Employer Achilles Heel – Supervisor Failure to Enforce OSHA Compliance
This article discusses some of the challenges that employers are facing as they move forward with the new generation of supervisors who will be required to have knowledge of safety and health hazards and the responsibility to enforce the employer’s safety and health policies. The supervisor truly can be the Achilles’ heel of the entire […]
OSHA Campaign to Protect Employees From Heat Hazards
Summer is approaching! We are starting to receive inquiries about heat illness from companies who have had OSHA inspections or employee complaints about excessive heat at the workplace. As you know, OSHA has a heat illness agenda that employers should be aware of and develop a program. The hazard of heat illness, however, can involve […]
Haz Comm 2.0: OSHA Announces Final Hazard Communication Rule
As you all know, the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (“employee right to know”) is one of the agency’s oldest and most cited regulations. After years of discussion and comment, the regulation has been revised with various compliance obligations extending to 2016. The revised Final Rule was published on March 26, 2012 with an effective date […]
Defending Against a Speculative or Theoretical OSHA Citation
This article addresses a subject that has been vexing to employers, that is, what is OSHA’s proof of an employee’s “exposure” to a hazard that is sufficient to support a citation. Employers become frustrated when they are cited and there does not appear any reasonable basis to conclude that an employee was exposed to a […]
Fall Hazards: One of OSHA’s “Big Three”
This article focuses on one of OSHA’s “Big Three” hazards, falls. It discusses the applicable regulations as well as several recent decisions involving the regulations. Please contact us if you have any questions and feel free to use the article within your organization and in your publications. Read full article here.
OSHA Willful Citations Increase Employer Liabilities
This article focuses on OSHA’s recent emphasis on the issuance of willful citations and to provide some guidance on steps that can be taken to avoid this liability. Please feel free to use this article within your organization for training and to circulate it to necessary individuals. Read full article here.
Are you a Reasonably Prudent Employer? Court Lowers Burden of Proof for OSHA Citations
This article is a negative event for employers because it discusses a recent Court decision that lowers OSHA’ s burden of proof to prove citations against employers. It arises out of a tragic case involving a construction site fatality. We encourage you all to read it since it illustrates how the agency may be able […]
OSHA Expansion Fall Hazard Liability for Host Employers
As you know, OSHA has continually attempted to expand the scope of the multi-employer workplace doctrine. The enclosed article discusses a recent case in which it was extended to attempt to find liability against a host employer who engaged an outside contractor to perform electrical work which required access to the building at the host employer’s […]
OSHA Compliance – Personal Protective Equipment – Employer/Employee Duty to Pay
As you know, OSHA has had requirements for providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees since the inception of the Act. In addition, issues have arisen as to whether the employer or the employee has a duty to pay for the PPE. We have seen an increasing number of citations involving these regulations which were last […]
Shame on You! OSHA Regulation by Shaming
The enclosed article discusses another OSHA enforcement agenda that is now being used for high profile enforcement actions which can have a very major impact on an employer’s business reputation and, in some cases, economic viability. This agenda should be a clear message to employers that they need to be prepared for OSHA inspections and […]
Federal OSHA Plays “Big Brother” to State OSHA Plans
As you may know, Federal OSHA has been aggressively enforcing safety and health compliance in those states in which Federal OSHA enforces the occupational safety and health program. Many States have assumed the responsibility to enforce their own occupational safety and health programs. Federal OSHA has conducted reviews of the State plan OSHA state programs’ performance […]
Too Good to Be True: Potential Pitfalls of OSHA Settlements
Many of you have participated in informal conferences with OSHA and entered into settlement agreements to resolve OSHA citations. It is important to consider the future impact of the settlement agreements not only on future OSHA enforcement, including potential Repeat or Willful citations, but also whether the settlement agreement could be used in other litigation outside of OSHA, such as personal […]
