INCREASED HIOSH PENALTIES – JANUARY 15, 2022

HIOSH will apply the following new penalty system to penalties issued on and after January 15, 2022.

Purpose

The penalty information below is intended to supplement the penalties and debt collection information found in Chapter 6 of the Field Operations Manual (FOM). Tables reflect penalty amounts for the calendar year 2022 and correspond to adjusted penalty amounts found in the OSHA Information Systems (OIS). HIOSH updates this information annually to ensure access to current penalty information.

Background

The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act) and adopted by HIOSH 396, HRS requires HIOSH to annually adjust its civil monetary penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year, to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and maintain their deterrent effect. The Inflation Adjustment Act required agencies to: (1) adjust the level of civil monetary penalties with an initial “catch up” adjustment through an interim final rule and (2) make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation, no later than January 15 of each year.

The cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2022, based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for October 2021 (not seasonally adjusted), is 1.06222. To compute the 2022 annual adjustment, the Department multiplied the most recent penalty amount for each applicable penalty by the multiplier, 1.06222, and rounded to the nearest dollar.

Adjustments are made by issuing a final rule issued by Federal OSHA that is effective on its date of publication in the Federal Register (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/14/2022-00144/department-of-labor-federal-civil-penalties-inflation-adjustment-act-annual-adjustments-for-2022).

HIOSH penalty law can, Act 126 signed July 10, 2017 can be found here: https://labor.hawaii.gov/hiosh/files/2017/12/ACT-126.pdf

Minimum and Maximum Penalty Amounts.

Table 1 summarizes the minimum and maximum amounts for proposed civil penalties:

Table 1: Maximum and Minimum Amounts for Civil Penalties

*For a repeated other-than-serious violation that otherwise would have no initial penalty, a GBP penalty of $414 shall be proposed for the first repeated violations, $1,036 for the second repeated violation, and $2,072 for the third repetition.

Gravity Based Penalty Amounts.

The gravity of a violation is defined by the Gravity Based Penalty (GBP).

1. • A high gravity violation is one with a GBP of $14,502.
   • A moderate gravity violation is one with the GBP ranging from $8,287 to $12,431.
   • A low gravity violation is one with a GBP of $6,215.

For serious violations, the GBP shall be assigned on the basis of the following scale in Table 2:
Severity + Probability = GBP

Table 2: Serious Violations

For other-than-serious violations, only minimal severity is assigned. If the Health or Safety Branch Manager or HIOSH Administrator determines that it is appropriate to achieve the necessary deterrent effect, a maximum penalty of $14,502 can be proposed.

Serious Willful Penalty Reductions.

The reduction factor for history shall be applied as usual. The reduction factors for size for serious willful violations shall be applied as shown in Table 3:

Table 3: Serious Willful Penalty Reductions

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact HIOSH at (808) 586 – 9116.