OSHA Asbestos Fines on the Increase!

Asbestos has become a hot topic again at OSHA with Charles Jeffress, OSHA's administrator, publicly stating that the administration will increase its enforcement activity. Some recent fines include:

• Two separate hotel owners were recently fined for asbestos violations, one in New York City and the other in Denver. The New York property management firm was fined nearly $238,950 for three willful and 11 serious violations. A willful violation is defined as one committed with an intentional disregard or plain indifference to the regulations. The action came as a result of an anonymous call alleging that employees were being exposed to airborne asbestos while performing renovation work and routine maintenance operations. The Denver operation of a major hotel chain was cited for several violations and fined $103,500.

• Since OSHA's revised asbestos standards became law on October 1, 1995, 992 companies have received 3782 individual citations, totaling $7.3 million in fines. These statistics represent the first three years of enforcement, October 1995 - September 1998. The first year of enforcement, fines totaled only $905,000. The second year (1996-1997), saw a threefold increase to $2,842,653. From 1997 to 1998, fines increased once again with 1316 citations issued totaling nearly $3.6 million. The main target of these OSHA fines were property managers and facility owners, not asbestos contractors. The majority of the violations were to CFR 29 1926.1101, the Asbestos Construction Standard.

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