Introduction Who is legally responsible for safety violations that occur on a jobsite? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") can impose liability on various entities and in some cases even individuals. Increasingly, OSHA is expanding the avenues for liability, including criminal liability for individuals and civil penalties on host employers and their staffing agencies. In addition to OSHA knocking on the door, employers and the individuals who work for them may face civil liability in private lawsuits, including a variety of tort claims such as negligence and wrongful death. This paper will provide you with an invaluable legal primer of liability issues so that you know who is on the hook when it comes to workplace safety liability. Criminal Liability under the Occupational Safety and Health Act Title 29 U.S.C. § 666(e) provides criminal penalties for any employer who willfully violates a safety standard prescribed pursuant to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (the "OSH Act" or the "Act"), where that violation causes the death of any employee. The government must prove four elements in order to establish a criminal violation under section 666(e). Namely, a prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that: the defendant is an employer engaged in a business affecting commerce; the employer violated an OSHA standard (not the general duty clause); the violation was willful; and the violation caused the death of an employee. 2 For purposes of criminal enforcement, an "employer" can be the employing business entity or an individual who is a corporate officer or director. The criminal penalty for these violations is imprisonment for up to six months and monetary penalties of up to $250,000 for individuals. For organizations, monetary penalties can be assessed up to $500,000. In the recent past, OSHA has begun to refer more cases to the Department of Justice ("DOJ") for investigation by a U.S. Attorney and possible criminal sanctions. It is now believed that OSHA's policy is to consider a criminal referral in every case involving an employee fatality and a willful violation. Moreover, OSHA has considered more referrals to local or state prosecutors who may have more remedies available to them for criminal prosecution, particularly of individuals. There are several examples of this policy in action.

Background The notion that occupational safety and health (OSH) performance is linked to business performance, including employee morale, has widespread appeal. Workplaces with active, visible safety leadership have fewer injuries, are often rated as better places to work, and have more satisfied, more productive employees who are less likely to change jobs (OSHA, 2002). The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has taken the position that safety and health management programs improve a company's bottom line, including productivity and employee morale (ASSE, 2002). In 2005, BusinessWeek featured a special advertising section promoting safety's return on investment; one of the core messages was that safety improves employee morale, which in turn enhances business value (Colford, 2005). Gice (1995) contended that increasing job satisfaction will reduce workers compensation claims, and that the improvement of job satisfaction is just as important as hazard reduction in controlling workers compensation claims. Rechenthin (2004) found that poor safety programs could negatively influence company morale and make recruiting difficult particularly in high-risk industries. However, these claims linking occupational safety performance to employee morale are limited by a lack of data to support the contentions. The purpose of this research endeavor was to analyze the relationship between OSH performance and employee morale, using the Great Place to Work® Institute's lists (Best 100 large companies and Best 50 small/medium companies) as the construct for employee morale. What is a Great Place to Work? The Great Place to Work® (GPTW) Institute compiles a list of the best places to work in the United States. A Great Place to Work® is one in which you "trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do, and enjoy the people you work with." (GPTW® Website, 2008). See Figure 1 for the Institute's dimensions. Similar to participants in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program, Great Place to Work® organizations, hereafter called Best Companies, self-nominate themselves and initiate the process. The Institute distributes a 57-item employee survey called the Great Place to Work® Trust Index to several hundred randomly selected employees at each firm (Levering, 2004). Each organization also completes a culture audit, which includes an open-ended questionnaire, and firms provide supplemental information for the Institute staff to review (Rohman, 2007). For the second year in a row (2007 and 2008), Google, a global technology service provider based in Mountain View, California, is the number one Best Company to Work for in America. Best places to work cover a wide variety of industries including construction, manufacturing, and advertising. In fact, in 2007 the two top companies on the Small and Medium lists were a construction company (Holder Construction Company) and a mining company (Badger Mining Corporation). Table 1 provides a complete industry sector list with distribution. For a synopsis on how the best companies are chosen, see sidebar. The Institute's processes help companies improve corporate performance and raise the quality of work life for their employees.