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legal_aspects_book_entire.pdf
Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook Second Edition
authors
Melissa A. Bailey Margaret S. Lopez Eric J. Conn Marshall Lee Miller Frank D. Davis John B. O’Loughlin, Jr. William K. Doran Arthur G. Sapper Katie A. Duggin Rachel Schaffer John B. Flood Francina M. Segbefia Lauren Handel Kenneth B. Siepman Michael T. Heenan
of:
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. McDermott Will & Emery LLP Baise & Miller, P.C. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP
Government Institutes An imprint of
The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2008
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Published in the United States of America by Government Institutes, an imprint of The Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://govinst.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom
Copyright © 2008 by Government Institutes
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
The reader should not rely on this publication to address specific questions that apply to a particular set of facts. The author and the publisher make no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the completeness, correctness, or utility of the information in this publication. In addition, the author and the publisher assume no liability of any kind whatsoever resulting from the use of or reliance upon the contents of this book.
� ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America.
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Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook Second Edition
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Summary Contents
Chapter 1 Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Marshall Lee Miller
Chapter 2 OSHA: The Rulemaking Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Margaret S. Lopez and Francina M. Segbefia
Chapter 3 The Duty to Comply with Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Arthur G. Sapper
Chapter 4 The General Duty Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
William K. Doran and Katie A. Duggin
Chapter 5 Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Melissa A. Bailey
Chapter 6 Employers’ and Employees’ Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
John B. O’Loughlin, Jr.
Chapter 7 Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection . . . . 155
Kenneth B. Siepman
Chapter 8 Hazard Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
John B. Flood
Chapter 9 Voluntary Safety and Health Self-Audits . . . . . . . . . 191
Michael T. Heenan and Margaret S. Lopez
Chapter 10 Inspections and Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Eric J. Conn
Chapter 11 Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations . . . 221
Lauren Handel
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Chapter 12 Criminal Enforcement of Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Marshall Lee Miller
Chapter 13 Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions . . . . . . . . 251
John B. O’Loughlin, Jr.
Chapter 14 Imminent Danger Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Frank D. Davis
Chapter 15 OSHA-Approved State Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Rachel Schaffer
Appendix: Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
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Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Chapter 1 Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Comparison of OSHA and EPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OSHA, the Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.0 Legislative Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Purpose of the Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Coverage of the Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Exemptions from the Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Telecommuting and Home Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.0 Scope of OSHA Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Areas Covered by the OSHA Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Overview of Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Overview of Health Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Overview of Safety Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.0 Standard Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Consensus Standards: Section 6(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Standards Completion and Deletion Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Permanent Standards: Section 6(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Emergency Temporary Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 General Duty Clause, 5(a)(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Feasibility and the Balancing Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.0 Variances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Temporary Variances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Permanent Variances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.0 Compliance and Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Field Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Role of Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Training and Competence of Inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Citations, Fines, and Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 OSHA Citation and Penalty Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Communicating and Enforcing Company Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Warrantless Inspections: The Barlow Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.0 Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Accident Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Monitoring and Medical Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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Hazard Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Access to Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Programmatic Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8.0 Refusal to Work and Whistle-blowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Refusal to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Protection of Whistle-blowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.0 Federal and State Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Federal Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 State Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
10.0 State OSHA Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Critiques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
11.0 Consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
12.0 Overlapping Jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
13.0 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission . . . . . . . 37 OSHRC Appeal Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Limitations of the Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
14.0 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . . . . . . 39 In Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 In Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
15.0 Hazard Communication Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Reason for the Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Scope and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Hazard Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Trade Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Federal Preemption Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
16.0 Ergonomics Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Scope of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Scope of the Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
17.0 Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 2 The Rulemaking Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.0 The Rulemaking Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Petitions for Rulemaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 NIOSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Advisory Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
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NACOSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 FACOSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health . . . . 52 Identifying Potential Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Request for Information and Advanced Notice of
Rulemaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The Final Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.0 Negotiated Rulemaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.0 Other Applicable Statutes Concerning Rulemaking . . . . . . . . . 56
5.0 Delays in Rulemaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.0 Emergency Temporary Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.0 Variances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Temporary Variance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Permanent Variance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Interim Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8.0 State Law Standards/Jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 State Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
9.0 Judicial Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 3 The Duty to Comply with Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.0 Applicability of OSHA Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The General Principle of Preemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Special Applicability Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.0 General Principles of the Duty to Comply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Exposure Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 To Whose Employee Does the Duty Run? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The Multi-Employer Worksite Liability Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 General Construction Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Legal Status of the Multi-Employer Liability Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Nonconstruction Applications of the
Multi-Employer Liability Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Multi-Employer Worksite Defense Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.0 Actual or Constructive Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.0 Additional Elements That OSHA Must Sometimes Prove . . . . . 73
6.0 The Employer’s Substantive Affirmative Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Infeasibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
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The Infeasibility Element of the Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 The Alternative Measures Element of the
Infeasibility Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 The Greater Hazard Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Unpreventable Employee Misconduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Invalidity of the Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Violation of Statutory Procedural Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Violation of Constitutional Requirement of
Fair Notice of Standard’s Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 De Minimis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 4 The General Duty Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
2.0 Who Is Protected by the General Duty Clause? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.0 The Existence of a Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.0 Recognized Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Industry Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Employer Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Obvious Hazard Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.0 Causing or Likely to Cause Death or Serious Physical Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.0 Feasible Measures to Correct the Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.0 Practical Enforcement of the General Duty Clause . . . . . . . . . . 97
8.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 5 Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
2.0 Statutory Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3.0 Injury and Illness Recordkeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 History of the Recordkeeping Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 OSHA’s Authority for Requiring Employers to
Keep Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Identifying Injuries and Illnesses that Must be Recorded . . . . 104 Determining Whether an Injury or Illness Has Occurred . . . 105 Defining “Work-Related”: The Geographic Presumption . . . . 105 Preexisting Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 The Employer’s Obligation to Determine
Work-Relatedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Exceptions to Work-Relatedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
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Injuries or Illnesses that Occur While Traveling . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Injuries and Illnesses Resulting from Work at Home . . . . . . . 112 New Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Recording Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Special Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Hearing Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Needlestick Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Medical Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Tuberculosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Recordkeeping Forms and Retention Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Employee Involvement and Access to Records . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Privacy Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Reporting Injuries and Fatalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Exemptions from Recordkeeping Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.0 OSHA Standards Requiring Written Documents . . . . . . . . . . 130 Safety Standard Recordkeeping Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 The Health Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The Typical Health Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Health Standards Applicable to General Industry . . . . . . . . . . 135 Health Communication and Bloodborne Pathogens . . . . . . . 136 Hazard Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Bloodborne Pathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 The Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records
Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.0 Using Records to Prove Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Chapter 6 Employers’ and Employees’ Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
2.0 Employers’ Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Inspections and Warrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Challenging Citations and Civil Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Judicial Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Participation in Rulemakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Protection of Trade Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
3.0 Employees’ Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Refusal to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Protection from Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Participation in Inspections and Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Access to Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
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Chapter 7 Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection . . . . 155
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
2.0 Refusal to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Federal Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Enforcing Rights under OSHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Secretary’s Burden in Litigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Burden Shifting Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 National Labor Relations Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Protection under Section 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Comparison of Section 7 and Section 502 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Cooperation between OSHA and the NLRB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Arbitration and Collective Bargaining Agreements . . . . . . . . . 161 Collective Bargaining Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Arbitration not under a Collective Bargaining Agreement . . . . . 162 Deferral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 State Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Common Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
3.0 Whistleblowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Federal Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Preemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 State Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Common Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
4.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 8 Hazard Communication: Moving toward a Globally Harmonized System in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2.0 The Hazard Communication Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Key Purpose and Scope of Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Key Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Material Safety Data Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Training and Information for Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Hazard Communication Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
3.0 Continued Problems with the HCS as the Impetus for Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
4.0 The Global Harmonization System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Overview of the GHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
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Scope of Potential Changes under the GHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 When Will GHS Be Implemented and
Key Areas of Concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
5.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter 9 Voluntary Safety and Health Self-Audits . . . . . . . . . 191
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
2.0 The Significance of Voluntary Safety and Health Auditing . . . 192 Overview of Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 The Audit Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Scope of the Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Audit Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Auditing Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Take Steps to Protect Confidentiality of
Audit Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Be Prepared to Promptly Respond to Every Hazard
Identified in the Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Document Every Significant Step Taken to Respond to
Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Do Not Censor the Auditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Attribute Appropriate Gravity to Audit Findings and
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
3.0 OSHA’s Voluntary Self-Audit Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Use of Self-Audits in Agency Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 No Citation for Corrected Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Protection from Use of Self-Audits to Show Willfulness . . . . . 198 Penalty Reduction for Good Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Critique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 “Routine” Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Use of Audit Information to Supplement Other
Evidence Already Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Penalty Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
4.0 Privileges and Protections from Disclosure of Audit Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 The Self-Audit Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 The Common Law Audit Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Factors Used in Determining Whether to Apply the
Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
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Other Limitations in Application of the Audit Privilege . . . . . . . 202 Statutory Audit Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 The Attorney/Client Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Attorney Work Product Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 10 Inspections and Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
2.0 Types of Inspections and Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Imminent Danger Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Accident and Fatality Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Complaint or Referral Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Routine, Scheduled, or Programmed Inspections . . . . . . . . . . 209
3.0 OSHA’s Inspection and Investigation Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 OSHA’s Right to Inspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 No Advance Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Warrant Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Exceptions to Warrant Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Interviews, Documents, and Subpoenas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Audio and Video Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Monitoring Devices on Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
4.0 Employers’ Constitutional and Statutory Rights . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Challenging a Warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Right to Accompany Inspector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Employer and Employee Interview Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Challenging the Conduct of the Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
5.0 Stages of OSHA Inspections and Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Presentation of Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Opening Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Walk Around Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Closing Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Chapter 11 Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations . . . 221
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
2.0 Why Should an Employer Contest a Citation? . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Abatement Costs Can Be Significant and Long Term . . . . . . 222 Uncontested Citations Can Result in “Repeated”
Violations Later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Citations Can Be Used Against an Employer in
Tort Litigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
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Citations Can Interfere with Business Opportunities and Damage Reputations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
3.0 Procedural Requirements for Issuance of a Citation . . . . . . . . 224 OSHA’s Time to Issue a Citation Is Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 OSHA Must Adequately Describe the Violation . . . . . . . . . . 224
4.0 The Elements of OSHA Citations: What Can Be Contested? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 The Alleged Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 “Willful” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 “Repeated” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 “Serious” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 “Other-than-Serious” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 “De Minimis” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 The Penalty Amount and Characterization of Violation . . . . 228 Factors Considered by OSHA in Calculating Proposed
Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Gravity of the Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Size of the Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Good Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Violation History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Multiplied Penalties for “Egregious” Violations . . . . . . . . . . . 230 The Abatement Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
5.0 Contesting OSHA Citations: From Notice of Contest to Judicial Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 The Notice of Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Fifteen Working Day Contest Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Essential Contents of the Notice of Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Review by an Administrative Law Judge of the Review
Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Rules of Procedure and Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Pre-Hearing Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Hearing Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Post-Hearing Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Simplified Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Review by the Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Interlocutory Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Appellate-Type Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Judicial Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
6.0 Resolving Citations through Settlement with OSHA . . . . . . . 239 Pre-Citation Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Informal Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Formal Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7.0 Employee Participation in Challenges to Citations . . . . . . . . . 240
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Chapter 12 Criminal Enforcement of Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
2.0 Federal Prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Definition of “Employee” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Willful Violations Causing Death to Employee . . . . . . . . . . . 245 False Statements and Advance Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
3.0 State Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
4.0 Prosecution under Environmental Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
5.0 Recent Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Chapter 13 Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions . . . . . . . . 251
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
2.0 Jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Parties Who Have Standing to Bring an Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Courts That Have Jurisdiction over Appeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
3.0 Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Final Commission Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Constitutional Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
4.0 Scope of Judicial Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Procedural Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Standard of Review for Conclusions of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Standard of Review for Findings of Fact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Precedential Effect of Judicial Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
5.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Chapter 14 Imminent Danger Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
2.0 Imminent Danger Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
3.0 Nuts and Bolts of an Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
4.0 The On-Site Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
5.0 Employee Representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
6.0 Opening Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
7.0 The Walk Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
8.0 Notices of Imminent Danger and Temporary Restraining Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
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9.0 Closing Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.0 Citations and Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
11.0 Abatement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
12.0 MSHA Imminent Danger Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
13.0 Employee Rights and Labor Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
14.0 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 15 OSHA-Approved State Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
1.0 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
2.0 Establishing State Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Developmental Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Probationary Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Rejection and Withdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
3.0 Preemption Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
4.0 Approved State Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Appendix: Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
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Preface
Nothing in the workplace is more important than employee safety and health. Good safety and health conditions and practices are maintained by the dedica- tion of all employees with the help of supervisors, management, and safety pro- fessionals.
A major component of safety and health management is compliance with the regulations and standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within the U.S. Department of Labor. This handbook provides impor- tant information regarding legal requirements and compliance responsibilities re- lated to OSHA enforcement of safety and health requirements under the Occu- pational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
All the authors of the handbook are experienced in occupational safety and health law. All are able to bring unique insights to the issues addressed. Together they provide in this handbook a comprehensive analysis of the issues that arise under federal and state OSHA programs.
The handbook begins with a review of the basic requirements of law, who is covered, who is not, how safety and health standards are developed, how affected parties may participate, and how variances may sometimes be obtained when fi- nal standards conflict with other safety considerations at particular employment locations.
The mechanism and details of enforcement are reviewed in the handbook, including those pertaining to jurisdiction, inspections, the authority of inspec- tors, citations, and monetary penalties. The implications of specific standards and the General Duty Clause established in the Occupational Safety and Health Act are analyzed. Criminal law enforcement is also addressed.
Rights of employers and employees are detailed and explained. These include rights to contest enforcement actions by the enforcing agency and protection of employees against unlawful discrimination related to protected safety activity. Employee rights to know and employer recordkeeping and reporting obligations are also explained.
All of these subjects are of critical importance to employers and employees. It is hoped that the users of this handbook will find themselves greatly aided in ensuring good safety and health compliance and as well as fair and even-handed enforcement by authorities.
Margaret S. Lopez Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
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Melissa A. Bailey
Melissa Bailey has an extensive background in govern- ment relations and labor and employment law, including substantial litigation experience in occupational safety and health matters. Ms. Bailey provides counseling and litigates occupational safety and health cases before federal agencies and courts, represents clients in government in- spections and investigations, and performs audits and compliance counseling. Ms. Bailey represents employers in a wide range of industries, including chemical, manu- facturing, mining, construction, automotive, health and hospitality services. Ms. Bailey advises employers and trade associations about strategies to minimize liability during government inspections, and she assists employers in developing effective compliance plans.
About the Authors
E-mail melissa.bailey@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
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E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.mwe.com
Frank D. Davis
Frank Davis represents management exclusively in the area of labor and employment law throughout the United States. His extensive experience includes the handling of representation proceedings before the National Labor Re- lations Board, labor arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, union campaigns, employment contracts, dis- crimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour com- pliance, leave issues, and workplace safety. Mr. Davis also has obtained summary judgments or dismissals on behalf of clients in dozens of cases filed in state and federal courts.
E-mail frank.davis@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
Eric J. Conn
Eric J. Conn is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. As a member of the OSHA, MSHA & Catastrophe Response Practice Group, Mr. Conn focuses his practice on workplace safety and health law and has extensive experience defending em- ployers after catastrophic industrial and construction workplace accidents, such as refinery explosions, con- struction collapses, chemical releases, and airline acci- dents. Mr. Conn also represents clients during inspections and investigations by various state and federal agencies, including OSHA, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Mine Safety and Health Adminis- tration (MSHA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mr. Conn is a contributing editor to Oc- cupational Hazards Magazine and has published articles in the field of OSHA law. Mr. Conn earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School in 2000.
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About the Authors ❖ xxiii
William K. Doran
William Doran’s practice is concentrated in safety and health law, labor law, employment law, and litigation. Mr. Doran represents and advises companies with respect to issues arising under federal and state safety and health statutes. Mr. Doran represents companies in accident in- vestigations, special investigations, audits, and discrimina- tion investigations conducted by OSHA, MSHA, and state agencies. He represents companies in litigation be- fore the Occupational Safety and Health Review Com- mission, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and the federal courts. He also represents companies and trade associations on local and national is- sues within the purview of federal agency administrators.
E-mail william.doran@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
Katie A. Duggin
Katie Duggin is an associate in Ogletree, Deakins’ Wash- ington, D.C., office, where her practice is concentrated in workplace safety and employment law. Ms. Duggin re- ceived her J.D. in 2005 from the Georgetown University Law Center. Throughout law school, she worked in the human resources field, which led her to labor and em- ployment Law. Ms. Duggin also served as an instructor in Georgetown’s Street Law Community clinical program.
