Michigan fines 12 construction-related businesses for COVID-19 violations

The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) has issued citations to 19 companies for “serious” COVID-19-related safety violations and levied a total of $51,400 in fines against the offenders. Twelve of the companies are related to the construction industry, and their total fines were $29,900.

MIOSHA cited the companies under the “general duty” clause, which, like federal OSHA, tasks all employers with providing a workplace free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

The citations that MIOSHA issued included:

  • Failure to maintain social distancing when possible.
  • Failure to require face coverings when social distancing cannot be maintained.
  • Not having a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan.
  • Failure to designate a COVID-19 workplace supervisor.
  • Not training employees on COVID-19.
  • Failure to maintain/retain records of daily health screenings.

States like Michigan, said attorney Phillip Russell with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak, & Stewart in Tampa, Florida, are handing out citations because they might believe federal OSHA has not been as aggressive as they should be in acting on violations and in developing a standard.

Other issues facing officials as they try to determine if a citation is warranted, Russell said, is that citations under the general duty clause also rely on CDC guidance. In the case of a COVID-19 infection, the issuing agency must also be able to prove that the employee was exposed at work.

The ultimate decisionmakers as to whether state agencies or federal OSHA “got it right,” he said will be the commissions or boards that review contested citations.

And while it is true that OSHA has issued relatively few citations related to COVID-19 thus far, Russell has a reminder: The agency has six months from the first exposure to a hazard to issue a citation, so some employers are not out of the woods yet just because they haven’t heard from OSHA about a violation or inspection performed earlier this year.

His best advice to employers?

Employers might not be able to do everything that the CDC recommends, he said, but they should at least pick some recommendations — such as social distancing, facial covering mandates, staggering schedules and providing handwashing stations — and follow them.

“The employers that are doing nothing and essentially thumbing their noses at the CDC and health agencies are the ones that will get in the most trouble,” he said.

“A cavalier attitude toward this, even if you don’t believe the threat is as high as the government says it is, could get you in regulatory hot water.”

Share on Socials!

Related Articles

Related Articles

Without infectious disease standards, staff, OSHA does few COVID inspections in Alabama

An agency legally mandated to protect worker safety in Alabama lacks an infectious disease standard and has conducted only a handful of onsite inspections following worker ...
Read More

Changes to Environmental Regulations Coming

Today a federal appeals court vacated the Trump administration’s rules that eased restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. Megan Houdeshel is a partner at the international law firm ...
Read More

Pittsburgh’s Departments of Public Works And Public safety report 16 cases of Coronavirus

The city of Pittsburgh is reporting more than a dozen confirmed coronavirus cases between the departments of Public Safety and Public Works, with 20 Environmental Service ...
Read More

Follow IHW!

Leaders in Industrial Hygiene

 

AccuTec-IHS
BOWMAN Dispensers, LLC
ENMET
HafcoVac
ILC
Miller Electric
Nilfisk
OHD
SHOWA
TSI

 

Subscribe!

Sign up to receive our industry publications for FREE!

Industrial Hygiene

Construction Safety