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Contracts for Multi-Employer Projects Should Clearly Address Local Workers’ Comp Regimes

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted summary judgment to a refinery owner and two of that company’s employees in a suit brought by a worker who had been injured while working at the refinery.  Specifically, the worker suffered chemical burns when a substance sprayed onto the worker and through his personal protective equipment.  The...

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...

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...

New OSHA Reporting Rule Takes Effect January 1, 2017

Earlier this year, OSHA issued its final rule requiring some employers to electronically submit workplace safety information.  Some of this information will subsequently be made public, meaning that employers and the public will have access to employer-specific data to compare safety performance.  In addition, the final rule expressly contains anti-retaliation measures for workers who...

FTI and Sutherland To Host New York Roundtable on Safety Regulation & Post-Incident Response

On June 1, at the Harvard Club of New York City, Sutherland and FTI Consulting are presenting a complimentary program entitled, “Managing the New Normal: Safety Regulation and Post-Incident Response.”  The afternoon program will feature two panels, one addressing the current environment of safety regulation and litigation, and the other on process safety’s role in...

Key Considerations for Post-Incident Media Response

In today’s world, news of a corporate disaster or fatal injury travels fast.  In less than a minute from the time an incident occurs, media phone calls begin.  There are countless recent examples of how companies have botched initial post-incident communications in such a way that their actions have led to devastating consequences, from inviting political attacks or litigation to...

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