E-mail katie.duggin@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
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John B. Flood
John B. Flood is an experienced litigator who practices in the areas of safety and health law and employment litiga- tion. Mr. Flood represents clients in litigation before the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Occupa- tional Safety and Health Administration, as well as in fed- eral and state courts at the trial and appellate levels. He represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including defense contracting, mining, real estate, and retail sales.
Mr. Flood obtained a J.D. in 1993 from Oklahoma City University School of Law, and an LL.M. in 2002 from Georgetown University in labor and employment law.
xxiv ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
Lauren Handel
Lauren Handel is an associate in McDermott Will & Emery LLP’s New York office. Ms. Handel represents clients primarily in environmental and toxic tort litiga- tion. She also counsels clients on compliance with federal, state, and local environmental and workplace safety regu- lations and represents clients in all aspects of environ- mental agency and OSHA enforcement actions. Ms. Handel earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002.
E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.mwe.com
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Michael T. Heenan
Michael T. Heenan’s law practice focuses on governmen- tal investigations, inspections, audits, and related litiga- tion, particularly with respect to mine safety and occupa- tional safety and health. He counsels companies on preventing problems in the workplace. He represents management in federal and state accident investigations and special investigations into possible violations of fed- eral or state civil and criminal laws. He also represents companies in litigation related to governmental enforce- ment actions.
About the Authors ❖ xxv
E-mail michael.heenan@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
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Margaret S. Lopez
Margaret S. Lopez is a Shareholder in the Washington, D.C., office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, P.C. Her practice is concentrated in occupational safety and health, employment law, and nonprofit associ- ation law. Ms. Lopez regularly advises companies on fed- eral safety and health regulatory matters, including leg- islative, regulatory, and compliance issues arising under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. Ms. Lopez represents com- panies in litigation challenging enforcement action taken by OSHA and MSHA and assists companies in agency in- vestigations. Ms. Lopez also represents employers in cases in state and federal district and appellate courts on a wide variety of workplace safety and employment matters. Ms. Lopez is a frequent speaker and writer on occupational safety and health topics. Among her publications are “Ap- plication of the Audit Privilege to Occupational Safety and Health Audits: Lessons Learned from Environmental Audits” in the Journal of Natural Resources and Environ- mental Law (12 J. Nat. Resources & Envtl. L. 211 [1996–1997]), “Self-Audits” in Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook 197 (Government Institutes ed., 2001), and MSHA’s Excessive History Policy: Avoiding the Civil Penalty Quagmire (2003).
xxvi ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
E-mail margo.lopez@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
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Marshall Lee Miller
Marshall Miller is a partner in the Washington, D.C., of- fice of the law firm Baise & Miller, where he specializes in the areas of environmental law, occupational health and safety, and international transactions. Mr. Miller was pre- viously special assistant to the first administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, chief EPA judi- cial officer, associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, and deputy administrator and act- ing head of the Occupational Safety and Health Adminis- tration. He was educated at Harvard, Oxford, Heidelberg, and Yale.
About the Authors ❖ xxvii
E-mail [email protected]
John B. O’Loughlin, Jr.
John B. O’Loughlin, Jr., is counsel with the Washington, D.C., office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Mr. O’Loughlin’s practice covers a wide range of environmen- tal, safety, and health matters. He advises clients on envi- ronmental, safety, and health regulatory requirements and represents corporations in litigation and in administrative proceedings before regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the EPA, the National High- way Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), OSHA, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Mr. O’Loughlin is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Co- lumbia. He was educated at Towson University and Rich- mond University in London. He holds an M.A. from Boston University’s international relations program in Brussels and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.weil.com
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Arthur G. Sapper
Arthur G. Sapper is a partner in the OSHA Practice Group of McDermott, Will & Emery in Washington, D.C. Mr. Sapper regularly represents employers and ma- jor trade associations in OSHA cases before the federal ap- pellate courts and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and has participated in ground- breaking cases in the field. For nine years, he was an ad- junct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught a graduate course in OSHA law. Mr. Sapper was a member of the Committee on Model Agency Procedural Rules of the Administrative Confer- ence of the United States. Previously, he was the deputy general counsel of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and the special counsel to the Fed- eral Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Mr. Sapper has several times testified before Congress on oc- cupational safety and health issues, has published numer- ous articles in the field of OSHA law, and is a contribut- ing editor of Occupational Hazards magazine. Mr. Sapper was awarded a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
xxviii ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.mwe.com
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Rachel Schaffer
Rachel Schaffer’s practice has focused on representing em- ployers in all aspects of OSHA and MSHA civil and crim- inal enforcement actions, including federal and state OSHA and MSHA inspections and citation contests be- fore administrative law judges, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, state agencies, and rulemakings re- lated to proposed OSHA standards. Ms. Schaffer has as- sisted clients in evaluating their OSHA and MSHA com- pliance status and has counseled employers in developing and implementing safety and health policies and strategic plans. In recent years, Ms. Schaffer has devoted a signifi- cant portion of her practice to OSHA construction litiga- tion matters across the United States. She has represented general contractors, subcontractors, owners, and engi- neers on a whole host of OSHA issues. Ms. Schaffer also has been a frequent speaker on OSHA construction is- sues. Ms. Schaffer is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Florida. She also is admitted to practice be- fore the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, United States Court for the Middle District of Florida, United States District Court for the District of Maryland, and United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
About the Authors ❖ xxix
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Francina M. Segbefia
Francina M. Segbefia represents and counsels manage- ment in labor relations, employment matters, mine safety, and occupational safety and health. Prior to joining Ogle- tree Deakins, Ms. Segbefia represented design profession- als in construction-related litigation, corporate transac- tions, and employment matters. Ms. Segbefia has experience in reviewing and negotiating complex com- mercial contracts, as well as in litigation and alternative dispute resolution. She was also a law clerk and associate with the law firm of Fitzpatrick & Associates, where she represented and counseled both plaintiff and manage- ment clients in employment-related matters.
xxx ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
E-mail francina.segbefia@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
Kenneth B. Siepman
Mr. Siepman has represented and advised public and pri- vate employers in virtually all areas of labor and employ- ment law for fifteen years. Mr. Siepman regularly serves as lead counsel for employers in arbitrations, federal and state trial and appellate courts, and administrative agen- cies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Com- mission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Occu- pational Safety and Health Administration, and the Indiana and United States Departments of Labor. He has considerable experience representing public employers in defense of the first and fourteenth amendments and other constitutional and civil rights cases.
E-mail Kenneth.Siepman@ ogletreedeakins.com
Web site www.ogletreedeakins .com
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Chapter 1
Occupational Safety and Health Act Marshall Lee Miller, Esq. Baise & Miller, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was once called the most unpopular agency in the federal government. It was criticized for its confusing regulations, chronic mismanagement, and picayune enforcement. With somewhat less accuracy, business groups likened it to an American gestapo, while labor unions denounced it as ineffective, unresponsive, and bureaucratic.
Most damning of all, OSHA was often simply ignored. It no longer is. Al- though OSHA still has its weaknesses and many of its standards are sadly out- moded, its penalties have sharply increased in severity. This has caught the attention of labor and management alike. Moreover, the agency has gradually improved its general reputation. A few years ago, the prestigious Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University graded a number of federal agencies and gave OSHA a B mi- nus, the same grade as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A decade or two ago, the grade would likely have been D plus or C minus, so this is a step up.1
It is not often recognized, however, that OSHA is also perhaps the most im- portant environmental health agency in the government. Even EPA, with far greater resources and public attention, deals with a smaller range of much less hazardous exposures than does OSHA. After all, individuals are more likely to be
1 “Report Card In on Government Agencies,” Associated Press (AP), 2 February 1999. Nevertheless, in an- other study, OSHA tied with the Internal Revenue Service for the lowest ranking among federal agencies in terms of customer approval. University of Michigan Business School, “American Customer Satisfaction Re- port,” 15 December 1999. Not everything has improved. A detailed critique of OSHA prepared by an out- going senior official a quarter-century ago could regrettably be reissued today with relatively few changes. See “Report on OSHA: Regulatory and Administrative Efforts to Protect Industrial Health,” January 1977, 108 pp., by the author of this chapter.
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exposed to high concentrations of dangerous chemicals in their workplaces than in their backyards.
1.1 Comparison of OSHA and EPA
There are several distinct differences between OSHA and EPA, besides the obvi- ous occupational jurisdiction.
First, OSHA has major responsibility over safety in the workplace as well as health. Second, OSHA is essentially an enforcement organization, with a major- ity of its employees as inspectors, performing tens of thousands of inspections a year. This “highway patrol” function, inspecting and penalizing thousands of businesses large and small, has been the major reason for OSHA’s traditional un- popularity. At EPA, on the other hand, inspections and enforcement are a rela- tively smaller part of the operation.
Third, whereas EPA is an independent regulatory agency, albeit headed by presidential appointees, OSHA is a division of the Department of Labor. This or- ganizational arrangement not only provides less prestige and less independence for OSHA, but also has posed an internal conflict of whether OSHA should be primarily a health (and safety) or a labor-oriented agency. Nevertheless, OSHA and EPA regulate different aspects of so many health issues—asbestos, vinyl chlo- ride, carcinogens, hazard labeling, and others—that it is reasonable to regard them as overlapping environmental organizations.2
1.2 OSHA, the Organization
OSHA has a staff of 2,200 throughout the country in ten regional offices and scores of area offices. Almost exactly half of the personnel are safety and health inspectors. Around 600 workers are located at OSHA headquarters in Washing- ton, D.C., near Capitol Hill. The budget is $336 million.
The organization is administered by the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Oc- cupational Safety and Health since February 2006, Edwin G. Foulke Jr., a South Carolina labor lawyer who was also chairman of the quasi-judicial Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in the 1990s. His predecessor who resigned in December 2004, John L. Henshaw, was an official in the North Carolina Department of Labor and the department’s chief lobbyist on occupa- tional safety and health matters with the state legislature.
2 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
2 To prevent this overlap from causing jurisdictional confusion, the two agencies developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 1990 to delineate and coordinate their respective activities. OSHA-EPA MOU, 23 November 1990.
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The head of OSHA has traditionally been aided by one to three deputy as- sistant secretaries, as well as by a number of other senior personnel who head of- fices such as health standards, safety standards, enforcement, policy planning, and federal programs.3
This chapter emphasizes the health aspects of OSHA, because most press at- tention and the agency’s own public emphasis since the mid-1970s has been on toxic hazards. Nevertheless, OSHA is predominantly an occupational safety or- ganization. The two parts of the organization are quite distinct: There are sepa- rate inspectors and standards offices for each, and the two groups are different in terms of background, education, and age. There are also far more safety inspec- tors than health inspectors.
In the most recent fiscal year, the agency conducted 34,000 inspections and proposed penalties of around $90 million. Over half of the inspections were in the construction area, and a quarter were in manufacturing. The number of in- spections is only about half of what it was in some earlier years, but this fact alone is not a particularly reliable indicator of agency effectiveness. State OSHA in- spections average a little fewer than 60,000 a year, but with only $50 million in proposed penalties.
2.0 Legislative Framework
OSHA was created in December 1970—the same month as EPA—with the enact- ment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act)4 and officially began operation in April 1971. Compared with other environmental acts, the OSH Act is very simple and well drafted. This does not mean that one necessarily agrees with the provisions of every section, but it is clearly and concisely written so that details can be worked out in implementing regulations. And unlike the other environmen- tal laws that have been amended several times, becoming more tangled each time, the OSH Act has scarcely been amended or modified since its original passage.5
2.1 Purpose of the Act
The Act sets an admirable but impossible goal: to assure that “no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity” from a lifetime of
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 3
3 In the fifteen-month interval between Henshaw and Foulke, a Deputy Assistant Secretary, Texas lawyer Jonathan Snare, served as acting Assistant Secretary.
4 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, PL 91-596, 84 Stat. 1590. 5 This lack of change could obviously also be considered a negative factor, but a comparison with some of
EPA’s ponderously detailed legislation shows the benefits of keeping the basic statute simple. OSHA annual appropriations legislation, however, has been modified several times to restrict OSHA authority over small businesses, farming, hunting, and other subjects.
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occupational exposure.6 It does not require—or even seem to allow—a balanc- ing test or a risk-benefit determination.7 The supplementary phrase in the OSH Act, “to the extent feasible,” was not meant to alter this. This absolutist position, comparable only to one provision in the Clean Air Act,8 reflects Congress’s dis- pleasure at previous overly-permissive state standards, which traditionally seemed always to be resolved against workers’ health. In fact, the concession to feasibil- ity was added almost as an afterthought.
Business groups did obtain two provisions in the law as their price for sup- port. First, industry insisted that states should be encouraged to assume primary responsibility for implementation, in order to minimize the role of the federal OSHA. Second, because of their distrust for the allegedly pro-union bias of the Department of Labor, responsibility for first-level adjudication of violations would be vested in an independent Occupational Health and Safety Review Commission (OHSRC) with a three-member panel of judges named by the pres- ident and approved by the Senate.
Congress did reject an industry effort to separate the standard-setting au- thority from the enforcement powers of the new organization, but it gave a spe- cial role to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), located in another government department, the Department of Health and Hu- man Services, in the standard-setting process.
Thus, the three main roles of OSHA are
1. setting of safety and health standards,
2. their enforcement through federal and state inspectors, and
3. employer and employee education and consultation.
2.2 Coverage of the Act
In general, coverage of the Act extends to all employers and their employees in the fifty states and all territories under federal government jurisdiction.9 An em- ployer is defined as any “person engaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees but significantly does not include the United States or any State or po- litical subdivision of a State.”10 Coverage of the Act was clarified by regulations
4 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
6 OSH Act § 6(b)(5); emphasis added. 7 This issue will be discussed in detail in section 4.6 of this chapter. 8 Clean Air Act § 112, 42 U.S.C. § 1857, the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
(NESHAP). 9 OSH Act § 4(a)–4(b)(2). 10 OSH Act § 3(5). Congress’s annual appropriations language has excluded several “peripheral” categories of
employers in the past few years.
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published in the Federal Register in January 1972.11 These regulations interpret coverage as follows:
1. The term employer excludes the United States and states and political sub- divisions.
2. Any employer employing one or more employees is under its jurisdiction, including professionals, such as physicians and lawyers; agricultural em- ployers; and nonprofit and charitable organizations.
3. Self-employed persons are not covered.
4. Family members operating a farm are not regarded as employees.
5. To the extent that religious groups employ workers for secular purposes, they are included in the coverage.
6. Domestic household employment activities for private residences are not subject to the requirements of the act.
7. Workplaces already protected by other federal agencies under other fed- eral statutes (discussed later) are also excluded.
In total, OSHA directly or indirectly covers more than 100 million workers in six million workplaces.
2.3 Exemptions from the Act
The OSH Act and regulations exempt a number of different categories of em- ployees. The most important exemption is for workplaces employing 10 or fewer workers. What often is not recognized is that this exemption is only partial; these smaller establishments are still subject to accident and worker complaint investi- gations and the hazard communication requirements (discussed below).
Federal and state employees are also exempted from direct coverage by OSHA. As discussed below, however, the former are subject to OSHA rules under OSH Act Section 19 and several presidential executive orders, and most states with their own state OSHA plans also cover their state and local government workers.
Workers are also exempted if they are covered under other federal agencies, such as railroad workers under the Federal Railroad Administration or maritime
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 5
11 37 FR 929, 21 January 1972, codified at 29 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) § 1975.
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workers subject to Coast Guard regulations. This exemption has sometimes gen- erated intergovernmental friction where the other agency has general safety and health regulations but not the full coverage of OSHA regulations. In other words, is the exemption absolute or only proportional?
Under OSH Act Section 9, OSHA is supposed to defer to the other agency if it can better protect the workers and, similarly, the other agency is expected to recede when the situation is reversed. Of course, considerations of turf and poli- tics are often paramount.12
2.4 Telecommuting and Home Workplaces
Workplaces are workplaces, even if they are in a private home. That was at least the principle OSHA relied on in 1999 to attempt to exert its authority over the growing number of white collar workers who use their modems rather than their motor cars to commute to work. This is a good example of the type of political furor OSHA can create, often unintentionally.
Of course, OSHA had always claimed (if rarely exercised) jurisdiction over “sweat shops” and other industries, even if operated from someone’s home. Therefore, when OSHA was asked for a simple interpretation about its coverage of home office workers, it applied the same logic. In an interpretative ruling from the Office of Compliance Programs in November 1999, the agency stated that OSHA would hold employers responsible for injuries to employees at home.13
This triggered a political explosion.
