Many safety experts recommend that an employer always schedule an informal conference with the area director after citations and penalties have been issued. Discuss the pros and cons of doing this.
UNIT V STUDY GUIDE
Informal Conference Procedures
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit V
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
7. Summarize legal processes related to employer criminal sanctions.
7.1 Discuss penalties that may be issued if the employer fails to correct a violation in which a
citation has been issued.
7.2 Identify which documents to take to an informal conference.
7.3 Explain options for resolving proposed citations or penalties.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
7.1
7.2
7.3
Learning Activity
Unit Lesson
Webpage: SEC. 17. Penalties
Webpage: “US Department of Labor proposes $1.3 M in penalties for
contractor with extensive history of violations after two workers die at
Boston dig site”
Unit V Assignment
Unit Lesson
Webpage: SEC. 17. Penalties
Unit V Assignment
Unit Lesson
Webpage: SEC. 17. Penalties
Unit V Assignment
Required Unit Resources
In order to access the following resources, click the links below.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). SEC. 17. Penalties. U.S. Department of Labor.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/oshact/section_17
U.S. Department of Labor. (2021, August 18). US Department of Labor proposes $1.3 M in penalties for
contractor with extensive history of violations after two workers die at Boston dig site.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOL/bulletins/2ed4820
Unit Lesson
Introduction
Congratulations on making it halfway through the course! We spent the first half of the class discussing
OSHA’s inspection priorities, OSHA’s inspection process, OSHA’s violations and fines, and employer’s rights
and responsibilities regarding an OSHA inspection. During the second half of the class, we are going to be
discussing informal conference procedures, adjudicating OSHA citations, criminal proceedings, and OSHA’s
cooperative programs. For this unit’s lesson, we are going to talk about what steps an employer should take
when requesting an informal conference.
OSH 3302, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health
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Pros/Cons of an Informal Conference
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Any employee or employer who has been affected by proposed citations and penalties has a right under the
OSH Act to request an informal conference with the area director. There are several reasons why an informal
conference may be more desirable than formally contesting a citation or penalty. One of the reasons is that
the informal conference is typically much more cost effective than a formal contest. Another reason is that
employers can, in many cases, reduce citation levels and penalty amounts without going through the formal
process.
There are some drawbacks to the informal conference. Unlike the procedures to formally contest a citation,
OSHA is not required to provide their complete file for the inspection to the employer at an informal
conference, which limits the employer’s knowledge about the reasoning behind the proposed citations and
penalties. Additionally, the informal conference will not extend the 15 days within which a Notice of Contest
must be filed. Therefore, it is important to schedule the informal conference at a date that allows the Notice of
Contest to still be filed within 15 working days of the receipt of the Notice of Citations and Penalty.
Rules for an Informal Conference
Although the conference is informal, there are some rules that apply. An informal conference can be held by
telephone or video conference, but OSHA prefers to hold the informal conference in person. OSHA wants to
make sure all decisions made in an informal conference are transparent. Therefore, if an employer requests
the informal conference, affected employees or their representative(s) will be notified of the conference and
will be allowed to participate. Likewise, if employees request the informal conference, the employer will be
notified and allowed to participate. In order to ensure that both employees and employers have the right to
attend the informal conference, OSHA will send a notification of the conference and note in the file that these
notifications have been sent to the appropriate parties. The employer is also required to post a notice of the
informal conference at the workplace (OSHA, 2020).
Both the employer and employee can bring legal representation or other representation, such as a union
member. If legal representation will be present, OSHA may also have counsel present. In most cases, one
joint conference will be held with the employer (and representative[s]) and employee (and representative[s])
present. In some instances, the area director may choose to have separate informal conferences if he or she
believes that separate conferences would be more productive.
There is a set of general guidelines for informal conferences. The main items that are discussed during an
informal conference are the purpose for the conference, the rights that both the employers and employees
have, any time constraints or limitations of the conference, and the potential for a settlement of the citations.
