Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/638772
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • January-February 2016 27 using other statutes such as the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Environmental statutes typically include felony prison terms and harsher monetary fines. In addition, prosecutors will be encouraged to look at use of Title 18 of the U.S. Code to enhance penalties and increase deterrence. The Title 18 provisions that have sometimes been used in this manner before include charges of "obstruction of justice" and "conspiracy" (two or more individuals colluding to obstruct justice or otherwise violate the law). Because Title 18 crimes are subject to review under the federal sentencing guidelines, they can carry prison terms of up to 20 years. What OSHA might consider "obstruction" remains to be seen, but in the mining industry, after the Upper Big Branch disaster, the first criminal prosecution was against the company safety/security officer under Title 18 for destroying documents sought by the DOL. As a result of his conviction, he was sentenced to serve about six years in a federal prison. The directive to the U.S. attorneys tells them, when analyzing an OSHA case, to consider charging other serious offenses including false statements to inspectors and investigators, obstruction of justice, witness tampering (e.g., threatening employees who are whistleblowers or wish to speak to OSHA personnel privately, or who plan to testify against the company), environmental, and endangerment crimes (e.g., where an accident involves someone under age 18). These all carry felony provisions that, the DOJ argues, will better deter and punish workplace safety crimes. A 2015 non-fatal OSHA case by the DOJ may be a harbinger of Igor Sokolov