The National Association of Manufacturers declared, “We see this as the long arm of OSHA coming into people’s homes.”14 The chairman of a powerful con- gressional committee warned that the policy would put “home workers in the po- sition of having to comply with thousands of pages of OSHA regulations.”15
What OSHA had failed to realize was these new workers were not someone’s employees needing protection from exploitive bosses. They were their own
6 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
12 EPA learned this lesson back in 1984 when Deputy Administrator James Barnes quite properly deferred to OSHA on certain asbestos workplace matters. Congressional critics, who believed OSHA would not treat the matter seriously or competently, raised such furor that EPA retained jurisdiction. Even earlier, in 1973, OSHA and EPA had an acrimonious dispute over which agency should have primary jurisdiction over pro- tecting farm workers from pesticides. EPA won.
13 Richard Fairfax, director of the Office of Compliance Programs, opinion letter to CSC Credit Services of Houston, Texas, 15 November 1999. Lest one think this was merely a hasty OSHA response, note that the company’s request for an opinion was submitted in August 1997, 27 months before.
14 Jenny Krese, director of NAM’s employment policy, Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), OSHA Reporter, 6 January 2000, p. 5.
15 Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee, id., 13 January 2000, p. 22.
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bosses, or they certainly saw themselves as such. And they saw OSHA interven- tion not as protective but intrusive.
On January 5, 2000, the Secretary of Labor, Alexis Herman, announced the cancellation of the short-lived OSHA policy.
3.0 Scope of OSHA Standards
To give the reader an idea of the areas covered by the standards, the following is a subpart listing from the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1910, Occupational Safety and Health Standards. Note that the listings are mostly safety standards. The health standards are all contained in Subpart Z, except for Subparts A, C, G, K, and R, which cover both categories.
3.1 Areas Covered by the OSHA Standards
• Subpart A: General (purpose and scope, definitions, applicability of stan- dards, etc.)
• Subpart B: Adoption and Extension of Established Federal Standards (con- struction work, ship repairing, long shoring, etc.)
• Subpart C: General Safety and Health Provisions (preservation of records)
• Subpart D: Walking-Working Surfaces (guarding floor and wall openings, portable ladders, requirements for scaffolding, etc.)
• Subpart E: Means of Egress (definitions, specific means by occupancy, sources of standards, etc.)
• Subpart F: Powered Platforms, Manlifts, and Vehicle-Mounted Work Plat- forms (elevating and rotating work platforms, standards, organizations, etc.)
• Subpart G: Occupational Health and Environmental Control (ventilation, noise exposure, radiation, etc.)
• Subpart H: Hazardous Materials (compressed gases, flammables, storage of petroleum gases, effective dates, etc.)
• Subpart I: Personal Protective Equipment (eye/face, respiratory, electrical devices, etc.)
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 7
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• Subpart J: General Environmental Controls (sanitation, labor camps, safety color code for hazards, etc.)
• Subpart K: Medical and First Aid (medical services, sources of standards)
• Subpart L: Fire Protection (fire suppression equipment, hose and sprinkler systems, fire brigades, etc.)
• Subpart M: Compressed Gas and Compressed Air Equipment (inspection of gas cylinders, safety relief devices, etc.)
• Subpart N: Materials Handling/Storage (powered industrial trucks, cranes, helicopters, etc.)
• Subpart O: Machinery and Machine Guarding (requirements for all ma- chines, woodworking machinery, wheels, mills, etc.)
• Subpart P: Hand and Portable Powered Tools and Other Hand-Held Equipment (guarding of portable power tools)
• Subpart Q: Welding, Cutting, and Brazing (definitions, sources of stan- dards, etc.)
• Subpart R: Special Industries (pulp, paper and paperboard mills, textiles, laundry machinery, telecommunications, etc.)
• Subpart S: Electrical (application, National Electrical Code)
• Subpart T: Commercial Diving Operations (qualification of team, pre- and postdive procedures, equipment, etc.)
• Subpart U–Y: [Reserved]
• Subpart Z: Toxic and Hazardous Substances (air contaminants, asbestos, vinyl chloride, lead, benzene, etc.)
3.2 Overview of Standards
When OSHA was created, Congress realized that the new agency would require years to promulgate a comprehensive corps of health and safety standards. The OSH Act therefore provided that for a two-year period ending in April 1972, the agency could adopt as its own the standards of respected professional and
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trade groups. These are the consensus standards issued under Section 6(a) of the statute.16 Nobody could have imagined that three decades later, these imperfect and outdated standards would still form the overwhelming majority of OSHA regulations.
3.3 Overview of Health Standards
Health issues, notably environmental contaminants in the workplace, have in- creasingly become a national concern over the past few years. Health hazards are much more complex, more difficult to define, and—because of the delay in de- tection—perhaps more dangerous to a larger number of employees. Unlike safety hazards, the effects of health hazards may be slow, cumulative, irreversible, and complicated by nonoccupational factors.
If a machine is unequipped with safety devices and maims a worker, the dan- ger is clearly and easily identified and the solution usually obvious. However, if workers are exposed for several years to a chemical that is later found to be car- cinogenic, there may be little help for those exposed.
In the nation’s workplaces, there are tens of thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which are significant enough to warrant regulation. Yet OSHA only has a list of fewer than 500 substances, and these are mostly simple threshold limits adopted under Section 6(a) from the recommended lists of private industrial hy- giene organizations back in the 1960s and early 1970s. This list is being updated now but with glacial slowness.
The promulgation of health standards involves many complex concepts. To be complete, each standard needs medical surveillance requirements, recordkeeping, monitoring, and multiple physical reviews, just to mention a few. At the present rate, promulgation of standards on every existing toxic substance could take centuries.
Ironically, an attempt to update the health standards for hundreds of sub- stances in one regulatory action by borrowing newer figures from respected health professional organizations was opposed by the labor unions (and industry) and struck down by an appellate court in 1992.17
3.4 Overview of Safety Standards
Safety hazards are those aspects of the work environment that, in general, cause harm of an immediate and sometimes violent nature, such as burns, electrical
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 9
16 These consensus standards are discussed in sections 3.4 and 4.1 of this chapter. 17 The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) v. OSHA, 965 F.2d
962 (11th Cir. 1992).
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shock, cuts, broken bones, loss of limbs or eyesight, and even death. The distinc- tion from health hazards is usually obvious; mechanical and electrical are consid- ered safety problems, while chemicals are considered health problems. Noise is difficult to categorize; it is classified as a health problem.
The Section 6(a) adoption of national consensus and other federal agency stan- dards created chaos in the safety area. It was one thing for companies to follow in- dustry or association guidelines that, in many cases, had not been modified in years; it was another thing for those guidelines actually to be codified and enforced as law. In the two years that the Act provided for OSHA to produce standards derived from these existing rules, the agency should have examined these closely, simplified them, deleted the ridiculous and unnecessary ones, and promulgated final regula- tions that actually identified and eliminated hazards to workers. But in the com- motion of organizing an agency from scratch, it did not happen that way.
Nor did affected industry groups register their objections until later. During the entire two-year comment period, not a single company or association filed an objection with OSHA.
Almost all of the so-called Mickey Mouse standards were safety regulations, such as the requirements that fire extinguishers be attached to the wall exactly so many inches above the floor. Undertrained OSHA inspectors often failed to recognize ma- jor hazards while citing industries for minor violations “which were highly visible, but not necessarily related to serious hazards to workers’ safety and health.”18
Section 6(g) of the OSH Act directs OSHA to establish priorities based on the needs of specific “industries, trades, crafts, occupations, businesses, work- places, or work environments.” The Senate report accompanying the OSH Act stated that the agency’s emphasis initially should be put on industries where the need was determined to be most compelling.19 OSHA’s early attempts to target inspections, however, were sporadic and, for the most part, unsuccessful. The sit- uation has improved somewhat in recent years, for both health and safety, in part because of the recent requirement that some priority scheme be used that could justify search warrants. But, as we shall see, that has brought its own problems.
4.0 Standard Setting
Setting standards can be a complex and protracted process. There are thousands of chemical substances, electrical problems, fire hazards, and many other danger-
10 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
18 Statement of Basil Whiting, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, before the Committee on La- bor and Human Resources, U.S. Senate, 21 March 1980, pp. 5–6.
19 For the legislative history of the Act, see especially the Conference Report 91-1765 of 16 December 1970, as well as H.R. 91-1291 and S.R. 91-1282.
20 See Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978), which is discussed later in this chapter.
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ous situations prevalent in the workplace for which standards needed to be de- veloped.
To meet the objectives defined in the Act, three different standard-setting procedures were established:
1. Consensus Standards, under Section 6(a)
2. Permanent Standards, under Section 6(b)
3. Emergency Temporary Standards, under Section 6(c)
4.1 Consensus Standards: Section 6(a)
Congress realized that OSHA would need standards to enforce while it was de- veloping its own. Section 6(a) allowed the agency, for a two-year period that ended on 25 April 1973, to adopt standards developed by other federal agencies or to adopt consensus standards of various industry or private associations.21 This resulted in a list of around 420 common toxic chemicals with maximum permit- ted air concentrations specified in parts per million (ppm) or in milligrams per cubic meters (mg/M3).
There are several problems inherent in these standards. First, these threshold values are the only elements in the standard. There are no required warning la- bels, monitoring, or medical recordkeeping, and they do not generally distinguish between the quite different health effects in eight-hour, 15-minute, peak, annual average, and other periods of exposure.
Second, being thresholds, they are based on the implicit assumption that there are universal no-effect levels, below which a worker is safe. For carcinogens, this assumption is quite controversial.
Third, most of the standards were originally established not on the basis of firm scientific evidence but, as the name implies, from existing guidelines and lim- its of various industry, association, and governmental groups. Before OSHA’s cre- ation, they were intended to be general, nonbinding guidelines, and had been in circulation for a number of years with no urgency to keep them current. Conse- quently, neither industry nor labor bothered to comment when OSHA first pro- posed the consensus standards. Many of these “interim” standards were out of date by the time they were adopted by OSHA, and they are now frozen in time until OSHA goes through the full Section 6(b) administrative rulemaking process.
Fourth, OSHA consensus standards often involve “incorporation by refer- ence,” especially in the safety area. In some cases, these pre-1972 publications
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 11
21 39 FR 23502, 27 June 1974.
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were not standards or even formal association guidelines but mere private associ- ation pamphlets that are no longer in print and not easily obtainable. For exam- ple, the general regulation on compressed gases merely states that the cylinders should be in safe condition and maintained “in accordance with Compressed Gas Association pamphlet P-1-1965” and several similar documents.22
Fifth, not all of these “toxics” are on the list because they really pose a health hazard. Although that has been the unquestioned assumption of certain later rulemakings, such as the requirement for Material Safety Data Sheets, some chemicals, such as carbon black, were listed because of “good housekeeping” practices—a facility with even a small amount of this intrusive black substance will look filthy—and not because it was hazardous at the levels set.
Nevertheless, Congress was undoubtedly correct in requiring the compila- tion of such a list. Otherwise, there would have been no OSHA health standards at the beginning. There are virtually no others even now.
4.2 Standards Completion and Deletion Processes
The agency has attempted to deal with one of the shortcomings of the consensus standards by what is called the Standards Completion Process. Over a number of years, OSHA has taken some threshold standards and added various medical, monitoring, and other requirements.23 At least a broader range of protection is offered to exposed workers.
The agency has also sought to reduce the number of safety standards. This is done by eliminating the so-called “Mickey Mouse” standards that accomplish lit- tle but impose voluminous requirements. More often, the simplification has come by removing redundant sections and cross-references. This eliminates pages but not a lot more.
Nevertheless, OSHA is proud of its compliance with the presidential directive that federal agencies review and remove duplicative or repetitive regulations.24
4.3 Permanent Standards: Section 6(b)
Permanent standards must now be developed pursuant to Section 6(b). This is the familiar standard-setting and rule-making process followed by most other federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act.25
12 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
22 29 C.F.R. § 1910.101. 23 Since the 6(a) process ended in April 1972, the standards promulgated thereunder cannot be modified or
revised without going through the notice and comment administrative procedures under Section 6(b). 24 See, for example, the OSHA press release of 19 June 1998: “OSHA Eliminates Over 1,000 Pages of Regu-
lations to Save Employers Money, Reduce Paperwork, and Maintain Protection.” 25 5 U.S.C. § 553 et seq.
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Permanent standards may be initiated by a well-publicized tragedy, court action, new scientific studies, or the receipt of a criteria document from NIOSH, an organization described later in this chapter. The criteria document is a compilation of all the scientific reports on a particular chemical, including epidemiological and animal studies, along with a recommendation to OSHA for a standard. The recommendation, based supposedly only on scientific health considerations, includes suggested exposure limits (eight-hour average, peaks, etc.) and appropriate medical monitoring, labeling, and other proscrip- tions.
Congress assumed that NIOSH would be the primary standard-setting arm of OSHA, although the two are in different government departments— Health and Human Services (HHS) and Labor, respectively. According to this model, OSHA would presumably take the scientific recommendations from NIOSH, factor in engineering and technical feasibility, and then promulgate as similar a standard as possible. However, the system has never worked this way. Instead, OSHA’s own standards office has generally regarded NIOSH’s contribution as just one step in the process—and not one entitled to a great deal of deference.26
Following receipt of the criteria document or some other initiating action, OSHA will study the evidence and then possibly publish a proposed standard. Most candidate standards never get this far: The hundreds of NIOSH docu- ments, labor union petitions, and other serious recommendations have resulted in only a few new health standards since 1970.27
The proposed standard is then subjected to public comment for (typically) a 90-day period, often extended, after which the reactions are analyzed and in- formal public hearings are scheduled. In a few controversial instances, there may be more than one series of hearings and comments. Then come the post- hearing comments, which are perhaps the most important presentations by the parties. After considerable further study, a final standard is eventually promul- gated. The entire process might theoretically be accomplished in under a year, but in practice it takes a minimum of several years or, as with asbestos, even decades.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 13
26 NIOSH criteria documents vary considerably in quality, depending in part on to whom they were subcon- tracted, but another problem is that too often they are insufficiently discriminating in evaluating question- able studies. That is, one scientific study is regarded as good as any other study, without regard to the qual- ity of the data or the validity of the protocols. Of course, another factor in OSHA’s attitude just might be the “not invented here” syndrome. This is discussed in detail in section 14 of this chapter.
27 This meager number of chemicals does not reflect OSHA’s scientific judgment that the other candidates are unworthy or that the agency has sharply different priorities, although these may be partial factors. More im- portant reasons are poor leadership, technical inexperience, and a bit of politics.
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The following is a list of some of the final health standards that OSHA has promulgated to date:
1. Asbestos
2. Fourteen carcinogens
—4-Nitrobiphenyl —benzidine
—alpha-nephthylamine —ethyleneimine
—methyl chloromethyl ether —beta-propiolactone
—3,3’-dichlorolenzidine —2-acetylaminofluorene
—bis-chloromethyl ether —4-dimethylaminozaobenzene
—beta-naphthylamine —N-nitrosodimethylamine
—4-aminodiphenyl —(MOCA stayed by court action)
3. Vinyl chloride
4. Inorganic arsenic
5. Lead
6. Coke-oven emissions
7. Cotton dust
8. 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP)
9. Acrylonitrile
10. Ethylene oxide
11. Benzene
12. Field sanitation
And, most recently, in February 2006,
13. Hexavalent chromium
14 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
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The list is obviously incredibly short for three and a half decades of OSHA stan- dard setting.
4.4 Emergency Temporary Standards
The statute also provides for a third standard-setting approach, specified for emergency circumstances where the normal, ponderous rulemaking procedure would be too slow. Section 6(c) gives the agency authority to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) if necessary to protect workers from exposure to grave danger posed by substances “determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.”28
Such standards are effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. An ETS is only valid, however, for six months. OSHA is thus under con- siderable pressure to conduct an expedited rulemaking for a permanent standard before the ETS lapses. For this reason, a quest for an emergency standard has been the preferred route for labor unions or other groups seeking a new OSHA standard. These ETSs have not fared well, however, when challenged in the courts; virtually all have been struck down as insufficiently justified.
4.5 General Duty Clause, 5(a)(1)
There is actually a fourth type of enforceable standard, one that covers situations for which no standards currently exist.
