OSHA Changes Course on Union’s Ability To Participate in Inspections of Non-Union Workplaces
Posted on May 1, 2017 in Litigation, OSHA, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on OSHA Changes Course on Union’s Ability To Participate in Inspections of Non-Union Workplaces
On April 25, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) officially repealed the “Fairfax Memorandum,” a February 21, 2013 directive (an archived copy of the memo can be found here). The Fairfax Memorandum explained that workers at a worksite without a collective bargaining agreement could designate a person affiliated with a union or community organization to act...
Worker’s Sprained Ankle Leads to $250,000 Punitive Damage Award for Retaliation
Posted on Apr 27, 2017 in Litigation, OSHA, Process Safety, Product Liability, Transportation | Comments Off on Worker’s Sprained Ankle Leads to $250,000 Punitive Damage Award for Retaliation
A railroad challenged a worker after the worker filed an OSHA complaint on grounds that he lied in that complaint about precisely how his on-the-job accident occurred (based on a discrepancy between the complaint and his prior version of the events). An ALJ concluded that those charges of dishonesty amounted to unlawful retaliation against the employee for filing the OSHA complaint...
Court Allows Case Challenging OSHA’s Interpretation of Non-Employee “Walk Around” Rights To Continue
Posted on Feb 12, 2017 in Litigation, OSHA, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Court Allows Case Challenging OSHA’s Interpretation of Non-Employee “Walk Around” Rights To Continue
In response to the challenge by the National Federation of Independent Business (“NFIB”) of OSHA’s guidance for the right of non-employee third parties to participate in OSHA workplace safety investigations at non-union workplaces, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas concluded that the NFIB has standing to bring its claims and that the NFIB’s primary claims...
OSHA Issues Directive for Inspections of Facilities Subject to PSM
Posted on Jan 19, 2017 in OSHA | Comments Off on OSHA Issues Directive for Inspections of Facilities Subject to PSM
OSHA has issued a directive for a National Emphasis Program (NEP) for inspecting facilities with highly hazardous chemicals that are subject to OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM). This instruction describes an updated initiative by OSHA. As the NEP explains, “Under the previous related instructions, OSHA conducted inspections of facilities covered by OSHA’s PSM...
Root Cause Analysis Must Be Produced Where Not Substantively Different from Analyses Prepared in Ordinary Course of Business
Posted on Dec 8, 2016 in Construction, Investigations, Process Safety | Comments Off on Root Cause Analysis Must Be Produced Where Not Substantively Different from Analyses Prepared in Ordinary Course of Business
An Arizona federal court granted a motion to compel production of a Root Cause Analysis Report (“Report”) prepared by a third party at the request of the owner of an electric power station generator that failed. Following the generator’s failure, the owner’s general counsel emailed two senior managers in the company instructing them to retain a third-party investigator to conduct a...
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