A certified OSHA trainer has admitted to submitting false reports and selling fake training cards in New York and New Jersey.
According to the Department of Justice, training agent Mark Dropal, falsely sold OSHA 10 cards to more than 100 carpenters. OSHA 10 training provides construction industry workers knowledge and skills in occupational safety standards. A training card is issued to prove that the cardholder has completed, and passed, a 10-hour OSHA Outreach Training Program (OTP). Dropal sold fake OSHA 10 cards for about $200 each from Feb. 21 and March 11, 2018.
Dropala plead guilty to one count of making and using false OSHA documents and faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The OTP trains workers on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of workplace hazards. The voluntary program also provides information on workers' rights, employer responsibilities, and how to file a complaint.
"OSHA's outreach training serves to educate workers about safety issues they will encounter on the jobsite," said OSHA Regional Administrator Richard Mendelson. "Falsifying documents not only undermines the program, it fails to protect workers on the job. OSHA will refer fraudulent activity to the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, and trainers caught falsifying information will be subject to criminal prosecution."