity of inspections they are going to receive,"他说。“我认为，这是雇主​​遵守规则并确保工人安全的充分动力。”

Meischker adds: “Anything that is going to improve worker safety and create employer accountability to keep workers safe is a good thing.”

ABC寻求更紧密的合作

Responding to the severe violator program changes, Greg Sizemore, vice president for safety and workforce development at the Associated Builders and Contractors, suggests that a partnership between OSHA and employers is a better idea. OSHA should do a better job promoting its voluntary protection program, he says.

Sizemore adds that such “long-successful cooperative efforts” with employers can prevent companies from ending up in the administration’s severe violators program. “ABC condemns violators who meet the criteria [for the program] and encourages them to improve their safety process to keep the workforce safe,” he says.