Since OSHA has standards for only a few hundred of the many thousands of potentially dangerous chemicals and workplace safety hazards, there are far more situations than the rules cover. Therefore, inspectors have authority under the General Duty Clause to cite violations for unsafe conditions even where specific standards do not exist.29 Agency policy has shifted back and forth between en- couraging the use of “Section 5(a)(1),” as the clause is often termed, since this en- sures that unsafe conditions will be addressed, and discouraging its use on the theory that employers should be liable only for compliance with specific stan- dards of which they are given knowledge.
However, the agency has acknowledged that many of the standards that do exist are woefully out of date and thus cannot be relied upon for adequate pro- tection of worker safety and health. The traditional notion was that compliance with an existing specific standard—even if demonstrably unsafe—precluded an
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 15
28 OSH Act § 6(c)(1). 29 OSH Act § 5(a)(1); 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1).
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OSHA citation.30 This has been called into question by the courts. In April 1988, a federal appellate court allowed OSHA to cite for violations of the General Duty Clause even where a company was in full compliance with a specific numerical standard on the precise point in question.31 Bare compliance with the standards on the books, therefore, might not be responsible management.
4.6 Feasibility and the Balancing Debate
There has been a continuing debate over feasibility and balancing in OSHA en- forcement. The important issues include the following:
• Can OSHA legally consider economic factors in setting health or safety standards levels?
• If so, is this consideration limited only to extreme circumstances?
• Does the Occupational Safety and Health Act provide for a balancing of costs and benefits in setting standards?
• Can OSHA mandate engineering controls although they alone would still not attain the standard?
• Can OSHA require engineering controls even if personal protective equip- ment (such as ear plugs) could effectively, if often only theoretically, reduce hazards to a safe level and at a much lower cost?
These questions have been extensively litigated before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and the courts. Most of the debate has been over the interpretation of feasibility in Section 6(b)(5) of the Act.
One must remember that OSHA legislation was originally seen by Congress in rather absolutist terms: Any standard promulgated should be one “which most
16 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
30 This is exemplified by Phelps Dodge Corporation (OSHRC Final Order, 1980), 9 OSHC 1222, which found no violation of the Act to expose workers to “massive amounts of sulphur dioxide for short periods of time” since there was no maximum ceiling value in the standard and the employer was complying with the eight- hour average value required in the specific sulphur dioxide regulation. The citation for violation of § 5(a)(1) was therefore vacated.
31 International Union, UAW v. General Dynamics Land System Division, 815 F.2d 1570, 13 OSHC 1201 (CADC 1988). The Court held that employer’s knowledge was the crucial element; if he knew that the OSHA standard was not adequate to protect workers from a hazard, he could not claim he was maintain- ing a safe workplace within the meaning of § 5(a)(1), even if he were adhering to a standard he knew was outmoded. The Court thereby dismissed the argument that the employer would not know what is legally expected of him; he was expected to maintain a safe workplace, specific regulations notwithstanding. There was no specific provision in the statute that prevented a general duty citation when a specific standard ex- isted. Note, however, that no other court has since used this rationale.
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adequately assumes . . . that no employee will suffer material impairment of health.” Only late in the congressional debate was the Department of Labor able to insert the phrase “to the extent feasible” into the text. This was intended to pre- vent companies having to close because unattainable standards were imposed on them, but it was not spelled out to what extent economic as well as technical fea- sibility was included.32
Since the term feasibility was not clearly defined, there has been much con- fusion over how to interpret what Congress intended, as the earlier cases show. In Industrial Union Department, AFL v. Hodgson, the D.C. Circuit accepted that economic realities affected the meaning of feasible, but only to the extent that “a standard that is prohibitively expensive is not ‘feasible.’”33 It was Congress’s in- tent, the court added, that this term would prevent a standard unreasonably “re- quiring protective devices unavailable under existing technology or by making fi- nancial viability generally impossible.” The court warned, however, that this doctrine should not be used by companies to avoid needed improvements in their workplaces:
Standards may be economically feasible even though, from the stand- point of employers, they are financially burdensome and affect profit margins adversely. Nor does the concept of economic feasibility neces- sarily guarantee the continued existence of individual employers.34
A similar view was adopted in 1975 by the Second Circuit in The Society of the Plastics Industry v. OSHA, written by Justice Clark, who cited approvingly the case above.35 He held that feasible meant not only that which is attainable tech- nologically and economically now, but also that which might reasonably be achievable in the future. In this case, which concerned strict emissions controls on vinyl chloride, he declared that OSHA may impose “standards which require improvements in existing technologies or which require the development of new technology, and . . . is not limited to issuing standards based solely on devices al- ready fully developed.”36
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 17
32 This account of the behind-the-scenes machinations is based on this author’s personal discussions with the late Congressman William Steiger (R-Wisc.), a principal author of the Act, and Judge Lawrence Silberman, now of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, who was then solicitor of labor. The legislative history is relatively unhelpful on this subject. See, for example, hearings before the Select Sub- committee on Labor, Committee on Education and Labor, “Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1969,” two vols., 1969.
33 499 F.2d 467, 1 OSHC 1631 (D.C. Cir., 1974). 34 1 OSHC 1631 at 1639. 35 509 F.2d 1301, 2 OSHC 1496 (2nd Cir., 1975), cert. den. 421 U.S. 922. 36 509 F.2d at 1309, 2 OSHC at 1502 (2nd Cir., 1975).
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Neither court undertook any risk-benefit analysis, such as attempting to compare the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to control vinyl chloride with the lives lost to angiosarcoma of the liver. Those who have attempted to develop such equations have generally concluded the task is undoable, at least for most such chronic health effects.37
A third federal appeals court, however, took a strongly contrary position in a case involving noise. In Turner Co. v. Secretary of Labor, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the $30,000 cost of abating a noise hazard should be weighed against the health damage to the workers, taking into con- sideration the availability of personal protective equipment to mitigate the risk.38
This holding is not unreasonable, but is based on a highly tenuous interpre- tation of the law. The court, without providing any clear rationale for its view, held that “the word ‘feasible’ as contained in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.95(6)(1) must be given its ordinary and common sense meaning of ‘practicable.’” (This may be so, but is of no analytical value.) From this the court concluded:
Accordingly, the Commission erred when it failed to consider the rela- tive cost of implementing engineering controls . . . versus the effective- ness of an existing personal protective equipment program utilizing fit- ted earplugs.39
This interpretation does not follow from the analysis. In fact, since the Turner Company had both the financial resources and the technical capability to abate the noise problem, compliance with the regulation would appear to be “practica- ble.” The court, however, considered this term to mean that a cost-benefit com- putation should be made.
In 1982, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the case of Donovan v. Castle & Cooke Foods and OSHRC,40 also held that the Noise Act and the regulations permit consideration of relative costs and benefits to determine what noise controls are feasible.
OSHA gave the plant a citation on the grounds that, although Castle & Cooke required its employees to wear personal protective equipment, its failure
18 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
37 See, for example, the conclusions of the National Academy of Sciences report, “Government Regulation of Chemicals in the Environment,” 1975.
38 561 F.2d 82, 5 OSHC 1970 (7th Cir., 1977). The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) decisions on Turner and the related Continental Can case can be found at 4 OSHC 1554 (1976) and 4 OSHC 1541 (1976), respectively.
39 5 OSHC 1790 at 1791. 40 692 F.2d 641, 10 OSHC 2169 (1982).
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to install technologically feasible engineering and administrative controls41 con- stituted a violation of the noise standard, and that the violation could only be abated by the implementation of such controls. OSHA argued that engineering and administrative controls should be considered economically infeasible only if their implementation would so seriously jeopardize the employer’s economic con- dition as to threaten continued operation.
On appeal, OSHA argued that neither the OSHRC nor the courts are free to interpret economic feasibility, because its definition is controlled by the Supreme Court’s decision in American Textile Manufacturers Institute, Inc. v. Donovan.42
The appeals court, however, decided that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the term feasible made in American Textile was not deemed controlling for the noise standards. It also affirmed that economic feasibility should be determined through a cost-benefit analysis, and that in the case of Castle & Cooke the costs of economic controls did not justify the benefit that would accrue to employees. Thus, the decision to vacate the citation was upheld.
5.0 Variances
Companies that complain that OSHA standards are unrealistic are often not aware that they might be able to create their own version of the standards. The alternative proposed has to be at least as effective as the regular standard, but it can be different.
5.1 Temporary Variances
Section 6(b)(6)(A) of the OSH Act establishes a procedure by which any em- ployer may apply for a “temporary order granting a variance from a standard or any provision thereof.” According to the Act, the variance will be approved when OSHA determines that the requirements have been met and establishes:
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 19
41 Engineering controls are those that reduce the sound intensity at the source of the noise. This is achieved by insulation of the machine, by substituting quieter machines and processes, or by isolating the machine or its operator. Administrative controls attempt to reduce workers’ exposure to excess noise through use of variable work schedules, variable assignments, or limiting machine use. Personal protective equipment in- cludes such devices as ear plugs and ear muffs provided by the employer and fitted to individual workers.
42 101 S. Ct. 2478, 9 OSHC 1913 (17 June 1981). In this case, representatives of the cotton dust industry challenged proposed regulations limiting permissible exposure levels to cotton dust. Section 6(b)(5) of the Act requires OSHA to “set the standard which most adequately assures, to the extent feasible . . . that no employee will suffer material impairment of health….” The industry contended that OSHA had not shown that the proposed standards were economically feasible. However, the Supreme Court upheld the cotton dust regulations, holding that the “plain meaning of the word ‘feasible’ is capable of being done, executed, or effected,” and that a cost-benefit analysis by OSHA is not required.
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• that the employer is unable to meet the standard “because of unavailabil- ity of professional or technical personnel or of materials and equipment,” or because alterations of facilities cannot be completed in time;
• that he is “taking all available steps to safeguard” his workers against the hazard covered by the standard for which he is applying for a variance; and
• that he has an “effective program for coming into compliance with the standard as quickly as practicable.”43
This temporary order may be granted only after employees have been notified and, if requested, there has been sufficient opportunity for a hearing. The vari- ance may not remain in effect for more than one year, with the possibility of only two six-month renewals.44 The overriding factor an employer must demonstrate for a temporary variance is good faith.45
5.2 Permanent Variances
Permanent variances can be issued under Section 6(d) of the OSH Act. A permanent variance may be granted to an employer who has demonstrated “by a preponderance” of evidence that the “conditions, practices, means, methods, op- erations or processes used or proposed to be used” will provide a safe and health- ful workplace as effectively as would compliance with the standard.
6.0 Compliance and Inspections
OSHA is primarily an enforcement organization. In its early years both the com- petence of its inspections and the size of the assessed fines were pitifully inadequate; they were the primary reason OSHA was not taken seriously by either labor unions or the business community. That picture has now changed significantly.
6.1 Field Structure
The Department of Labor (DOL) has divided the territory subject to the OSH Act into ten federal regions, the same boundaries that EPA also uses. Each region con- tains from four to nine area offices. When an area office is not considered necessary because of a lack of industrial activity, a district office or field station may be estab- lished. Each region is headed by a regional administrator, each area by an area direc-
20 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
43 OSH Act § 7(b)(6)(A). 44 Id. 45 E. Klein, Variances, in Proceedings of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations Seminar (Washington,
D.C.: Government Institutes, 1978), p. 74.
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tor. In the field, compliance officers represent area offices and inspect industrial sites in their vicinity, except in situations where a specialist or team might be required.
6.2 Role of Inspections
The only way to determine compliance by employers is inspections, but inspect- ing all the workplaces covered by the OSH Act would require decades. Each year there are tens of thousands of federal inspections, and as many or more state in- spections, but there are several million workplaces. Obviously, a priority system for high-hazard occupations is necessary, along with random inspections just to keep everyone “on his toes.”
Inspections are supposed to be surprises; there are criminal penalties for any- one alerting the sites beforehand. The inspections may occur in several ways: They may be targeted at random, triggered by worker complaints, set by a priority sys- tem based on hazardous probabilities, or brought on by events such as a fatality or explosion. Inspectors expect admittance without search warrants, but a company has the constitutional right to refuse admittance until OSHA obtains a search war- rant from a federal district court.46 Such refusal is frankly not a good idea except
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 21
Figure 1.1 Inspections and Violations
46 See a later section in this chapter on the Supreme Court’s Barlow’s decision interpreting the Fourth Amend- ment to the U.S. Constitution.
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in very special circumstances, such as when the additional delay would allow a quick cleanup of the workplace to bring it into compliance.
6.3 Training and Competence of Inspectors
There has been a major problem with OSHA inspectors in the past—the train- ing program did not adequately prepare them for their tasks, and the quality of the hiring was uneven. In the early days there was tremendous pressure from the unions to get an inspection force on the job as soon as possible, so recruitment was often hurried and training was minimal. Inspectors would walk into a plant where, for example, pesticide dust was so thick workers could not see across the room, yet, because there was no standard as such, the inspectors would not think there was a problem.47 Yet, had there been a fire extinguisher in the wrong place, and had the inspector been able to see it through the haze, he would have cited the plant for a safety violation. This early bumbling was the source of much of the animus against OSHA that persists even today.
Competence among staff has markedly improved since the early days of the program. Both in-house training efforts by OSHA and increased numbers of pro- fessional training programs conducted by colleges and universities have con- tributed to these improvements. There is also a greater sensitivity towards work- ers and their representatives.48
6.4 Citations, Fines, and Penalties
If the inspector discovers a hazard in the workplace, a citation and a proposed fine may be issued. Citations can be serious, nonserious, willful, or repeated. By one count, there are at least nine types of penalty findings under the OSH Act. They are as follows:
• De minimis—These are technical violations, but they pose insignificant risk and for which no monetary penalty is warranted.
• Nonserious—This is the basic type of penalty. No risk of death or serious injury is posed, but the violation might still cause some harm.
• Serious—The hazard could lead to death or serious injury.
• Failure to correct—Violations when found must be remediated within a certain period of time. If a subsequent reinspection finds this has not been
22 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
47 This happened with kepone in the notorious Hopewell, Virginia, incident in 1975, and with asbestos for years at a plant in Tyler, Texas.
48 Statement of Lane Kirkland, president, AFL-CIO, before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Re- sources on Oversight of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1 April 1980.
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done, or the violation has been allowed to recur, this fairly serious citation is in order.
• Repeated—These are continuous violations, discussed below.
• Willful—These are intentional violations, discussed below.
• Criminal—These violations are applicable under the OSH Act only for cases involving death.49
• Egregious—These are supposedly heinous situations, discussed below.
• Section 11(c)—These are penalties for company retaliation against com- plainers and whistle-blowers, discussed at length below.
6.5 OSHA Citation and Penalty Patterns
OSHA now averages over 35,000 inspections a year.50 These are focused on the industries and sectors where statistics indicate greater potential hazards. Contrary
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 23
Figure 1.2 Serious Violations as a Proportion of Total Violations
49 This is discussed in a separate chapter later in this book. 50 In 2006 there were 38,579 federal OSHA inspections resulting in 83,913 violations, of which 61,337 (73.1
percent) were categorized as “Serious”: state occupational safety and health agencies did another 58,058 in- spections finding 127,284 violations, of which 45.3 percent was classified as Serious.
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to the common assumption that most inspections are in manufacturing, in fact that sector accounts for only about one-fourth of the inspections. Over half are in the construction industry, with another quarter distributed over all other types of workplaces.
Specially targeted sectors in the manufacturing area, with four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, have most recently been designated51:
• Plastic products (3089)
• Sheet metalwork (3444)
• Fabricated structural metal (3441)
• Metal stampings (3469)
• Fabricated metal products (3499)
• Motor vehicle parts (3714)
• Construction machinery (3431)
• Shipbuilding and repair (3731)52
24 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
51 The SIC codes are officially being supplanted by something called the North American Industry Classifi- cation System (NAICS), but the transition is a gradual one.
52 “Top Ten Federal OSHA Targeted SIC Codes,” Manufacturing Sector, 4th Quarter 1998, OSHA.
