The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- known as Oregon OSHA -- lists the top 25 standards violations for 2021 so far and -- surprise -- the top violation listed is OAR 437-001-0744(3), which are the COVID-19 Requirements for All Workplaces.

OSHA's top 25 lists a total of $469,765 for COVID-19 workplace violations for 2021 with $24,125 of those levied as serious fines, $1,240 as repeat fines and a whopping $444,400 as willful violations. No other violation listed in OSHA's top 25 has any fines levied for willful violations, including fall protection, ladder use, and minimum supplies for a first-aid kit, to name just a few.

For over a year, Oregon OSHA has been the Governor's enforcement team, and at times it seemed that as the science was weak and the arm of the government was strong, the punitive regime seemed to reflect more of a desire to consolidate power than to promote safety. If we were "all in this together" OSHA seemed to not be part of the "we."

SB 738 was introduced in the Senate by Senators Tim Knopp (R-Bend) and Bill Hansel (R-Athena) which would have prohibited the assessment of a civil penalty or fine for a violation of state occupational or health measure if no disease outbreak of COVID-19 occurred as result of the violation and rescinded such civil penalties and fines assessed against employers. It did not get a hearing.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-05 07:06:28

Last Update: 2021-07-03 21:52:33