During the informal conference, participants can discuss control methods that can be used to correct any
written violations. This allows OSHA to present some ideas for control methods that they would recommend.
This also allows the employer to present ideas for implementing control methods to determine if they are
acceptable to OSHA. The process also allows employees to express concerns about any proposed control
methods that they believe would be inadequate in addressing citations.
Another topic that can be discussed at the informal conference is the proposed abatement dates. The
employer may believe that the proposed abatement dates are unachievable. The employer can present
information about what he or she would believe is a more practical time frame for achieving abatement. An
agreement can then be reached to reset the abatement dates.
One of the main reasons for conducting an informal conference is to discuss citations and penalties. The
employer can discuss the level of citations that were issued and present information about why they believe
the levels should be changed. For example, an employer may believe that a situation cited as a serious
violation will not result in serious injury or death and should be reduced to an other-than-serious violation. If
the employer can present a persuasive argument, the citation level can be reduced at the informal
conference. Similarly, the employer could present evidence that he or she has taken good faith steps toward
reducing risks associated with a citation or that he or she has evidence of improved safety programs that
were not available during the inspection and then ask for a reduction in the penalty amount(s).
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Settling Citations
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
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OSHA prefers to settle citations without having to proceed to formal adjudication. The area director has the
authority to make changes to the Notice of Citations and Penalty based on the informal conference. The
changes that can be made include proposed abatement dates, severity of a citation, and the amount of a
penalty. The area director can even remove a citation completely. However, adequate evidence must be
presented to justify such actions. Also, if the area director reduces the total amount of penalties by more than
60%, the changes must be approved by the regional administrator (OSHA, 2020).
The area director typically takes notes and collects relevant documents that are brought to the conference.
For example, if an employer was cited for a training deficiency, the employer may bring a copy of updated
training records showing all employees have taken the training for which the employer was cited. At the end
of the conference, the area director will summarize the pertinent points that were discussed and present the
potential courses of action that may be taken. All documentation from the conference will be placed into the
employer’s official file.
The area director may or may not give a final decision at the close of the informal conference. However, a
decision will be provided in time for the filing of a Notice of Contest within the 15-working day period. If an
informal agreement is reached at the informal conference, all parties would sign the agreement, and a formal
Notice of Contest would not be filed.
Unresolved Issues
OSHA will make efforts to resolve any issues that are discussed at the informal conference. If all issues are
not adequately resolved during the informal conference, the area director sends a summary of the
proceedings of the informal conference and any unresolved issues to the federal agency program officer
(FAPO) within 5 working days of the informal conference. The FAPO and regional administrator will then
make decisions about any unresolved issues. The unresolved issues may be left as they were originally
issued or changed. In either case, OSHA, the employer, and the affected employees have the right to appeal
any decisions by the FAPO/regional administrator.
Topics Not Discussed During Informal Conference
There are some topics that are not discussed during an informal conference. The OSHA representative is not
allowed to discuss whether an employer or employee has a case with legal merits. The OSHA representative
also cannot discuss whether a case will be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
Some states have state-approved OSHA plans. While the process for inspection, citations, penalties, informal
conference, and formal adjudication is the same, there may be some differences in how the regulations are
enforced in states with their own OSHA plans.
Conclusion
After receiving the citations and notifications of penalties, an employer can choose to schedule an informal
conference with the area director. An informal conference is a way to get clarification on any of the proposed
citations and also gives the employer the chance to potentially reduce any proposed penalties. This process
is a very informal process, which is an optional step in the process.
Reference
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2020). Field operations manual. U.S. Department of Labor.
https://www.osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-00-164
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Suggested Unit Resources
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
In order to access the following resources, click the links below.
Review the following information regarding inspections, citations, and proposed penalties.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Inspections, citations, and proposed penalties. U.S.
Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1903/1903.16
You may want to refer to Chapter 7, previously read in Unit IV, as it may help you in completing your
assignment for this unit.
Chapter 7: Post-Citation Procedures and Abatement Verification
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