4.29.2014  

  SHRM.org  

 

Eric J. Conn was quoted in an article titled "Company Owner Faces Prison in Death of Employee."

 

An excerpt:

 

The owner of an asphalt plant faces up to six months in prison if convicted of violating a federal safety standard and causing the death of an employee. …

 

In the 40 years since Congress enacted the OSH Act, there have been more than 400,000 workplace fatalities, yet fewer than 80 OSH Act criminal cases have been prosecuted and only about a dozen have resulted in criminal convictions, explained Eric Conn, head of Epstein Becker Green's national OSHA Practice Group based in Washington, D.C.

 

"Historically, the prosecutions have typically targeted cases in which the employers were alleged to have falsified documents and lied to OSHA in conjunction with violations related to an employee fatality," he said. "The cover-up was worse than the crime." …

 

In fact, we have been told off-the-record from several representatives within OSHA and the Department of Labor Solicitor's office that as a matter of policy, OSHA now makes a criminal referral in every case involving an employee fatality and a willful violation," he said.