Dive Brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) list of firms that can expect extra attention from inspectors has grown 23% since a year ago, according to a review of the data.
- The list is about 60% construction companies, and companies that are on it can expect frequent and scrupulous inspections because, OSHA says, they have had willful or repeated violations in areas that are very dangerous to workers.
- To get off the list, a company can petition and must have a clean record for three years after the violation. Eric Conn, an attorney with a focus on OSHA law at the firm of Epstein Becker Green, says the more-intense inspections turn up some serious violation about 75% of the time.
Dive Insight:
Conn argues that the list is unfair to employers because OSHA can put them on the list before proving the violations with which they are charged. Conn's firm has posted a webinar he delivered in June about the SVEP program.