Hospitality Employers Note: Your Next Guest May Be an OSHA Inspector

Howard Mavity was quoted on BLR on February 5, 2016. In the article “Hospitality Employers Note: Your Next Guest May Be an OSHA Inspector,” Howard warned warning industry employers not to become complacent because they have never been inspected.

He said that while hospitality workplaces are not generally considered high hazard and typically are not inspected, there are reasons for concern. Among them:

• Since January 2015, employers have been required to report a single employee hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. OSHA acknowledges that one reason for the change was to gain access to previously unvisited employers.
• The agency is focusing on companies with multiple locations, which can yield more opportunities for error and noncompliance. For example, OSHA can base repeat citations on any previous violations found at other company sites in the past five years.
• OSHA is attempting to expand the definition of employer, which may pose a risk to hospitality groups with franchise arrangements.
• OSHA is focusing significantly on temporary employees and is heavily citing both hosts and providers for violations.
• The agency is taking a hard look at ergonomic and workplace violence hazards, both of which affect the hospitality industry.
• The recent federal budget agreement authorized OSHA to increase penalties by 82 percent starting in August 2016.

Howard concluded that in view of the above, “employers should tune up their OSHA compliance efforts and train site management on how best to respond to OSHA inspections.”

To read the full article, please visit BLR.