In the North American legal system and in US Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, willful violation or willful non-compliance is a violation of workplace rules and policies that occurs either deliberately or as a result of neglect.

Definition

Willful violation is defined as an "act done voluntarily with either an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to," the requirements of Acts, regulations, statutes or relevant workplace policies.[1][2][3] This is described with slightly different emphasis in an OSHA technical manual that a "willful violation exists under the Act where the evidence shows either an intentional violation of the Act or plain indifference to its requirements."[4]

Criminal recklessness is similarly described in Black's Law Dictionary as "Conduct whereby the actor does not desire harmful consequence but...foresees the possibility and consciously takes the risk," or alternatively as "a state of mind in which a person does not care about the consequences of his or her actions."[5]

See also

  • Actus reus – In criminal law, the "guilty act" ("guilty act")
  • Automatism (law) – Legal defence; the criminal was unaware of their actions during the crime
  • Breach of duty in English law
  • Calculus of negligence – United States legal term
  • Carelessness (criminal) – Lack of awareness during a behaviour that can result in unintentional consequences
  • Contravention – non-criminal offense
  • Culpability – Degree to which one is morally or legally responsible for a crime
  • Criminal negligence – State of mind needed to constitute a conventional criminal offense
  • Depraved-heart murder – Killing where the circumstances demonstrate a "depraved indifference" to human life
  • Duty of care – Legal standard of care in activity
  • Duty to rescue – Concept in tort law
  • Endangerment – Crime likely to produce death or injury
  • English tort law – Branch of English law concerning civil wrongs
  • Excuse – defense to criminal charges that is distinct from an exculpation
  • Good Samaritan law – Legal protection for rescuers
  • Health and safety law – Field concerned with the safety, health and welfare of people at work
  • Imputation (law) – Principle that all laws are published, so ignorance is not an excuse
  • Infraction – Crime tried without a jury
  • Intention (criminal law) – State of mind which must accompany some crimes to make them illegal
  • Mens rea – In criminal law, the "guilty mind" ("guilty mind")
  • Negligence – Failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances
  • Omission (law) – Failure to act
  • Plausible deniability – Ability to deny responsibility
  • Punitive damages – Damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct
  • Reasonable person – Hypothetical person of legal fiction
  • Recklessness (law) – In law, state of mind where one disregards risks in pursuing an action
  • Regulatory offence – Crime for which mens rea is not required to prove culpability
  • Rescue doctrine – in U.S. tort law, the principle that a tortfeasor who places the tort victim in danger is liable for any harm caused to any person injured in an effort to rescue that victim, in addition to the harm to the victim
  • Tort law – Legal claim of civil wrong
  • Treble damages – Right of a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages awarded
  • Willful blindness – Legal term for avoiding liability (also called "willful ignorance" or "contrived ignorance")

References

  1. ^ Report No. 2005-04-I-TX U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Investigation Report, 2005 Refinery Explosion and Fire, BP Texas City, Texas, March 23, (15 Killed, 180 Injured), March 2007, Page 20
  2. ^ Conie Construction, Inc. v. Reich, 73 F.3d 382, 384 (D.C. Cir. 1995)
  3. ^ Ensign-Bickford Co. v. OSHRC, 717 F.2d 1419, 1422 (D.C.Cir.1983)
  4. ^ OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual, CPL 2.103 Section 7 - Chapter III. Inspection Documentation
  5. ^ Black's Law dictionary 1053 (Bryan A. Garner ed., 8th ed. abr. 2005)
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