Figure 1.3 Penalties
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6.6 Communicating and Enforcing Company Rules
Many accidents—arguably even most—are due to human negligence, often in- volving an act that is contrary to company policy. Merely claiming a company policy, however, is not enough, for OSHA does not look very favorably upon this defense. For employers to plead employee misconduct as a defense to an OSHA citation, the company must first demonstrate three things:
• First, of course, is to prove the existence of such rules.53
• Second, an employer must prove that these rules were effectively commu- nicated to the employees. Proof can include written instructions, evidence of required attendance at education sessions, the curriculum of training programs, and other forms that should be documented.54
• Third, many companies that can demonstrate the above two principles fall short on the third, namely that there should be evidence the policies are ef- fectively enforced.55 For this, evidence of disciplinary action taken against infractions of the rules, though not necessarily the precise rule that would have prevented the accident under investigation, is necessary. The closer to
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 25
53 The Carborundum Company (OSHRC Judge, 1982), 10 OSHC 1979. 54 Schnabel Associates, Inc. (OSHRC Judge, 1982), 10 OSHC 2109. Moreover, employers should retain copies
of training curriculum, tests, and other evidence of the educational program, recommends Susan M. Olan- der, counsel for the Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange. BNA, OSHA Reporter, 19 October 200, pp. 933–934.
55 Galloway Enterprises, Inc. (OSAHRC Judge, 1984), 11 OSHC 2071.
Figure 1.4 Contest Rate
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the actual circumstance, of course, the more that proof of active company enforcement is dispositive.56
If the above three principles can all be demonstrated, they constitute a reasonable defense to charges of violating the regulations, even in cases of death or serious injury.
Note that this defense is not limited to the misconduct of a low-ranking em- ployee. Misconduct of a supervisor, although it may suggest inadequate company policy and direction, can also be shown as an isolated and personal failing. Ac- cording to an appellate court, the proper focus of a court is on the effectiveness of the employer’s implementation of his safety program and not on whether the unforeseeable conduct was by an employee or by supervisory personnel.57
6.7 Warrantless Inspections: The Barlow Case
Litigants have challenged OSHA’s constitutionality on virtually every conceivable grounds, from the First Amendment to the Fourteenth.58 The one case that has succeeded has led to the requirement of a search warrant, if demanded, for OSHA inspectors.
The Supreme Court in Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc.,59 decided that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, providing for search warrants, was applicable to OSHA, thereby declaring unconstitutional Section 8(a) of the act, in which Con- gress had authorized warrantless searches.60
While the court held that OSHA inspectors are required to obtain search warrants if denied entry to inspect, it added that OSHA must meet only a very minimal probable cause requirement under the Fourth Amendment in order to obtain them. As Justice White explained:
Probable cause in the criminal sense is not required. For purposes of an administrative search such as this, probable cause justifying the issuance of a warrant may be based not only on specific evidence of an existing vi-
26 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
56 Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Inc. (OSAHRC Judge, 1985), 12 OSHC 1606. Dover Electric Company, Inc. (OSAHRC Judge, 1984), 11 OSHC 2175.
57 Brock v. L. E. Myers Company, 818 F.2d 1270, 13 OSHC 1289 (6th Cir., 1987). 58 A good, if dated, summary of these challenges is found in Volume I of A Practical Guide to the Occupational
Safety and Health Act, by Walter B. Connolly and David R. Cromwell, II, (New York: New York Law Jour- nal Press, 1977).
59 436 U.S. 307 (1978). 60 There are non-OSHA circumstances in which warrants are not required, such as federal inspection of liquor
dealers, gun dealers, automobiles near international borders, and in other matters with a long history of fed- eral involvement.
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olation but also on a showing that “reasonable legislative or administra- tive standards for conducting an . . . inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular [establishment].”61
Moreover, if too many companies demanded warrants, so that the inspection program was seriously impaired, the Court indicated that it might reconsider its ruling. This ironically would make enjoyment of a Constitutional right partly contingent on few attempting to exercise it. It is therefore not surprising that commentators, both liberals and conservatives, were critical of the decision. Con- servative columnist James J. Kilpatrick declared flatly:
If the Supreme Court’s decision in the Barlow case was a “great victory,” as Congressman George Hansen proclaims it, let us ask heaven to pro- tect us from another such victory anytime soon.62
7.0 Recordkeeping
For an agency that seems grounded in practical workplace realities, OSHA’s reg- ulations increasingly emphasize recordkeeping and paperwork requirements. Moreover, recent OSHA enforcement efforts have been directed heavily toward paperwork violations.
7.1 Accident Reports
Any workplace accident requiring treatment or resulting in lost work time must be recorded within six working days on an OSHA Form 300. This is officially en- titled the Log and Summary of Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, although no one uses that longer term. This document is supposed to provide in- sight into accident types and causes for both the company and OSHA inspectors. It must be retained for five years. Criminal penalties apply to any “knowing false representation” on these and other required records.63
There is a new document, Form 300A, which provides additional informa- tion and supposedly makes it easier for employers to calculate injury incidence rates.
A third document is the OSHA Form 301, which describes in detail the na- ture of each of the recorded accidents. All the supporting information does not have to be on this one form, provided that the material is available in the file.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 27
61 Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc., supra, quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523 at 538 (1967). 62 Washington Star, 2 June 1978. 63 OSH Act § 17(g).
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This form is officially called the Supplementary Record of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.
A fourth required document is the Annual Summary of accidents and ill- nesses, statistics based on the Form 300 data. This summary must be signed by a responsible corporate official and posted in some conspicuous place by the fol- lowing 1st of February each year.64
7.2 Monitoring and Medical Records
OSHA’s health standards increasingly contain provisions calling for medical records, monitoring of pollution, and other information. Safety, as well as health standards, may also require periodic inspections of workplaces or equipment, and these inspections must be recorded. These medical and exposure records must be retained for a staggering 30 years. A company going out of business or liquidat- ing must transfer these records to NIOSH.65
For example, the OSHA noise standards mandate baseline and periodic hear- ing tests,66 the lead standard requires measuring of blood-lead levels and other data that can be the basis for removal from the workplace until the levels go down; and the ionizing radiation regulation requires careful recording of expo- sure and absorption information.
A host of safety (and some health) regulations requires (1) written safety pro- grams, (2) specified training, or (3) documented routine inspections, or combi- nations of all three.
There is no clear pattern to these requirements; they must be checked sepa- rately for each regulation. For example, the safety standard on derricks does not call for the first but does call for the second and third requirements, while cranes require only the third.67 Some safety standards, such as fire protection, lock- out/tagout, process safety management, and employee alarms, require all three.68
The health standards tend to require all three as well, including those for blood- borne pathogens and for hazard communications.69
28 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
64 Recordkeeping requirements are set forth generally in 29 C.F.R. 1904. 65 29 C.F.R. § 1910.20. 66 OSHA’s noise monitoring and recordkeeping requirements for hearing loss and standard threshold shift (STS,
previously “significant threshold shift”) are particularly complex and have been subject to considerable liti- gation.
67 29 C.F.R. § 1910.181, and § 1910.178–179. 68 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.156 et seq., 1910.147, 1910.119, and 1910.165. 69 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1030, and 29 C.F.R. § 1200.
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OSHA has increasingly levied substantial fines for failure to comply with these recordkeeping regulations. For example, in October 2000 a Texas steel- maker was fined $1.7 million, much of it for “purposefully” not recording work- place injuries and illnesses.71
7.3 Hazard Communication
The OSHA hazard communication (hazcom) program, which is described more fully later in this chapter, requires companies making or using hazardous chemi- cals to provide information to their workers on possible exposure risks. The pro- gram provides for these measures:
1. Toxic chemical labeling,
2. Warning signs and posters,
3. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) on hazardous chemicals,
4. A written policy setting forth the company’s handling of issues under the hazcom program; and
5. A list of hazardous chemicals on premises.71
7.4 Access to Records
Employees and their designated legal or union representatives have the right to obtain access to their records within 15 working days. They may not be charged for duplication or other costs. Former employees are also given this access.
There are certain limited exceptions to disclosure dealing with psychiatric evaluation, terminal illness, and confidential informants. Otherwise the view is that even the most secret chemical formulas and business information must be re- vealed to the employees or former employees if they are relevant to exposure and toxicity. This could be a godsend for industrial espionage, but so far there have been few claims that this is a practical problem.
OSHA inspectors also have access to these records. From time to time some company challenges this access as a violation of the Fourth Amendment, but an inspector has little difficulty in obtaining a search warrant.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 29
70 BNA, OSHA Reporter, 26 October 2000, p. 951. 71 29 C.F.R. 1910.1200.
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7.5 Programmatic Standards
OSHA is giving more attention to programmatic standards. The controversial er- gonomics proposed standard, for example, was based on companies providing ev- idence that they have set up a specific program rather than having OSHA dictate what the detailed content of that program should be. Although these are perhaps not recordkeeping in the absolute sense, their reliance on paperwork and docu- mentation merits their mention in this recordkeeping section.
8.0 Refusal to Work and Whistle-blowing
Employees have a right to refuse to work when they believe conditions are unsafe. OSHA rules protect them from discrimination based on this refusal. And if em- ployees see unsafe or unhealthy workplace conditions, they have a right to report them to OSHA without fear of reprisals or discrimination.
8.1 Refusal to Work
OSHA has ruled, and the Supreme Court has unanimously upheld, the OSHA principle that workers have the right to refuse to work in the face of serious in- jury or death.72 The leading case was a simple one. Two workers refused to walk on the thin wire mesh screens suspended high above the workplace through which several workers had fallen partway through and, two weeks before, another worker had fallen to his death. When reprimanded, the workers complained to OSHA. The Supreme Court had no difficulty in finding that the workers had been improperly discriminated against by their employer in this case.
How a court would rule in less glaring circumstances is harder to predict. In- terestingly, there has not been a swarm of such cases in the two decades since this decision, despite dire predictions of wholesale refusal and consequent litigation.
8.2 Protection of Whistle-blowing
If a worker is fired or disciplined for complaining to governmental officials about unsafe work conditions, he has a legal remedy under the OSH Act for restoration of his job or loss of pay.73 Similar provisions, administered also by OSHA’s “11(c)” staff, have been inserted into 13 other federal statutes, including EPA’s Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) in the Superfund legis-
30 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
72 29 C.F.R. § 1977.12 (1979); Whirlpool Corp. v. Marshall, 445 U.S. 1, 8 OSHC 1001 (1980). This case also stands as a textbook example of when not to appeal a lower court’s ruling.
73 OSH Act § 11(c), 29 U.S.C. § 660; 29 C.F.R. § 1977.
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lation, as well as ones that have little to do with environmental or occupational protection.74
Congress assumed that the employees in a given workplace would be best ac- quainted with the hazards there. It therefore statutorily encouraged prompt OSHA response to worker complaints of violations.75 Since this system could be undermined if employers penalized complaining employees, the Act in Section 11(c) provides sanctions against such retaliation or discrimination:
No person may discharge or in any manner discriminate against any em- ployee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding or because of the exercise by such employee on behalf of himself or others of any right af- forded by this Act.76
If discrimination occurs, particularly if an employee is fired, a special OSHA team intervenes to obtain reinstatement, back wages, or—if return to the com- pany is undesirable—a cash settlement for the worker. If agreement cannot be reached, the agency resorts to litigation.
This entire system has not worked quite as expected. First, worker com- plaints have surprisingly not been a very fruitful source of health and safety in- formation. Far too many of the complaints came in bunches, coinciding with la- bor disputes in a particular plant.77 OSHA therefore finally had to abandon its policy of trying to investigate every single complaint.78
Second, the Title 11(c) process has worked slowly and uncertainly, so even though an employee may receive vindication, the months (or even years) of de- lay and anguish are a strong disincentive for workers to report hazards.
Third, it is often difficult to determine whether a malcontented worker was fired for informing OSHA or for a number of other issues that might cloud the employer-employee relationship. Does the complaint have to be the sole
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 31
74 Title III of the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA). These amendments are designed to “prevent future Bhopals” (the 1984 chemical disaster that killed thousands of residents of the city of Bhopal, India) by informing community fire and emergency centers what chemicals a company has on site. Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro, Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World’s Deadliest Industrial Disaster (New York: AOL Time Warner, 2002).
75 OSH Act § 8(f )(1). 76 OSH Act § 11(c)(1). 77 A contrary view by Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO’s director of Health and Safety, is that “Historically OSHA
inspections conducted as a result of a complaint produce just as significant results in identifying serious vi- olations and uncovering hazards as the general scheduled inspections.” Quoted in BNA, OSHA Reporter, 16 March 2000, p. 202.
78 OSHA has nevertheless strengthened the workers’ role in the on-site consultation process. 29 C.F.R. § 1908 (December 2000).
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cause of dismissal or discrimination, or can some (fairly arbitrary) allocation be made?
Fourth, there is continuing controversy over whether 11(c) should protect workers complaining of hazards to those other than OSHA, even if the direct or indirect result is an OSHA inspection.
In the famous Kepone tragedy of 1975, an employee complained of hazard- ous chemicals to his supervisor, was fired, and only then went to OSHA. Not only was he declared unprotected by the Act, but his complaint, no longer a worker complaint, was not even investigated at the time. Although agency offi- cials have sworn not to repeat that mistake, the issue of what triggers 11(c) pro- tection, either (a) a complaint of unsafe workplace conditions, or (b) reporting that matter to OSHA, is a continuing one.
A related current issue is whether an employee who reports a hazard to the press, whose ensuing publicity triggers an OSHA investigation, is protected by 11(c). In one notable instance, OSHA regional officials decided in favor of the worker and won the subsequent litigation in federal district court. The solicitor of labor, how- ever, disagreed and attempted to withdraw the agency from a winning position.79
Still, in one recent case, a Brooklyn bookstore worker supposedly dismissed for whistle-blowing in March 2006 was reinstated with a small cash settlement by August. More typical was an airline worker in Puerto Rico who took four years to litigate through the district court and court of appeals before being awarded a somewhat larger amount.80 So a worker can never really be sure how he might fare if he does complain.
9.0 Federal and State Employees
The exclusion of federal and state employees has been the topic of much discus- sion and debate.
9.1 Federal Agencies
Federal employees are not covered directly by OSHA, at least not to the extent that federal agencies are subject to fines and other penalties. However, the pre- sumption was that the agencies would follow OSHA regulations in implement- ing their own programs. Section 19 of the OSH Act designates the responsibility for providing safe and healthful working conditions to the head of each agency.
32 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
79 Washington Post, “About Face Considered in OSHA Suit,” 20 October 1982. 80 Occupational Hazard, news for 2 August 2006 and 10 March 2006, respectively, at www.occupationalhaz-
ard.com.
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A series of presidential executive orders has emphasized that this role should be taken seriously. Nevertheless, many commentators feel the individual agencies’ programs are inadequate and inconsistent.
In 1980 the leading presidential executive order81 was issued, which broad- ened the responsibility of federal agencies for protecting their workers, expanded employee participation in health and safety programs, and designated circum- stances under which OSHA will inspect federal facilities. In the operation of their internal OSHA programs, agency heads have to meet requirements of basic pro- gram elements issued by the Department of Labor and comply with OSHA stan- dards for the private sector unless they can justify alternatives.
9.2 State Employees
The OSH Act excludes the employees of state governments. Virtually all states with their own OSHA programs—about half—however, cover their state and lo- cal employees. Some labor unions believe this exclusion of state workers is one of the most serious gaps in the OSH Act, and several congressional bills have sought in vain to remedy the perceived omission. In light of recent Supreme Court de- cisions, however, such bills even if enacted might not be constitutional.
10.0 State OSHA Programs
The federal OSHA program was intended by many legislators and businesses only to fill the gaps where state programs were lacking. The states were to be the primary regulatory control. It has not happened that way, of course, but approx- imately two dozen state programs are still important.82
10.1 Concept
The OSH Act requires OSHA to encourage the states to develop and operate their own job safety and health programs, which must be “at least as effective as” the federal program.83 Until effective state programs were approved, federal en- forcement of standards promulgated by OSHA preempted state enforcement,84
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 33
81 Executive Order 12196, signed 26 February 1980, 45 FR 12769, superseding E.O. 11807 of 28 Septem- ber 1974.
82 There are 21 states and one territory with complete state plans for the private and public sectors, and three states and one territory that cover only public employees. Around 10 others have withdrawn their programs over the past three decades, but the number has never been more than half the states.
83 OSH Act §§ 2(b)(11) and 18(c)(2). 84 OSH Act § 18(a).
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and continue to do so where state laws have major gaps. Conversely, state laws re- main in effect when no federal standard exists.
Before approving a submitted state plan, OSHA must make certain that the state can meet criteria established in the Act.85 Once a plan is in effect, the Sec- retary may exercise “authority . . . until he determines, on the basis of actual op- erations under the State plan, that the criteria set forth are being applied.”86 But he cannot make such a determination for three years after the plan’s approval. OSHA may continue to evaluate the state’s performance in carrying out the pro- gram even after a state plan has been approved. If a state fails to comply, the ap- proval can be withdrawn, but only after the agency has given due notice and op- portunity for a hearing.
