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HRD-85-11 1 (1984-10-26)

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BY . IE US. GENERAL ACCOUNTING                            OFFICE

Report To The Chairman

Subcommittee On Manpower And Housing

Committee On Government Operations

House Of Representatives



Informal Settlement Of OSHA Citations:

Comments On The Legal Basis And Other

Selected Issues




The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), within the Department of Labor, inspects
workplaces and issues citations to employers when
it identifies hazardous work conditions violating
OSHA standards. In 1980, OSHA implemented a
policy allowing the directors of its area offices to
negotiate informally with employers and employees
and to withdraw or modify citations based on such
negotiations.


In response to questions raised bythe Subcommittee,
GAO found that (1) OSHA has legal authority for
informal settlements which may consider the
economic feasibility of abatements; (2) except for
the abatement date, employees may not contest the
terms of informal settlements; (3) the predominate
changes made to the original citations through
informal settlements involved penalty reductions;
(4) OSHA inspectors generally believed that the
informal settlement process expedited correction of
violations; and (5) employees were usually invited
to participate in informal settlement conferences,
but seldom attended.


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   GAO/HRD-85-11
OCTOBER 26, 1984


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