Essay Example on Contesting OSHA Penalties and Citations: A Guide

The company got a notice highlighting violations of workplace safety from OSHA. Having an informal negotiation with the area director of OSHA was one of the options for negotiating the penalties and citations. Getting an informal conference with the area director was unsuccessful, and this made me file a notice where I will contest the proposed penalties and citations. OSHA will assign administrative Law Judge the case. Therefore, the paper will list information needed for penalties and citations that our organization will contest, and supporting documents that should be brought to court hearing will also be recorded.

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In citation 1a, where welders were exposed to high led levels beyond the minimum standards, the activity was given to an independent contractor, and the penalty was $7000. It means that the company is not liable. The company paid the contractor in a lump sum, as he was fully in charge of the whole process. The documents that will be presented as evidence include an invoice showing that money was transferred to the welding company. Another material that will be used in presenting the evidence is a contract between the company H& M welders and Acme Widget Factor (Bagley, 2015). The witnesses will include H& M's manager, the project supervisor, a laborer supporting the testimony, Acme Widget Factory manager, and one or two of the affected parties. The case is different from informal settlement since, during that time, the company had inefficient evidence that is the reason it was taken to court, and currently, the firm has proofs showing it is not liable. Discover from OSHA include methods used in the testing lead.

The other citation that will be contested is Item 1b. The citation shows that staff got exposed to the lead fumes over the given permissible exposure limit. The penalty for 1b is $4000. It is the organization's history with engineering control implementation and the use of a ventilation system in reducing lead fumes exposure. The organization was not ignoring the set regulations intentionally. The current ventilation that is used by the organization is inefficient, meaning it cannot handle lead fumes as it is old. It is only a new ventilation system that can be able to efficiently manage the fumes. Furthermore, it protects the employees from overexposure of lead fumes; Personal Protective Equipment was utilized, including respiratory protective equipment, disposable overalls, eye protection, barrier cream, and gloves (Gustin, 2007). In supporting the argument, I will bring an invoice that has the orders made on PPEs and the ventilation system. Also, the engineering who installed an air ventilation system will be present to confirm the issue. Through this, our company will prove that it was not ignoring OSHA's regulations knowingly requesting ALJ to drop this citation. At the informal conference, there was no evidence to back up the company's claims.

In citation 1a, where welders were exposed to high led levels beyond the minimum standards, the activity was given to an independent contractor. It means that the company is not liable. The company paid the contractor in a lump sum, as he was entirely in charge of the whole process. The documents that will be presented as evidence include an invoice showing that money was transferred to the welding company (Bagley, 2015). Another material that will be used in presenting the evidence is the contract between the company H& M welders and Acme Widget Factor. The witnesses will include H& M's manager, the project supervisor, a laborer supporting the testimony, Acme Widget Factory manager, and one or two of the affected parties.

Citation item 2 is failing to give the employees respirators, and the penalty was $4900. The company's defense is that it assumed it as part of the employees' risk-taking strategy. The company had purchased the masks, so it thought the employees were using them (Gustin, 2007). The documents that will be presented include invoices showing the purchase of respiratory masks, memo copy showing that the company requires employees to use masks, and copies of signed contracts. The witnesses will include employees who applied and did not apply masks while working and the company's human resource manager. In an informal conference, the case was rejected, claiming that the defense was weak, but now there is move evidence. The discovery from OSHA includes witnesses list and the circumstances where the breach took place.

The third citation is filing to provide medical evaluation, which has a penalty of $3000, and the company's defense is dishonesty from employees during a job application. The documents that will be presented as defense include job application copies, signed affidavits, and advertisement copies (Bagley, 2015). The witnesses will include three employees, the human resource manager, and three referees that wrote the employees' recommendations. The case is different from the informal conference since, at the informal conference, the investigator of the company did not know the truth about the three employees who lied, meaning it could not be presented before an arbitrator. Discovery from OSHA includes a list of the witnesses in preparing the cross-examination and testing reliability.

References

Bagley, C. E. (2015). Managers and the legal environment: Strategies for the 21st century. Cengage Learning.

Gustin, J. F. (2007). Safety Management: A Guide for Facility Managers. Fairmont Press Incorporated.