10.2 Critiques
The program has not developed as anticipated into an essentially state-oriented system, although almost half the states have their own system.
Organized labor has never liked the state concept, both because of its poor experience with state enforcement in the past and because it realized that its strength could more easily be exercised in one location—Washington, D.C.— than in all fifty states and the territorial capitals, many of which are traditionally hostile to labor unions. This has meant, ironically, that some of the better state programs, in areas where unions had the most influence, were among the first re- jected by state legislators under strong union pressure.
Industry has cooled to the local concept, which requires multistate compa- nies to contend with a variety of state laws and regulations instead of a uniform federal plan. Furthermore, state OSHAs are often considerably larger than the lo- cal federal force, so there can be more inspections.
It was therefore never clear what incentive a state had to maintain its own pro- gram, since a governor could always terminate his state’s plan and save the budget- ary expenses, knowing that the federal government would take up the slack. Cali- fornia’s Governor George Deukmejian, for example, came to this conclusion in 1987 and terminated the state Cal-OSHA. However, the idea did not stick; California’s state program was soon reestablished and, surprisingly, the notion did not spread.
Organized labor and industry are not alone in their criticism of the state pro- grams. Health research organizations, OSHA’s own national advisory committee (NACOSH), and some of the states themselves have also voiced disapproval of the state program policy. Ineffective operations at the state level, disparity in federal
34 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
85 OSH Act § 18(c)(1–8). 86 OSH Act § 18(c).
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funding, and the lack of the necessary research capability are just a few of the crit- icisms lodged.87
There is some defense of state control, however: “To the extent that local control increases the responsiveness of programs to the specific needs of people in that area, this [a state plan] is a potentially good policy.”88 But reevaluation and revision will be necessary in the next several years if OSHA’s policy for state pro- grams is to be accepted by all the factions involved.
11.0 Consultation
Employers subject to OSHA regulation, particularly small employers, would ben- efit from on-site consultation to determine what must be done to bring their workplaces into compliance with the requirements of the OSH Act. This was par- ticularly true during the agency’s formative years. Although OSHA’s manpower and resources are limited, this assistance, where rendered, should be free from ci- tations or penalties.
In FY 2005 the agency recorded 31,500 consultative visits to smaller busi- nesses, and almost 900 (mostly larger) companies were recognized in the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP).89
As in so many other areas of OSHA regulation, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the consultation process. Union leaders have always feared that OSHA could become merely an educational institution rather than one with effective enforcement. But Section 21(c) of the Act does mandate con- sultation with employers and employees “as to effective means of preventing oc- cupational injuries and illnesses.”90
11.1 Education
Along with the consultation provisions, the statute provides for “programs for the education and training of employers and employees in the recognition, avoid- ance, and prevention of unsafe or unhealthful working conditions in employ- ments covered” by the Act.91 OSHA produces brochures and films to educate
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 35
87 Robert Hayden, “Federal and State Rules” in Proceedings of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation Seminar (Washington, D.C.: Government Institutes, 1978), pp. 9–10.
88 Nicholas A. Ashford, Crisis in the Workplace: Occupational Disease and Inquiry (Boston: MIT Press, 1976), p. 231.
89 “OSHA: 2005, 2006 and Beyond,” in Occupational Hazards, news for 26 January 2006,at www.occupa- tionalhazards.com.
90 OSH Act § 21(c)(2). 91 OSH Act § 21(c)(1).
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employees about possible hazards in their workplaces. But there are problems at every stage of the information process, from generation to utilization.
Back in 1979, OSHA began experimenting with a New Directions Training and Education Program, which made available millions in grants to support the de- velopment and strengthening of occupational safety and health competence in busi- ness, employee, and educational organizations. This program supported a broad range of activities, such as training in hazard identification and control; workplace risk assessment; medical screening and recordkeeping; and liaison work with OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and other agen- cies. “The goal of the program was to allow unions and other groups to become fi- nancially self-sufficient in supporting comprehensive health and safety programs.”89
This program, criticized by some as a payoff to constituent groups, especially labor unions, was a natural target of the budget cutters during the Reagan administration, but the concept of increased consultation has been given even greater emphasis.
There is also a provision that state plans may include on-site consultation with employers and employees to encourage voluntary compliance.93 The per- sonnel engaged in these activities must be separate from the inspection person- nel, and their existence must not detract from the federal enforcement effort. These consultants not only point out violations, but also give abatement advice.
11.2 Alliances
Much of OSHA’s focus over the past decade has been in arranging “alliances” with trade associations, businesses, professional groups, and even universities. The present program, initiated in March 2002, attempts to enlist other organi- zations in the safety fight and also serves to make the public image of OSHA less confrontational. Whether this will result in better workplace safety and health than, say, reviving the near-dead standard-setting effort remains to be seen.
12.0 Overlapping Jurisdiction
There are other agencies involved with statutory responsibilities that affect occu- pational safety and health. These agencies indirectly regulate safety and health matters in their attempt to protect public safety.
One example of an overlapping agency is the Department of Transportation and its constituent agencies, such as the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration. These agencies promulgate rules concerned
36 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
92 U.S. Department of Labor, “OSHA News,” 12 April 1978. 93 29 C.F.R. § 1902.4(c)(2)(xiii).
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with the safety of transportation crews and maintenance personnel, as well as the traveling public, and consequently overlap similar responsibilities of OSHA.
Section 4(b)(1) of the OSH Act states that when other federal agencies “ex- ercise statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards or regulations affect- ing occupational safety or health,” the OSH Act will not apply to the working conditions addressed by those standards. MOUs between these agencies and OSHA have eliminated much of the earlier conflict.
The Environmental Protection Agency is the organization that overlaps most frequently with OSHA. When a toxic substance regulation is passed by EPA, OSHA is affected if that substance is one that appears in the workplace. For in- stance, both agencies are concerned with pesticides, EPA with the general envi- ronmental issues surrounding the pesticides and OSHA with some aspects of the agricultural workers who use them. During the early 1970s, there was a heated interagency conflict over field reentry standards for pesticides, a struggle that spilled over into the courts and eventually had to be settled by the White House in EPA’s favor.94 The OSHA-EPA MOU of 1990 and similar such agreements hopefully will prevent repetitions of such problems.
Thus, although the health regulatory agencies generally function in a well-de- fined area, overlap does occur. As another example, there are toxic regulations un- der Section 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, and under statutes of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). These regulatory agencies realized the need for coordination, particularly when dealing with something as pervasive as toxic substances, and under the Carter administration combined their efforts into an interagency working group called the Interagency Regulatory Liaison Group (IRLG). Although the IRLG was abolished at the beginning of the Reagan admin- istration, the concept of interagency working groups is a good one. The federal agencies involved in regulation should rid themselves of the antagonism and rivalry of the past and cooperate with one another to meet the needs of the public.
13.0 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
The OSH Act established the Occupational Safety and Health Review Com- mission (OSHRC) as “an independent quasi-judicial review board”95 consisting of three members appointed by the president to six-year terms. Any enforcement
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 37
94 Florida Peach Growers Assn. v. Dept. of Labor, 489 F.2d 120 (5th Cir., 1974). To avoid this type of con- frontation, in 1976 Congress provided in Section 9 of the Toxic Substances Control Act for detailed coor- dination procedures to be followed when jurisdictional overlap occurs.
95 Ashford, Crisis, p. 145.
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actions of OSHA that are challenged must be reviewed and ruled upon by the Commission.96
13.1 OSHRC Appeal Process
Any failure to challenge a citation within fifteen days of issuance automatically re- sults in an action of the Review Commission to uphold the citation. This decision by default is not subject to review by any court or agency. When an employer chal- lenges a citation, the abatement period, or the penalty proposed, the Commission then designates a hearing examiner: an administrative law judge who hears the case; makes a determination to affirm, modify, or vacate the citation or penalty; and re- ports his finding to the Commission.97 This report becomes final within thirty days unless a Commission member requests that the Commission itself review it.
The employer or agency may then seek a review of the decision in a federal appeals court.
13.2 Limitations of the Commission
One of the major problems with the Review Commission is the question of its jurisdiction: “The question has arisen of the extent to which the Commission should conduct itself as though it were a court rather than a more traditional ad- ministrative agency.”98 The Commission cannot look to other independent agen- cies in the government for a resolution of this problem “because its duties and its legislative history have little in common with the others.”99 It cannot conduct in- vestigations, initiate suits, or prosecute; therefore, it is best understood as an ad- ministrative agency with the limited duty of “adjudicating those cases brought be- fore it by employers and employees who seek review of the enforcement actions taken by OSHA and the Secretary of Labor.”100
Another problem inherent in the organization of the Commission is the sep- aration from the president’s administration. There has been a question of where the authority of the administration ends and the authority of the Commission begins. Because of the autonomous nature of the Review Commission, it cannot always count on the support of the Executive agencies. In fact, OSHA has gen- erally ignored Review Commission decisions, and few inspectors are even aware of the Commission interpretations on various regulations. With the present head of OSHA, Edwin Foulke, a former commissioner (1990–1995) and chairman of
38 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
96 OSH Act § 12(a)–(b). 97 OSH Act § 12(j). 98 Ashford, Crisis, p. 145. 99 Id., pp. 281-82. 100 Id.
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the Review Commission for five years of his six-year term, it will be interesting to see if the pattern changes.
14.0 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
The standard-recommending arm of OSHA is actually in a totally separate gov- ernment department. This procedure has never worked well, even at best during the late 1970s, and has now ceased to work at all.
14.1 In Theory
Under the OSH Act, the Bureau of Safety and Health Services in the Health Ser- vices and Mental Health Administration was restructured to become the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), so as to carry out HEW’s responsibilities under the Act.101 (HEW—the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare—has since become the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS.) For the past two decades NIOSH has reported, illogically, to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the two organizations have headquarters in Atlanta.
Since mid-1971, NIOSH has claimed the training and research functions of the Act, along with its primary function of recommending standards. For this lat- ter task, NIOSH provides recommended standards to OSHA in the form of cri- teria documents for particular hazards. These are compilations and evaluations of all available relevant information from scientific, medical, and (occasionally) en- gineering research.
The order of hazards selected for criteria development is determined several years in advance by a NIOSH priority system based on severity of response, pop- ulation at risk, existence of a current standard, and advice from federal agencies (including OSHA) as well as involved professional groups.102 The criteria docu- ments may actually have some value apart from the role in standards-making. Even though they do not have the force of law, they are widely distributed to in- dustry, organized labor, universities, and private research groups as a basis to con- trol hazards. The criteria documents also serve as a “basis for setting international permissible limits for occupational exposures.”103
14.2 In Practice
To the extent that certain criteria documents may be deficient, as discussed earlier, this expansive role for them among laymen poses a real problem. This problem
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 39
101 OSH Act § 22(a). 102 John F. Finklea, “The Role of NIOSH in the Standards Process,” in Proceedings of the Occupational Health
and Safety Regulation Seminar, p. 38. 103 Id., p. 39.
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may unfortunately become worse if NIOSH declines in both funds and morale. Nevertheless, there is arguably some small benefit in having the two organizations separate. NIOSH has on occasion criticized OSHA for regulatory decisions that the former believed were scientifically untenable.
A review of NIOSH criteria projects shows that virtually all date from the 1970s and still await OSHA action. Almost no new documents have emerged in the past two decades.
Since OSHA does not react to its recommendations, the agency has tried to reinvent itself as a guide to the public. For example, in 2006, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) proposed that NIOSH include re- search on chemical production safety in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). This suggestion would focus the organization on ways to prevent, for ex- ample, the series of deadly explosions at oil refineries in Texas and elsewhere.104
Not under consideration is the idea of just eliminating the moribund agency.
15.0 Hazard Communication Regulations
OSHA’s output of health standards has never been impressive. In recent years, it has tried three new approaches to get around this bottleneck. The first was the “federal” cancer policy designed to create a template for dealing in an expedited fashion with a number of hazardous chemicals. The second was the wholesale re- view initiated in 1988 of all the Z-1 list consensus standards—an effort struck down by the courts.
The third, characterized by one OSHA official as the agency’s most impor- tant rulemaking ever, is the hazard communication (hazcom) regulation issued in November 1983.105
15.1 Reason for the Regulation
This standard, sometimes known as the worker right-to-know rule, provides that hazardous chemicals must be labeled, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) on hazards be prepared, and workers and customers should be informed of potential chemical risks.
How could a rule with such far-reaching consequences be issued from an ad- ministration that so stressed deregulation and deliberately avoided issuing other protective regulations? The answer lies in an almost unprecedented grassroots
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104 “CSB Proposes New Ideas for Updated NIOSH Agenda”, in Occupational Hazards, news for 7 March 2006, at www.occupationalhazards.com.
105 49 FR 52380, 25 November 1983.
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movement at the state and municipal level to enact their own “worker right-to- know” laws that, many businessmen felt, could be a considerable burden on in- terstate commerce. They therefore lent their support to OSHA in its confron- tation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House. A federal regulation on this subject would arguably preempt the multiplicity of local laws.
The rule was originally presumed to apply to only a few hundred, perhaps a thousand, particularly hazardous chemicals. The individual employers would evaluate the risk and then decide for themselves which products merited cover- age. Most employers were unable or unwilling to make such scientific determi- nations. Within a year or two, this limited program expanded into universal cov- erage.
15.2 Scope and Components
Published on 25 November 1983, OSHA’s Hazard Communication or “Right- to-Know” Standard106 went into effect two years later, in November 1985, for chemical manufacturers, distributors, and importers, and in May 1994 for man- ufacturers that use chemicals. It required that employees be provided with infor- mation concerning hazardous chemicals through labels, Material Safety Data Sheets, training and education, and lists of hazardous chemicals in each work area. Originally it covered only manufacturing industries classified in SIC codes 20–39, but by court order in 1987, it was extended to virtually all employers.107
Every employer must assess the toxicity of chemicals it makes, distributes, or uses based on guidelines set forth in the rule. Then it must provide this material downstream to those who purchase the chemicals through MSDSs.108 The em- ployers are then required to assemble a list of the hazardous materials in the work- place, label all chemicals, provide employees with access to the MSDSs, and pro- vide training and education. While all chemicals must be evaluated, the “communication” provisions apply—in theory—only to those chemicals known to be present in the workplace in such a way as to potentially expose employees to physical or health hazards.
Special provisions apply to the listing of mixtures that constitute health haz- ards. Each component that is itself hazardous to health and that comprises one percent or more of a mixture must be listed. Carcinogens must be listed if pres- ent in quantities of 0.1% or greater.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 41
106 48 FR 53280; 29 C.F.R. § 1200. 107 52 FR 31852, 24 August 1987, in response to United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO v. Pendergrass, 819
F.2d 1263 (3rd Cir., 1987). 108 There is some legal question whether OSHA, which has jurisdiction over employer-employee health and
safety relations, has authority over the relationship between a company and its downstream customers.
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The Hazard Communication Standard is a performance-oriented rule. While it states the objectives to be achieved, the specific methods to achieve those ob- jectives are at the discretion of the employer. Thus, in theory, employers have considerable flexibility to design programs suitable for their own workplaces. However, this may mean the employers will have questions about how to comply with the standard.
The purpose of labeling is to give employees an immediate warning of haz- ardous chemicals and a reminder that more detailed information is available. Containers must be labeled with identity, appropriate hazard warnings, and the name and address of the manufacturer. The hazard warnings must be specific, even as to the endangered body organs. For example, if inhalation of a chemical causes lung cancer, the label must specify that and cannot simply say “harmful if inhaled” or even “causes cancer.” Pipes and piping systems are exempt from la- beling, as are those substances required to be labeled by another federal agency.
MSDSs, used in combination with labels, are the primary tools for transmit- ting detailed information on hazardous chemicals. An MSDS is a technical doc- ument that summarizes the known information about a chemical. Chemical manufacturers and importers must develop an MSDS for each hazardous chem- ical produced or imported and pass it on to the purchaser at the time of the first shipment. The employer must keep these sheets where employees will have access to them at all times.
The purpose of employee information and training programs is to inform employees of the labels and MSDSs and to make them aware of the actions re- quired to avoid or minimize exposure to hazardous chemicals. The format of these programs is left to the discretion of the individual employer. Training pro- grams must be provided at the time of initial assignment and whenever a new hazard is introduced into the workplace.
