OSHA Reform Act of 1981

OSHA Reform Act of 1981 - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to prohibit the assessment of a civil penalty which exceeds $500 for a serious violation or which exceeds $100 for a non-serious violation, if the violating employer maintains an advisory safety committee and a regular consultation program at the workplace.

Permits employers to consult with workplace advisory safety committees to increase employee involvement and improve workplace conditions. Sets forth criteria which consultation programs and advisory safety committees must meet to qualify an employer for such penalty limitations.

Requires employers claiming qualifications to maintain records to which the Secretary of Labor has access. Provides that rulings by the Secretary that a workplace does not qualify may be reviewed only by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and a U.S. court of appeals, and only in conjunction with the contesting of a citation, abatement order, or proposed penalty.

Declares that no report or recommendation of a consultant or advisory safety committee, or assurance by the employer, shall be considered as evidence of a willful violation if the employer had a reasonable, good faith belief that the condition involved was not a violation.

Prohibits the use of OSHA funds in applying any OSHA provision to: (1) any industrial category employer with ten or fewer employees who in the preceding three consecutive years has had an occupational illness and injury rate less than the national average rate for all private sector employers of like size; or (2) any other employer who has for the preceding three consecutive years had an occupational injury and illness rate less than the national average for all employers and who documents this.