Willful Violations = Prison

Over the past few weeks two high profiles cases about business executives or business owners being sentenced to prison for fatal workplace accidents.

The first case comes under the jurisdiction of OSHA and is high profile mainly because it was referenced in a couple of publications/websites dedicated to industrial hygiene and safety. According to montgomerynews.com the owner of a roofing business was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the death of an employee. The employee died when he fell approximately 45 ft from a scaffold while performing roof repairs on a church. There were several charges resulting from the incident which included four counts of making false statements, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation causing death to an employee. (According to OSHA.gov  "A willful violation is defined as a violation in which the employer either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement (purposeful disregard) or acted with plain indifference to employee safety."). In this case, the willful violation was due to the owner not supplying fall protection to his employees. The other charges stemmed from false statements made during the subsequent investigation.

The second case has had national and international news coverage. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (justice.gov) Don Blankenship the former Massey Energy CEO was sentenced on April 6, 2016 "...to a year in federal prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine." He was sentenced after being found guilty of conspiracy to willfully violate mine health and safety standards. The charges were the results of a catastrophic mine explosion in April 2010 at the Upper Big Branch coal mine that killed 29 miners. The one year sentence is the maximum allowed for that charge.

Blankenship was acquitted of two charges of making false statements that would have carried the chance of much longer sentences. A Massey mine supervisor was sentenced to 21 months in prison for instructing an electrician to disable a methane monitor and another executive was sentenced to 42 months for pleading guilty to charges that he helped evade surprise mine inspections. Blankenship maintains that he did not commit a crime and will appeal the convictions.