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Oregon OSHA officials are considering raising the fines for serious workplace safety violations and making bigger employers pay more. In the construction industry, however, the largest general contractors say bigger fines won’t make them any safer.

The commitment to safety should come from the companies themselves, said Dan Kavanaugh, vice president and general manager with Turner Construction Co.

鈥淔rom our philosophy, money is not the motivator,鈥� he said 鈥淎 fine doesn’t mean anything to us.鈥�

Right now, Oregon OSHA calculates fines based on two factors: the probability that an accident will occur and the severity of that accident. The most severe accident 鈥� one that causes a death 鈥� carries a maximum fine of $5,000.

That isn’t much of a financial hit for huge companies, said Michael Wood, Oregon OSHA administrator. Wood has the authority, at his discretion, to add up to $2,000 to each penalty in egregious cases.

Wood said he’s considering issuing fines on a sliding scale, based on the company’s size, and setting the new cap at $7,000, the highest Oregon OSHA can go under state law. 鈥淚t’s certainly one of the things we’re looking at,鈥� he said.

Smaller companies now can get a break of up to 30 percent on fines, Wood said. But that’s a smaller break than other states offer, and the issue probably will come up when Oregon OSHA starts talking, later this month, about updating its rules.

Safety violations made news last week, when Oregon OSHA announced penalties totaling $90,000 stemming from a February accident in which a welder was killed in a Boardman potato processing plant owned by ConAgra Foods. ConAgra received 13 fines totaling $65,000; NW Metal Fabricators, the company performing the repairs at the plant, received five fines totaling $25,000.

Wood acknowledged that a $65,000 fine wouldn’t have a great effect on a giant company such as ConAgra, which had $12.7 billion in sales for the fiscal year that ended in May. But he said Oregon OSHA’s main role is to push employers to keep workplaces safe, not to penalize them.

鈥淚t isn’t about an appropriate punishment,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淭his is about being a motivation to the employers.
鈥淲hat motivates Fred’s Roofing, (which) has two employees, is going to be different than what motivates ConAgra.鈥�

That’s especially true in construction, a field that has grown safer and more professional thanks in part to high-profile efforts by the largest companies. These companies generally don’t flout safety laws, Kavanaugh said.

An 鈥渁bsolutely, unequivocally fundamental commitment鈥� to creating the safest environment on job sites is what drives Turner, he said. Raising fines wouldn’t change that.

Higher fines could be big hits for small and mid-sized construction companies, but they wouldn’t affect the biggest players, said Dan Johnson, vice president of operations for Skanska USA.

鈥淚f they raised fines, would that become a motivation?鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚’m thinking 鈥榥o.’ 鈥�

Johnson has called for the entire industry to take a zero-tolerance approach to job-site accidents. Oregon OSHA shouldn’t need to get involved at all, he said.

鈥淥ur mission is never to be fined by OSHA,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭o receive an OSHA citation, that is a strike against everything we stand for in safety.鈥�

Johnson said he sees more problems at companies much smaller than Skanska. 鈥淚t’s the house builders, the small contractors 鈥� you can see from the street the goofy things they’re doing.鈥�

For those contractors, a bigger fine might make a difference.

鈥淎t the lower level of construction, they’ll get (the job) done and try to survive,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚f being fined is their only motivation (to be safer), maybe that’s enough.鈥