Businesses are an optimistic concept, risks and rewards are defining attributes, yet profit and deficit are caused by both. In today’s economy businesses can’t afford to take as many risks as they used to. Especially under the current Commander in Chief when it comes to work place regulations. One of the greatest business risks in our modern times are OSHA fines. For the last 25 years, OSHA has a had a fairly standard rate of fining for work-place safety violations. Usually an initial fine is imposed due to an infraction on the code and if a follow up report finds the same offense being performed the following year the fine drastically increases. However, an article in BIC Magazine states “On Nov 2. 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act into law, which allows OSHA to make a one-time ‘catch-up’ increase of up to 80 percent. This amount is tied to the inflation rate from 1990 to 2015. After that, the maximum penalties would increase with inflation each year.” The reason for this being that OSHA was excluded from a mandated once every 5 year review period that allows companies to adjust their penalty rates for inflation. OSHA may opt to reduce the maximum penalties in alignment with inflation if the fines would harm the economy more than it would benefit it. Regardless, it is apparent that there is a movement to increase fines for OSHA violations and a system put in place to keep the “detrimental impact” if you will, at an even ratio with the inflating economy.
One problem that a lot of companies and universities run into arises from the nature of their chemical facilities. When updating their facilities to navigate new proposed regulations–and ever evolving methods to collect money from those who violate those mandates–they either dispose or store the chemicals incorrectly which leads to even more fines on top of the ones they were attempting to avoid. The problem with updating OSHA to match fine programs that have been implemented by the EPA and EEOC for comapines is the litany of regulations that need to be met. For example, around 15 years ago the Environmental Protection Agency fined George Washington University for over $100,000 due to improper disposal of hazardous waste. At the time, George Washington University was hopeful that the fines would be reduced, and evidence has not been provided either way. If that were to happen now, OSHA would undoubtedly be involved, in effect pushing for even higher fines that would be increased “due to inflation.” Obviously, these fines are something that were not to be taken lightly 15 years ago when the penalties would reach as high as $100,000. It is important to note this is not the only case of fines being placed on universities for improper handling of hazardous chemicals. Herein, due to the newly imposed mandates and higher fines it is of the utmost importance for companies and university to take handling these chemicals to a committee of lawyers in order to navigate coverage. HAZMAT rentals knows the difficulties involved with storing almost all chemicals that would be found in university laboratories. If your business or university is in need of chemical storage, let us handle the legwork on getting the proper regulation coverage. Call in today to speak with an expert that can assess your needs and find exactly what storage unit you require.
