OSHA Pitfalls to Avoid in 2021
On October 25, 2021, a customer named Jacob Bergquist, with a history of violating the Boise Towne Square Mall’s firearms ban, opened fire at the mall. The shooting in the Idaho mall led to the deaths of a Professional...more
By Order dated December 26, 2024, ALJ Brian Duncan vacated a general duty clause violation against a security company that provided security services to a mall. In the tragic shooting, a customer shot and killed two people...more
Update as of January 2, 2025: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a decision on the consolidated petitions for review of the FCC's 2024 Open Internet Order. In its January 2 decision, which relies heavily on...more
Cal/OSHA is increasing its focus on enforcement of heat illness violations. On December 12, Cal/OSHA issued its first willful violation alleging Parkwood Landscape Maintenance (Parkwood) failed to comply with California Code...more
Retail employers are bracing for the annual surge in customer traffic and sales during the holidays, but the large crowds, stress of the season, and other factors increase the risks of workplace violence. As the holiday...more
Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders are the subject of a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study that portends an even greater focus by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the...more
As part of the backlash against employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccinations, Montana amended its antidiscrimination law to add vaccination status as a protected category. This means that employers are prohibited from inquiring or...more
On October 7, 2024, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced to her staff and the public that she intends to prosecute employers for “Stay-or-Pay” employment agreements, agreements that require a new employee to repay...more
Many employers have a false notion that OSHA cannot issue a citation if there is no specific standard violated. The reality is, however, that OSHA has a catchall/gap filler provision that allows it to cite an employer...more
Tropical Storm Helene is projected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast as a major hurricane later this week, and evacuations are already underway in parts of the state. Employers are likely to face inevitable workplace safety risks...more
There is no federal workplace violence prevention standard, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations do not expressly address workplace violence. Yet, when a convenience store employee was shot during a...more
Last summer, we described efforts of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and several states to protect workers from heat stress hazards. In July of this year, OSHA issued a notice for a proposed rule,...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is preparing to release a proposed standard on workplace violence prevention in healthcare settings in December 2024....more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to focus on preventing workplace violence in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings, where employees are five...more
As record-high temperatures enveloped most of the U.S. earlier this month, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a proposed rule for comprehensive heat injury and illness prevention....more
After years of development, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued proposed regulations last week intended to address employee exposure to dangerous heat and humidity while at work. Affected...more
On July 2, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a proposed rule on “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.” The rule would apply to all employers and be...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) unveiled its long-anticipated proposed heat illness prevention rule, which would require employers to monitor excessive heat in the workplace and develop and implement...more
OSHA has been working a proposed standard for indoor and outdoor heat illness since 2021. This month the proposed standard has been sent to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. ...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to propose a new rule requiring employers to protect employees exposed to high temperatures at work. This federal government regulation is the first of its kind to...more
For several years, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been working on a safety standard intended to address worker exposure to heat stress and related medical issues. With summer temperatures...more
Executive Summary: This is Part 4 of a series of Alerts exploring different facets of the ongoing opioid addiction crisis afflicting our country. Our initial Alert on June 12, 2023 outlined the big-picture issues associated...more
This series of articles is intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and how both influence...more
Although this is the OSHA webinar series, in this webinar, we’ll be analyzing the intersection of EPA’s new Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) chemical exposure limits and OSHA enforcement of workplace chemical exposure....more
Workplace violence has been a focus for both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) for several years, as it continues to be one of the leading...more