The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its revised Field Operations Manual (FOM). (pdf)  According to an OSHA news release, this document, formerly known as the Field Inspection Reference Manual, “constitutes OSHA's general enforcement policy and procedures for use by the agency's field offices in conducting inspections, issuing citations and proposing penalties. It is the guiding document for OSHA's compliance officers, whose mission is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women.”

States OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Donald G. Shalhoub: “The manual will be a resource for workers and employers, giving them a consolidated reference on how OSHA expects workplaces to be safe and healthful.”

Of particular interest is section VII of this 329-page document, which outlines the significant changes made to the current FOM. Specifically, changes have been made to the following areas:

• Program Planning
• Inspection Procedures
• Violations
• Case File Preparation and Documentation
• Penalties and Debt Collection
• Post-Citation Procedures and Abatement Verification
• Settlements
• Complaint and Referral Processing
• Industry Sectors
• Imminent Danger, Fatality, Catastrophe And Emergency Response
• Specialized Inspection Procedures
• Federal Agency Safety And Health Programs
• Health Inspection Enforcement Policy
• Legal Issues, and
• Disclosure Under The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Highlights include the fact that Section 17 settlements must now be handled in accordance with established agency procedures, including approval by OSHA’s national office. Section 17 is a designation used for settlements involving employers that have been cited as having willfully or repeatedly violated the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, but wish to pay all or almost all of the penalty and make significant additional concessions in exchange for having the citations redesignated as “unclassified.” Other changes of interest include the fact that the definition of “complaint” has been clarified to include only present employees, not past employees, and that the definitions of the factors involved in determining whether a serious OSH violation has occurred, as well as the elements of the general duty clause, have been expanded and clarified with examples. With respect to inspection procedures, it is explained that a state plan citation history may be used to document employer knowledge to support a willful federal OSH violation, but may not be used to support a repeat violation. Additionally, the FOM notes that certain repeated and willful penalty policies are applicable to recordkeeping violations.

The policies and procedures outlined in the new FOM took effect March 26, almost a week prior to its release date.