15.3 Hazard Evaluation
Chemical manufacturers are required to evaluate all chemicals they sell for poten- tial health and physical hazards to exposed workers. Purchasers of these chemicals may rely on the supplier’s determination or may perform their own evaluations.
There are really no specific procedures to follow in determining a hazard. Testing of chemicals is not required, and the extent of the evaluation is left to the manufacturers and importers of hazardous chemicals. However, all available sci- entific evidence must be identified and considered. A chemical is considered haz- ardous if it is found to be so by even a single valid study.
Chemicals found on the following master lists are automatically deemed haz- ardous under the standard:
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• The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph
• The Annual Report on Carcinogens published by the National Toxicology Program (NTP)
• OSHA’s Subpart Z list, found in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regula- tions, Part 1910 or
• Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents in the Work Environment, published by the American Conference of Gov- ernmental Industrial Hygienists
If a substance meets any of the health definitions in Appendix A of the stan- dard, it is also to be considered hazardous. The definitions given are for a car- cinogen, a corrosive, a chemical that is highly toxic, an irritant, a sensitizer, a chemical that is toxic, and target organ effects.
Appendix B of the standard gives the principal criteria to be applied in com- plying with the hazard determination requirement. First, animal as well as human data must be evaluated. Second, if a scientific study finds a chemical to be haz- ardous, the effects must be reported whether or not the manufacturers or im- porters agree with the findings.
Appendix C of the standard gives a lengthy list of sources that may assist in the evaluation process. The list includes company data from testing and reports on hazards, supplier data, MSDSs or product safety bulletins, scholarly text books, and government health publications.
In practice, as noted above, companies have begun requiring MSDSs from manufacturers for all chemicals they purchase, so the evaluation aspect of the standard has become unimportant.
15.4 Trade Secrets
Although there is agreement that there must be a delicate balance between the employee’s right to be free of exposure to unknown chemicals and the employer’s right to maintain reasonable trade secrets, the exact method of protection has been considerably disputed.
Under the standard, a trade secret is considered to be defined as in the Re- statement of Torts, that is, something that is not known or used by a competitor. However, OSHA had to revise its definition to conform to a court ruling that said that a trade secret may not include information that is readily discoverable through reverse engineering.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 43
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Although the trade secret identity may be omitted from the MSDS, the manufacturer must still disclose the health effects and other properties about the chemical. A chemical’s identity must immediately be disclosed to a treating physi- cian or nurse who determines that a medical emergency exists.
In nonemergency situations, any employee can request disclosure of the chemical’s identity if he demonstrates through a written statement a need to know the precise chemical name and signs a confidentiality agreement. The standard specifies all purposes that OSHA considers demonstrate the need to know a spe- cific chemical identity.
The standard initially limited this access to health professionals, but in 1985, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that trade secrets protec- tions must be narrowed greatly, allowing not only health professionals, but also workers and their designated representatives the same access as long as they fol- low the required procedures.109 In response, OSHA issued a final rule on trade secrets in September 1986110 that narrows the definition of trade secret. It denies protection to chemical identity information that is readily discoverable through reverse engineering. It also permits employees, their collective bargaining repre- sentatives, and occupational nurses access to trade secret information.
Upon request, the employer must either disclose the information or provide written denial to the requester within 30 days. If the request is denied, the mat- ter may be referred to OSHA, whereupon evidence to support the claim of trade secret and alternative information that will satisfy the claim are needed.
15.5 Federal Preemption Controversy
Several states and labor groups have filed suits challenging state laws that are more protective. New Jersey, for example, has enacted the toughest labeling law in the nation, requiring industry to label all its chemical substances, whether they are hazardous or not, and supply the information to community groups and health officials, as well as to workers.
They were also concerned that, because the original OSHA standard only covered the manufacturing sector, more than 50 percent of the workers (such as those workers in the agricultural and construction fields) would be unprotected, and OSHA did not cover (and still does not) such groups as state employees and consumers. Moreover, they argued that OSHA would be incapable of enforcing worker protection because of the staff cuts made by the Reagan administration.
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109 United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC v. Auchter, et al., 763 F.2d 728; 12 OSHC 1337 (3rd Cir., 1985).
110 51 FR 34590.
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The chemical industry, on the other hand, favored a uniform federal regula- tion because they believed it would be less costly and easier to comply with one federal rule as opposed to several state and local rules that would often conflict or be confusing.
In October 1985, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the federal Hazard Communication Standard does not preempt all sections of New Jersey’s right-to-know laws designed to protect workers and the public from chemical exposure—only those that apply to groups the agency’s rules covered, which were then only in the manufacturing sector.111 Thus, while some parts of a state law may be preempted, other provisions may not be.
In September 1986, the Third Circuit also found that the federal Hazard Communication Standard did not entirely preempt requirements under Pennsyl- vania’s right-to-know act pertaining to worker protection in the manufacturing industry where the state rules relate to public safety generally and for protection of local government officials with police and fire departments. However, five days later, also in September 1986, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a right-to-know ordinance enacted by the city of Akron, Ohio, is pre- empted by the federal standard in manufacturing sector workplaces.
In 1992, the Supreme Court came down strongly on the side of preemption. The Gade v. National Solid Waste Management Association case, although it in- volved OSHA’s so-called HAZWOPER regulations112 rather than hazard com- munication, involved a state law requiring additional training for heavy equip- ment operators on hazardous waste sites. The high court found that the OSHA regulations preempted the state despite arguments that the federal rules only set a minimum that the state could exceed—the situation in most environmental laws—and the more transparent claim that the state laws had a dual purpose in protecting the public as well as workers.113
In 1997 a unanimous federal appeals court, relying on Gade, held that the OSHA hazard communication rule preempted California’s famous Proposition 65 requirements (the public must be warned of carcinogens and other harmful substances, including buildings).
16.0 Ergonomics Issues
The ergonomics issue has been one of the few championed by OSHA in recent years. Ironically, when the standard finally emerged, it ran into a buzz saw of
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 45
111 New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce v. Hughey, 774 F.2d 587, 12 OSHC 1589 (3rd Cir., 1985). 112 Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) regulations in 29 C.F.R. §
1910.120. 113 Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assoc., 112 S. Ct. 2374 (1992).
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hostility that forced OHA to retreat. Opposition ranged from criticism of it as a defective standard, to the concern that ergonomic issues were highly particu- lar to a given workplace.
16.1 Background
For almost three decades OSHA officials have worked towards developing a stan- dard on ergonomics. The original impetus was a series of reports from Midwest poultry and meatpacking plants that workers were developing “carpal tunnel syn- drome” (CTS). This condition develops from repetitive motion of the hand and wrist, which irritates the nerve running through a bone channel near the thumb. Because similar conditions can develop from repetitive motion or strain in other parts of the body, such as with “tennis elbow,” the malady was relabeled as “cu- mulative trauma syndrome,” also conveniently abbreviated CTS, then changed to “repetitive motion syndrome,” and so on until the more sweeping term “er- gonomics” was adopted.
Along the way, OSHA was hitting offending companies with fines in the mil- lions of dollars, some of the biggest in the agency’s history. All of this had to be done under OSHA’s “general duty clause,” the famous Section 5(a)(1) of the act, because there was no specific standard that addressed this particular condition. With the congressional rejection of OSHA’s Ergonomic Standard, OSHA may again fall back to the general duty clause to deal with clear cases of abuse.
16.2 Scope of the Problem
Ergonomics was not a new word or a new concept. It had long been used in Eu- rope to denote arrangements of workers and tools that maximized productivity with a minimum of wasted effort. This was based on, ironically, the American- developed “time and motion studies” from almost a century ago. The erg in er- gonomics, after all, is from the Greek word meaning “work.” The term also came to be used in furniture and office design with the connotation of comfortable and well laid out.
The workplace collision came when the concept of mass production—with each worker repeating a number of simple steps all day—clashed with the possi- ble physical irritation caused to certain parts of the body. The better companies sought to deal with the problem, though most were concerned with the boredom and carelessness aspects of endless repetition rather than with possible deleterious effects on the body. The remedies, however, tended to be very specific to each worksite or even each job. So how could a general standard be developed?
A very different problem was raised for OSHA. Considering the host of un- regulated chemicals, life-threatening workplace hazards, and a pathetically slow
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agency pace for dealing with them, is this where OSHA should be putting its pri- orities for at least a decade?
Congress did not think so, and for a number of years put a “rider” on OSHA’s appropriation bills that such an omnibus ergonomic standard should not be de- veloped. Due to a congressional slip-up, however, and the confusion in the year right before the 2000 presidential elections, OSHA was able to slide out a proposal in November 2000, due to take effect just days before the new president and Con- gress took office and could do anything about it. Once in effect, it was legally much more difficult to overturn it, except for denying appropriations for enforce- ment, and a closely divided House and Senate had more pressing issues.114
16.3 Scope of the Standard
The new standard that emerged in 2000 was designed to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by requiring that companies establish programs to prevent them. In other words, the standard is not prescriptive but procedural.
The standard applied to all general industry workplaces under OSHA but not, for technical legal reasons, to the construction, maritime, agricultural, or most railroad operations. They were eventually supposed to have their own stan- dards once the legal steps were completed. Being subject to the standard, how- ever, does not mean that it automatically applies in its entirety. Some actions have to be taken, and others need to occur only after an action trigger. The trigger was, in Western parlance, a hair-trigger that would go off very easily. Therefore, most workplaces expected to fall under its provision sooner rather than later.
Certain specified initial actions had to be taken by every employer: Every em- ployee had to be given, first, basic information about MSDs, including symptoms and reporting obligations; second, a summary of the requirements of the Act; and third, a written notice in a conspicuous place or by electronic communication.
An action trigger occurs when an employee reports a work-related MSD that rises above a certain threshold, namely when (1) the disorder requires days away from work, restricted work, or medical treatment beyond first aid; or (2) when the symptoms last for more than seven consecutive days. The trigger is then met if the employee’s job “routinely involves, on one or more days a week, exposure to one or more relevant risk factors at the levels described in the Basic Screening Tool in Table W-1.” In making this determination an employer could seek assis- tance from a health care professional (HCP), who plays a key role in implemen- tation of the subsequent program.
Occupational Safety and Health Act ❖ 47
114 OSHA ergonomics program standard final rule, 65 FR 68261 (14 November 2000), taking effect 60 days later.
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17.0 Legislation
The OSH Act has remained virtually untouched since its passage in 1970. With the inauguration of a Democratic president, William Clinton, in 1993 and Dem- ocratic control of both houses of Congress, the expectation was that the labor unions would secure the passage of the first significant revisions in the law.
Under the circumstances, the proposed legislation was surprisingly innocu- ous. It included verbose and often unnecessary sections on enforcement, refusal to work, and other issues. Among them was a seemingly innocuous section pro- viding for labor-management safety committees in the workplace. Both employ- ers and employees have found these committees quite useful, but some manufac- turers’ organizations criticized the language as forcing a much greater role for labor unions.
With the republican election victories in the House and Senate in late 1994, not only did these democratic legislative plans collapse, but the victors prepared their own onslaught on the OSH Act. To the surprise of many, the draconian re- publican plans to curtail or even eliminate OSHA got no further than the previ- ous democratic plans: “Organized labor counted its victories in this year’s Con- gress by the number of bills defeated rather than enacted.”115 However, the Republicans’ hostile scrutiny of OSHA paralyzed the agency leadership and led to a sharp decline in both enforcement and standard setting.
Congressional oversight has been most intense regarding OSHA’s proposed ergonomics standard. As discussed above, Congress used the appropriations process to order the agency not to issue the standard, while the Clinton admin- istration eventually refused to sign the legislation that included these prohibitions on the eve of the 2000 presidential elections. However, legislation was also intro- duced to direct OSHA to encourage safer medical needles, give small businesses more input into agency regulatory proceedings, bar home office inspections, and (signed into law) expand federal compensation for radiation-related exposure.116
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115 “GOP Labor Bills Make Little Headway,” AP, 28 October 1998. 116 In the 106th Congress, H.R. 987, H.R. 4577, and S.1070 restricting OSHA on issuing an ergonomics stan-
dard; H.R. 5178 on needle stick prevention, S. 1156 amending the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996; H.R. 4098 barring home office inspections; and S. 1515 signed into law by President Clinton on 10 July 2000 as P.L. 106-245.
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Chapter 2
The Rulemaking Process Margaret S. Lopez Francina M. Segbefia Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
Congress enacted the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSH Act) to “assure so far as possible . . . safe and healthful working conditions” for every person em- ployed in the United States.1 In order to facilitate this goal, the OSH Act be- stowed upon the Secretary of Labor the power to issue rules that govern safety and health in the workplace. The Secretary of Labor has delegated to the Occu- pational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) the authority conveyed to her under the OSH Act to promulgate those safety and health rules.
The OSH Act authorizes the promulgation of two types of rules: (1) occupa- tional health and safety standards and (2) regulations. Occupational safety and health standards are issued pursuant to Section 6 of the Act and prescribe conditions or practices that employers must have in place in order to provide a safe and healthy working environment.2 These are the rules with which employers typically are most concerned, as these are the rules that are intended by OSHA to address the safety and health hazards that may exist in the workplace. These also are the rules that OSHA is charged with enforcing. OSHA standards are grouped into four categories addressing different segments of industry: general industry standards,3 maritime and longshoring standards,4 construction standards,5 and agricultural standards.6
1 29 U.S.C. § 651(b). 2 29 U.S.C. §§ 652(8), 655. 3 29 C.F.R. Part 1910. 4 29 C.F.R. Parts 1915, 1918. 5 29 C.F.R. Part 1926. 6 29 C.F.R. Part 1928.
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Regulations, issued pursuant to Section 8 of the act, effectuate other admin- istrative statutory purposes such as recordkeeping requirements, inspections, and the conduct during administrative proceedings.7
2.0 The Rulemaking Process
The OSH Act authorizes the Secretary of Labor to promulgate standards in three ways. First, under Section 6(a), the Act allowed the Secretary to adopt any then-existing “national consensus standard” or “established Federal standard” for the two years following the effective date of the OSH Act, without follow- ing the notice and comment procedures mandated by the Act and the Admin- istrative Procedure Act (APA).8 The second method of promulgating a stan- dard, and the one most often followed today, is set forth in section 6(b) of the Act which directs the Secretary to promulgate, modify, or revoke safety stan- dards after full notice and comment proceedings as provided for in the APA.9
The third method, prescribed in section 6(c) of the act, allows the Secretary to issue emergency temporary standards when the Secretary determines “(A) that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and (B) that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such dan- ger.”10 This method permits the secretary, in these limited circumstances, to is- sue a standard very quickly by bypassing the usual rulemaking procedures. Af- ter issuing the emergency temporary standard, however, the Secretary must engage in notice and comment rulemaking to issue a permanent standard to re- place it.
2.1 Petitions for Rulemaking
Any person with an interest in having the Secretary promulgate, modify, or re- voke a particular standard may petition the Assistant Secretary of the Occupa- tional Safety and Health Administration to engage in the appropriate rulemak- ing.11 That person must include with the petition a draft of the proposed rule and statement explaining the reason for the promulgation, modification, or revoca- tion and the effect of that action. If OSHA denies the petition, the petitioner may seek review of the denial in federal court.
50 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
7 29 U.S.C. § 657. 8 29 U.S.C. § 655(a). 9 29 U.S.C. § 655(b). 10 29 U.S.C. § 655(c). 11 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1911.3.
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It must be noted, however, that courts are generally reluctant to require OSHA to promulgate a rule. A case in point is UAW v. Chao,12 in which the In- ternational Union of United Automobile, Aerospace & Agriculture Implement Workers of America (collectively UAW), had petitioned OSHA to promulgate a rule to protect workers from “the health effects of occupational exposure to ma- chining fluids.”13 More than 10 years later, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA denied the UAW’s petition. The UAW then brought suit in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, requesting that the court review the “unreasonable delay” of OSHA in issuing the rule. The Third Circuit held that while there is “little doubt, and it is not disputed here, that exposure to [met- alworking fluids] can have debilitating health effects,” the court would not order OSHA to issue the standard. The court noted that “OSHA never decided to reg- ulate [machine fluids], much less formally initiated rulemaking proceedings with the publication of a proposed rule.”
