Occupational Safety and Health

Our occupational safety and health practice encompasses all aspects of worker health and safety issues. Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.'s lawyers represent clients on a wide range of worker safety issues in both counseling and litigation contexts, particularly with respect to chemicals and processes also regulated by environmental programs.

Our experience spans many years, both as in-house counsel and at Beveridge & Diamond, on compliance issues arising under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act). The practice covers personal safety, occupational health, and process safety, as well as injury and illness recordkeeping, records access, and other related requirements. Our lawyers have assisted clients with a broad range of issues relating to:

lockout/tagout, fall protection, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, and electrical safety;

hazard communication, including the Globally Harmonized System; occupational health issues such as medical surveillance and medical removal;

industrial hygiene such as respiratory protection, occupational exposure limits, and engineering controls.

We also have long experience working with the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard in both counseling and enforcement litigation, including issues such as facility siting, process hazard analyses, and operating procedures. We have helped clients develop occupational health programs for handling nanomaterials.

We counsel clients on preparing for and responding to inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state counterparts, and in conducting OSH Act audits, and helping clients develop and implement any necessary corrective actions. We have also represented clients in workplace compliance and injury enforcement proceedings, including administrative trials before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). We also assist represent clients in tort litigation where occupational safety and health issues arise.

Our practice extends to advising clients on all aspects of EPA’s risk management program (RMP) requirements, including inspections by EPA or state inspectors and related enforcement proceedings, and the interplay of Clean Air Act Title V permitting, Risk Management Plan coverage, and OSHA process safety management implementation. We have also represented clients being investigated by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board following workplace incidents,.

Under the Obama Administration, OSHA enforcement activity is expected to intensify. National emphasis programs (NEPs) or plans for NEPs have been announced for the PSM standard in the petroleum refining and chemical industry, for combustible dust, and for injury and illness recordkeeping, among other topics. Ergonomics is likely to be among the top enforcement priorities. The Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Division also recently renewed its initiative to prosecute workplace safety crimes through environmental statutes. Employers should be reviewing their compliance now, before inspectors show up.

Noteworthy

Examples of specific past projects include:

defending “willful egregious” citations related to process safety following a fatal explosion at a chemical manufacturing facility;

defending “willful egregious” citations related to injury and illness recordkeeping;

defending “willful” lockout/tagout citations;

counseling on all aspects of the PSM standard;

preparing nationally-recognized guidance on OSHA interpretations of its injury and illness recordkeeping requirements;

evaluating the OSH Act general duty clause, hazard communication, and other obligations, including those that might be triggered by the production or use of nanoscale versions of chemicals whose bulk-scale counterparts have been used or produced in the workplace for many years;

analyzing the hazard communication standard to determine whether an MSDS is required for a specific chemical, ultimately to assess whether a facility has triggered the EPCRA Section 311 and 312 reporting requirements;

conducting OSHA compliance audits of manufacturing facilities, including consideration of privilege and audit amnesty issues;

counseling companies regarding management response to workplace safety incidents;

reviewing building demolition plans for compliance with asbestos and mold abatement and other health and safety requirements in New York and California;

negotiating and, where necessary, successfully defending administrative enforcement actions;

successfully defending whistle-blower claims;

counseling clients regarding reporting obligations following workplace injury/death;

developing litigation strategy in toxic tort cases using regulatory history of chemical-specific standards (e.g., permissible exposure limits);

advising clients on negotiating and complying with Risk Management Plan requirements and Title V major source air permit provisions that incorporate PSM requirements;

assisting clients in verifying OSHA recordkeeping and reporting obligations; and

counseling clients within the high-tech industry on worker health issues related to workplace chemical exposure in light of OSHA requirements and potential toxic tort litigation.

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Attorney Contacts

Mark N. Duvall
(Washington)
Kenneth B. Finney
(San Francisco)
Karen M. Hansen
(Washington)
Madeleine Boyer Kadas
(Austin)
Stephen M. Richmond
(Boston)

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