15 dead, 300 injured: Why was OSHA fine only $118K?

A Texas newspaper takes a look at how the $118,300 OSHA fine for the West Fertilizer explosion stacks up against those for other catastrophic workplace incidents. Its conclusion: OSHA fines aren’t proportional to loss of life.

The Dallas Morning News analyzed OSHA’s 56,800 inspections since 2001.

The paper noted the West, Texas, explosion that killed 15 people, injured 300 others and damaged at least 150 buildings in the area, is nowhere close to OSHA’s top five largest fines. Not only that — it’s nowhere close to the top 25. No. 25 on the list involving Union Carbide in 1991 had a total issued penalty of $2.8 million.

The people of Texas are familiar with the largest fine in OSHA’s history: $84 million in proposed fines for the 2005 BP Texas City explosion that killed 15 and injured 170.

Another way to consider the West Fertilizer fine is to look at other recent ones from OSHA.

The agency just fined the general contractor and five subcontractors working on the construction of a power plant in New Hampshire $280,000.

There were no deaths in this case. OSHA inspected the work site due to complaints.

The general contractor alone faces $116,280 in fines.

How did the New Hampshire fines wind up more than two times those for the Texas explosion? The fines for the violations at the power plant site included three willful violations which carry a maximum penalty of $70,000. West Fertilizer’s parent company faces 24 serious violations which carry maximum $7,000 fines, but no willful ones.

Read Full Article At Safetynewsalert.com

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