THE AVERAGE PENALTY for a worker killed on the job is $11,300, the AFL-CIO’s director of health and safety told a House panel in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. Peg Seminario, testifying before the Education and Labor Committee, said that workplace safety and health laws carry such minimal penalties that many employers simply ignore them. She said the maximum penalty for a serious violation that injures or kills workers is $7,000, and $70,000 for willful and repeated violations.
Seminario concluded: “The entire OSHA penalty policy and formulas should be reviewed and revamped. The agency should use its full statutory authority to impose meaningful penalties for serious, willful, and repeat violations of the law, particularly in cases involving worker deaths.”
