John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health (OSHA), today released the agency's annual enforcement statistics, affirming that OSHA's balanced approach to workplace safety and health includes strong, fair and effective enforcement programs.
Henshaw said the agency exceeded its inspection goal for FY 2004, completing 39,167 total inspections including more than 300 under the new Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) that focuses on employers who repeatedly ignore their safety and health obligations. OSHA also completed nearly 3,000 inspections within industries identified with high injury and illness rates.
"Our enforcement remained strong in FY 04," Henshaw said. "We exceeded our inspection goals; we strengthened our compliance assistance through our new enhanced enforcement program; and we found more violations and issued more serious and willful citations indicating a more accurate targeting system for workplaces and industries with a high proportion of injuries and illnesses."
Henshaw said the agency cited 86,708 violations of OSHA standards and regulations during FY 04, an increase of 3.8 percent over the previous year and nearly 10 percent over the last five years. Of particular significance was the increase in serious and willful violations issued during FY 04 (three and 14 percent, respectively, over FY 03). Henshaw said the increases demonstrate that OSHA is targeting the right workplaces for inspections by accurately identifying employers who repeatedly or willfully violate the law.
Henshaw also noted that injury and illness rates continue to decline and that fatality rates held their downward trend-over the past five years, the rate has decreased 11 percent.