OSHA inspections to dramatically increase

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced that her department would strengthen the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by adding hundreds of investigators and spending tens of millions of dollars on enforcement activities.

House Democrats last week introduced a sweeping bill to beef up worker protections laws under the Occupational Safety and Health Act that lawmakers believe have been too lax, leading to injury and death. The Protecting America’s Workers Act would stiffen fines for violations of workplace safety law and create a new felony category for criminal violations. It also covers more workers and adds protections for workers who disclose problems on the job