The Further Expansion of the Multi-Employer Workplace Doctrine
The following article reports on a further expansion of the multi-employer workplace doctrine. You will see that the recent decision of the Review Commission involves Summit Contractors at another location and not only discusses the “controlling” employer prong of the doctrine but also discusses the “creating” prong, in this case holding the employer for lack of GFCI […]
Unavoidable Employee Misconduct
As you know, OSHA has announced that its focus will be enforcement, including aggressive inspection of workplace accidents, particularly fatalities. In order to be able to avoid potential citations arising out of a fatality, an employer must develop and enforce safety and health programs that address the hazards in its workplace. The enclosed article discusses […]
OSHA Whistleblower Protection
As you know, the current Administration has signaled that “enforcement” (inspections and citations) will be its primary focus to regulate workplace safety, including enhanced penalties, higher gravity citations and significant enforcement consequences for employers who fall within the Severe Violators Enforcement Program(SVEP). Not to be forgotten is the protection against retaliation afforded to employees under the […]
OSHA Ups the Enforcement Ante on Employers
As you probably know, in the last two weeks OSHA has issued several high profile Memoranda relating to several enforcement agendas that will create substantial new liabilities for employers. The enclosed article discusses these new liabilities, including the Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP), changes to the Agency’s penalty policies, changing the criteria for issuance of Repeat […]
The Importance of Employee Discipline – Reducing Injuries and Avoiding OSHA Citations
The recent appointment of David Michaels as the new head of OSHA signals an aggressive OSHA with an active enforcement agenda. For employers, this means more inspections and more citations. But it also means that a greater portion of citations issued will be of higher gravity: more Willful citations, more Repeat citations, and more citations issued under OSHA’s […]
OSHA Compliance – Creating Legal Privileges for Company Investigations and Audits
With the recent appointment of David Michaels as the new head of OSHA, the Obama Administration has affirmed its commitment to workplace safety, with an increased focus on industrial hygiene. Dr. Michaels’ appointment signals a more aggressive OSHA, with an active enforcement agenda as part of a “bold campaign to change the workplace culture of safety.” As […]
OSHA’s Controlling Employer Citation Policy
On February 26, 2009, in Hilda Solis v. Summit Contractors, Inc., No. 07-2191 (8th Cir. 2009), the court vacated an Order by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), which held that the Secretary of Labor’s multi-employer worksite policy for “controlling employers” violated agency policy. The ruling provides additional legal support for issuing citations to […]
Supervisor Duty to Enforce OSHA Citations
The enclosed article discusses a critical aspect of every employer’s OSHA compliance program, the duty of the supervisor to enforce compliance. The article discusses the scope of the liability issues, challenges to be addressed and provides several recommendations. Read full article here.
Defending Duplicative OSHA Citations
Recently, we have begun to see many instances where employers receive many OSHA citations which appear to allege substantially similar violations, some of which contain separate monetary penalties. In many instances, these citations are properly identified as “duplicative” and should not have been issued and should be vacated. Unfortunately, unless the employer is aware that […]
Smalis Painting Article
The enclosed article is an extensive discussion of a recent OSHA Review Commission case that illustrates how an employer can become involved with OSHA in escalating citations and penalties that can be overwhelming and potentially threaten the employer’s existence. The employer, a construction company, received a series of OSHA lead citations over a two year […]
Enhanced OSHA Liability for Controlling Employers
This article analyzes the recent Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Summit Contractors in which the Court reversed the OSHA Review Commission and reaffirmed the “multi-employer” worksite liability doctrine which imposes civil and criminal potential liability on the “controlling employer” on a multi-employer worksite. We expect to see an increase in citation activity against […]
Unavoidable Employee Misconduct Defense to OSHA Liability
As most employers are (or should be) aware, there are literally hundreds and, in some industries, thousands of federal and state OSHA regulations regarding occupational safety and health which may apply and which create potential civil and criminal liability for the employer and managers. This article will discuss the primary defense available to an employer […]
