OSHA today officially renewed its Regional Emphasis Program (REP) targeting auto parts establishments in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Following the devastating Bloomberg Business Week article about preventable fatalities and injuries in foreign-owned auto parts facilities in the South, Confined Space learned that OSHA’s auto parts REP had expired on February 4, 2017 and had not been renewed.

After inquiries to OSHA, a spokesperson told us last week that the REP had been renewed, but the renewal was not posted until this afternoon. OSHA inspectors are not permitted to conduct inspections under REPs until they are posted on the OSHA Webpage.

The new REP summarizes the results of last year’s program:

During FY-16, Region IV conducted 46 inspections coded under the REP. One hundred and forty-three total violations were cited, with the majority of those being violations of the machine guarding and lockout/tagout standards. There was 1 fatality and 3 employer-reported referrals coded under this REP in OIS. Four of the inspections resulted in significant cases.