Eye on OSHA: Violations, Fines Down in Second-Quarter 2012

November 29, 2012

Stone-shop safety citations by the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) in this year’s second quarter dropped slightly from 2011 … but total fines fell dramatically.

The 147 cited violations this April-June represents a 5.7% drop from the same time last year, according to an exclusive Stone Update analysis of OSHA data. The $82,088 in current fines for this year’s second-quarter violations, meanwhile, show a 44% drop from 2Q 2011.

Although violation and fines show a lower tally for this year’s second quarter, the number of inspections increased slightly: 48, up from 2011’s 46. 38 of this year’s 2Q inspections resulted in some kind of citation, up from 35 last year.

Seven shops in 2Q 2012 received write-ups for respiratory violations involving silica dust, up from four last year. The total number of exposure cases, however, inched downward from 2011’s 30 to this year’s 29.

The only second-quarter growth trend came with inspections based on complaints – 19 this year, up from 9 in 2011.

OSHA By The Numbers
Second Quarter 2011 & 2012
NAICS 327991 (Cut stone and stone product manufacturing)

	2 Q 2011	2 Q 2012
Number of inspections	46	48
Planned inspections	21	17
Follow-up inspections	7	4
Referral/Program inspections	5	7
Complaint inspections	9	19
Accident/Monitoring inspections	2	1
Inspections with violations:	35	38
Total violations cited	156	147
Most violations at one inspection	13	14
Silica repiratory violation sites	4	7
Silica case exposures (total, all sites)	30	29
Initial fines	$230,045	$130,940
Currrent fines	$146,652	$82,088
States with inspections	21	20
Top states with inspections	6 – Florida	10 – Virginia
	6 – New York	8 – Colorado

Eye on OSHA is an ongoing Stone Update review of inspection reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), operating under the federal Department of Labor. Not all violations entail fines; pending fines may be lowered or dropped if conditions are remedied or upon appeal, or increased under failure-to-abate (FTA) citations. Source of data: OSHA databases.

Get the news of the industry with The EDGE, the twice-monthly e-newsletter from Stone Update. Free subscriptions are available here.

For the latest industry info, check the daily Stone Update Today and our Facebook page.