7.22.14  

  BNA  

 

Eric J. Conn was quoted in an article titled "Severe Violator Program Begins Fifth Year; Construction, Manufacturing Dominate List."

 

An excerpt:

 

The number of workplaces labeled as severe violators has reached 423 as the enforcement effort starts its fifth year, according to the latest numbers from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which began in June 2010, enables OSHA to increase its oversight of employers assigned to the program by scheduling return inspections to monitor compliance, opening new inspections of companies' other workplaces and seeking settlements with additional requirements.

 

Eric Conn, head of Epstein Becker & Green PC's OSHA practice, is a critic of SVEP, especially the policies of designating firms as severe violators while the qualifying citations are being challenged and requiring companies to spend at least three years on probation if the citations aren't reduced. "The exit criteria is fairly mythical," Conn told Bloomberg BNA in July, pointing out that no employer has been removed from the list through the process. Conn said that while it takes willful or repeat violations to get into SVEP, a serious violation will keep an employer on the list. With about 75 percent of all OSHA inspections finding at least one serious violation, Conn believes few employers will be excused from SVEP after spending three years on probation.