2.2 NIOSH
In Section 22 of the act, Congress established the National Institute for Occupa- tional Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct research and make recommenda- tions to the Secretary of Labor for the prevention of work-related injury and ill- nesses.14 NIOSH is under the Department of Health and Human Services, currently a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NIOSH does not promulgate or enforce standards. Rather, it gathers infor- mation on potential hazards to the health and safety of workers and makes rec- ommendations to OSHA on rulemaking initiatives. The first step in this process involves gathering and analyzing all available information from the scientific lit- erature, which can take anywhere from a year to much longer. The second step typically involves conducting interviews and investigations to gather additional information into the potential hazards under study. NIOSH may conduct its own interviews or it may enlist the help of other organizations to gather this in- formation. The research and investigation process may take anywhere from one to five years or more to complete depending on the complexity of the issue. Once the information from the literature has been gathered and the interviews and in- vestigations are complete, NIOSH will generally prepare a written recommenda- tion to forward to the Secretary of Labor. This process again, may take anywhere from three months to one year or more to complete. As just this brief summary shows, even the initial stages of the rulemaking process conducted by NIOSH can take an enormous amount of time to complete.
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 51
12 UAW v. Chao, 361 F.3d 249 (3rd Cir. 2004). 13 Id. at 250. 14 29 U.S.C. § 671
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2.3 Advisory Committees
The OSH Act provides that the Secretary may seek recommendations from an advisory committee appointed under Section 7 of the Act to assist in the devel- opment of a rule.15 An advisory committee may be a standing committee or an ad hoc committee. A standing committee is a more or less permanent committee formed to address issues that may arise in a particular industry. An ad hoc com- mittee is a temporary committee created for a one-time purpose to research and investigate a specific potential safety or health hazard. Once the ad hoc commit- tee has completed its mission, it is to be disbanded.
2.3.1 NACOSH
One of the standing committees formed to advise OSHA on occupational safety and health rulemaking is the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH). This committee is meant to consider and advise OSHA on a broad scope of rulemaking and policy areas under the act. NACOSH consists of 12 members appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Ser- vices and the Secretary of Labor who are chosen based on their knowledge and experience in specific areas of health and safety.16
2.3.2 FACOSH
Another advisory committee is the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH). FACOSH’s primary purpose is to advise the Sec- retary on matters relating to the health and safety of federal government em- ployees.17
2.3.3 Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health
The Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCOSH) ad- vises OSHA on rulemaking relating to the construction industry. This commit- tee was established by Section 107 of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Stan- dards Act. Pursuant to that act and OSHA regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1911.10(a), OSHA is required to consult with ACCOSH in order to promulgate a construc- tion industry standard.
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15 29 U.S.C. §§ 655(b)(1), 656. 16 See http://www.osha.gov/dop/nacosh/nacosh.html. 17 See http://www.osha.gov/dep/facosh/index.html.
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2.4 Identifying Potential Hazards
To help reduce delays in the rulemaking process, OSHA has implemented a Pri- ority Planning Process, aimed at identifying the top priority workplace safety and health hazards in need of either regulatory or nonregulatory action. The Priority Planning Committee is composed of members from OSHA, NIOSH, the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others who have workplace safety and health expertise.
The Priority Planning Committee reviews data from major statistical compi- lations of injuries and illnesses, and assesses quantitative and qualitative ap- proaches to make recommendations to OSHA. The criteria used by the commit- tee in deciding whether to implement a new rule include the following:
• Seriousness of the hazard;
• Number of workers exposed/magnitude of the risk;
• Quality of available risk information
• Potential for risk reduction.
• The committee also considers other factors such as:
• Administrative efficiency or feasibility;
• Legal feasibility; and
• Other public policy considerations.
2.5 Request for Information and Advanced Notice of Rulemaking
OSHA may also solicit information from the public in order to obtain informa- tion and determine whether it is necessary to promulgate a new rule. In doing so, OSHA will publish a Request for Information (RFI) or an Advanced Notice of Rulemaking in the Federal Register to solicit comments and information.
2.6 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
Once the potential safety or health hazard has been identified and researched, OSHA next determines whether to initiate the rulemaking process required un- der Section 6(b) of the Act and the APA. This process involves a number of steps
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 53
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to provide adequate notice to affected persons of the proposed rule and an op- portunity to provide comments to the agency.
The agency will publish in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rule- making that will include the actual provisions of the proposed rule and a pream- ble to the proposed rule, which provides an explanation of the rationale for the rule, including the legal basis for the rule and reasons why the rule is formulated as proposed. The preamble also will typically contain a review of the scientific ba- sis for the rule and a discussion of the expected impact and economic cost of the rule for the regulated community. The preamble also may contain an explanation of how the agency intends to interpret and enforce the rule and a discussion of comments received to date in the rulemaking from the Request for Information or other sources.
Section 6(b)(2) of the OSH Act requires the Secretary to provide a period of at least 30 days for interested persons to submit written comments on the pro- posed rule.18 Often, the Secretary provides a longer comment period. Written comments (and any oral testimony at hearings) are a critical part of the rulemak- ing process, as they are required to be considered by the agency in the promulga- tion of the rule and will become part of the official rulemaking record. Any later legal challenges to the rule will be limited by the courts to the scope of comments that had been submitted to the agency in the rulemaking. Therefore, it is quite important that interested parties submit thorough and well-considered com- ments in order to have any potential for positive impact on the rulemaking and to preserve rights to later challenge any problematic aspects of a rule.
In addition to submitting written comments, interested persons also have the right to request a hearing be held on the rule. The Act requires that 30 days after the comment period has ended, the Secretary is to publish a notice specifying the “the occupational safety or health standard to which objections have been filed and a hearing requested”19 That notice must also specify the date, time, and place of such hearing. Often, however, OSHA sets the hearing dates in the proposed rule.
2.7 Hearings
If objections are made to proposed rulemaking, the OSH Act provides an op- portunity for an oral hearing.20 The legislative history of the OSH Act appears to call for an informal hearing rather than a formal hearing, meaning that it is con- ducted more like a legislative hearing, rather than an adjudicatory hearing, al-
54 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
18 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(2). 19 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(3). 20 29 C.F.R. § 1911.15(a)(2).
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though it is still conducted by a Department of Labor administrative law judge. Indeed, the OSHA regulations specifically state that informal hearings will be conducted.21 The determinations of the Secretary at these hearings are to be up- held so long as the Secretary’s conclusion is supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole.
OSHA’s regulations state that “fairness may require an opportunity for cross- examination on crucial issues” at the hearing.22 However, extensive cross-exami- nation is not often done. The presiding judge has discretion to either permit or deny cross-examination.23 The regulations state that the goal of cross examination at the hearing is to “provide an opportunity for effective oral presentation by in- terested persons which can be carried out with expedition and in the absence of rigid procedures which might unduly impede or protract the rulemaking process.”24 A transcript of the proceedings is available to an interested party upon request. Upon completion of the oral hearing, the transcript, together with other documents and exhibits contained in the record, are certified by the officer pre- siding at the hearing to the assistant secretary.25 Those participating the hearing are usually also provided an opportunity to submit written comments and post- hearing briefs.
2.8 The Final Rule
Within sixty (60) days after the written notice and comment period has ended (with no hearing) or within 60 days after the certification of the record (if a hear- ing has been held), the final rule is to be published in the Federal Register. Typi- cally, however, the period before promulgation of the final rule is substantially longer than this specified timeframe. If the Secretary decides not to promulgate a rule, the determination that such a rule shall not be issued is also to be pub- lished in the Federal Register.26 If a determination is made that a rule should not be issued, the Secretary may solicit additional data or information from interested persons involved.27 If the Secretary decides that a rule should be promulgated af- ter this additional comment period, the rule is to be issued within 60 days after that comment period ends.28
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 55
21 29 C.F.R. § 1911.15. 22 29 C.F.R. § 1911.15(a)(3). 23 20 C.F.R. § 1911.16(e). 24 Id. 25 29 C.F.R. § 1911.17. 26 29 C.F.R. § 1918(a)(1). 27 29 C.F.R. §1918(a)(2). 28 29 C.F.R. §1918(a)(2).
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Along with the final rule, OSHA is required by the Act to publish a “state- ment of reasons.” Specifically sections 6(e) of the Act provides that whenever the Secretary “promulgates any standard, makes any rule, order, or decision, grants any exemption or extension of time, or compromises, mitigates, or settles any penalty assessed under this Act,” the Secretary “shall include a statement of the reasons for such action, which shall be published in the Federal Register.”29 The statement of reasons serves several functions. First, it is intended to operate as an internal check to ensure that the agency has determined that its action in issuing the rule has not been arbitrary and is founded on documented research and in- formation. It also “makes possible informed public criticism of a decision by making known its underlying rationale; and it facilitates judicial review of agency action by providing an important part of the record of the decision.”30 In Dry Color Mfrs.’ Assoc. v. Department of Labor,31 the court held that to “satisfy sub- section 6(e), the statement of reasons should indicate which data in the record is being principally relied on and why that data suffices to show that the substances covered by the standard are harmful and pose a grave danger of exposure to em- ployees.” The statement of reasons does not necessarily have to include any find- ings of fact, but it must demonstrate the significant issues which have been ad- dressed and articulate the rationale for the rule.32
3.0 Negotiated Rulemaking
In recent years, there has been increasing interested in another model for rule- making called “negotiated rulemaking.” Under negotiated rulemaking, interested parties will work closely with OSHA in the development of a proposed rule in the interest of developing a rule that both OSHA and the affected parties believe appropriately and adequately addresses a safety or health hazard, thus minimiz- ing the potential for later litigation challenging the final rule.
4.0 Other Applicable Statutes Concerning Rulemaking
In addition to the OSH Act and the APA, there are other statutes pertaining to rulemaking that apply to OSHA’s rulemaking efforts. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) is meant to reduce the burden of complying with federal statutes man- dating recordkeeping and reporting and ensure that federal regulations limit re- quired information collection to that which is truly necessary. Under the PRA,
56 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
29 29 U.S.C.655(e). 30 Dry Color Mfrs.’ Assoc. v. Department of Labor, 486 F.2d 98, 105 (3rd Cir. 1973).. 31 Id. at 105. 32 29 C.F.R. § 1911.18(b).
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OSHA, like other federal rulemaking agencies, is required to review the paper- work burden for all proposed rules and to provide a rationale for the information that will be collected under the rule. The PRA also requires agencies to prepare an Information Collection Request (ICR) for each existing rule requiring collec- tion of information for approval to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Generally an ICR must be resubmitted to OMB every three years.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), amended by the Small Business Regu- latory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), is intended to address the particular needs of small businesses to not be overwhelmed by costly and burdensome fed- eral regulations. The RFA requires agencies conducting rulemaking to evaluate the impact the proposed rule will have on small businesses. If the agency determines that the rule will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses, the agency is required to publish with the proposed rule a Regu- latory Impact Analysis (RIA). Affected entities then will have an opportunity to submit comments on the RIA and the impact of the proposed rule on their busi- nesses for the agency’s consideration on further rulemaking. With the final rule, the agency will be required to publish a final RIA addressing the comments re- ceived and explaining the agency’s determination as to the economic impact of the rule on small businesses. SBREFA provides for judicial review of the agency’s de- termination. It also requires a proposed rule affecting small businesses to undergo review by a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel to be established by the Small Business Administration. The review panel will consist of members from OSHA, the OMB, and a number of small business representatives. The panel will then re- view the applicable parts of the rulemaking record and will submit a report to OSHA, to which OSHA must respond in the rulemaking.
5.0 Delays in Rulemaking
The rulemaking process is often long and cumbersome. It is not uncommon for the period of time between the gathering of information and the publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the publication of a Final Rule to span a period of many years. The APA directs an agency “to conclude [within a reason- able time] a matter presented to it.”33 The APA also creates a cause of action by which an aggrieved party may compel agency action, that is, promulgation of a rule, and empowers reviewing courts to compel agency action. Reviewing courts are to “hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions found to be . . . arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”34
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 57
33 5 U.S.C. § 555(b). 34 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).
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In Public Citizen Health Research Group v. Chao,35 the Public Citizen Health Research Group (PCHRG) petitioned the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to re- view the inaction of OSHA in promulgating a rule that would lower the permis- sible exposure limit for hexavalent chromium. Hexavalent chromium is a com- pound used for chrome plating, stainless steel welding, alloy production, and wood preservation.36 NIOSH had for decades recommended that OSHA adopt a standard to minimize worker exposure to hexavalent chromium which is classi- fied as a known carcinogen.
In 1993, PCHRG petitioned OSHA to issue an emergency temporary stan- dard to limit worker exposure to this compound. OSHA declined to issue an emergency standard but announced that it was initiating the rulemaking process to develop a rule that would limit worker exposure to this compound. OSHA es- timated that the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would be published in the Fed- eral Register no later than March 1995. OSHA then delayed the issuance of the proposed standard to May 1995, and then again to December 1995. This pattern of delay continued—-the November 1995 agenda pushed the date to July 1996, then to June 1997 and again to September 1997.
In 1997, PCHRG petitioned the Third Circuit for review of OSHA’s inaction alleging unreasonable delay. At that time, the Third Circuit denied PCHRG’s pe- tition stating that PCHRG did not “demonstrate that inaction is . . . unduly trans- gressive of the agency’s own tentative deadlines.”37 However, OSHA’s pattern of delay continued.
On December 3, 2001, OSHA issued a rulemaking agenda, which stated that the hexavalent chromium rulemaking was denominated a “long-term ac- tion,” and the timetable for the proposed rule was “to be determined.”38 PCHRG again petitioned the court arguing that “deference to an agency’s priorities and timetables only goes so far . . . at some point, a court must tell an agency that enough is enough.” The Third Circuit did just that.
In holding that OSHA’s inaction and continuous delays were unreasonable, the court noted that “OSHA has missed all ten of its self-imposed deadlines, in- cluding the September 1999 target it offered to this Court in Oil Workers. Far from drawing closer to a rulemaking, all evidence suggests that ground is being lost.”39 The court quoted the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in stating that “where the Secretary deems a problem significant enough to warrant initiation of
58 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
35 314 F.3d 143 (3rd Cir. 2002). 36 Id. at 146. 37 Oil, Chem., & Atomic Workers Union v. OSHA, 145 F.3d 120, 123 (3rd Cir. 1998). 38 Id. at 149. 39 Id. at 151.
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the standard setting process, the Act requires that he have a plan to shepard through the development of the standard . . . to ensure that the standard is not inadvertently lost.”40 The court granted PCHRG’s petition and ordered OSHA to begin the rulemaking process. It further ordered the parties to submit to me- diation to work towards a “realistic timetable” to promulgate a rule. That timetable would be enforced by the court.41
6.0 Emergency Temporary Standards
Section 6(c) of the OSH Act provides that the Secretary may issue an emergency temporary standard if the Secretary determines “(A) that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and (B) that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger.”42 The emergency temporary standard is effective as soon as it is published in the Federal Register and stays in effect until it is replaced by a standard promulgated according to the informal rulemaking procedures set out in Section 6(b) of the act. The published emer- gency temporary standard serves as the proposed rule for the promulgation of the final rule. The OSH Act goes on to state that a final standard promulgated ac- cording to the rulemaking requirements in Section 6(b) of the Act shall be prom- ulgated no later than six months after publication of the emergency temporary standard.43
OSHA rarely resorts to promulgation of emergency temporary standards. This is in part due to the fact that many emergency temporary standards have been successfully challenged in court. Additionally, the final rule must be prom- ulgated within six months after an emergency temporary standard is issued, a nearly impossible task given the long time OSHA typically takes to promulgate a final rule.
7.0 Variances
Under certain conditions, variances may be available for employers that are un- able to comply with an OSHA standard. To obtain a variance, the employer
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 59
40 Id. at 157. 41 See also United Steelworkers of America v. Pendergrass, 819 F.2d 1263 (3rd Cir. 1987); In re International
Chemical Workers Union, 958 F.2d 1144 (D.C. Cir. 1992); Public Citizen Health Research Group v. Brock, 823 F.2d 626 (D.C. Cir. 1987); Public Citizen Health Research Group v. Auchter, 702 F.2d 1150 (D.C. Cir. 1983); Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union v. Zegeer, 768 F.2d 1480 (D.C. Cir. 1985).
42 29 U.S.C. 655(c). 43 29 U.S.C. 655(b)(6)(c).
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must submit an application to OSHA requesting either a temporary variance if the employer can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it is currently unable to comply with the standard but will be able to do so in the future, or for a permanent variance if the employer can demonstrate that there are no fea- sible means to comply with the standard and that the employer has another method or program in place to protect its workers from the hazard covered by the standard.
7.1 Temporary Variance
Section 6(b)(6)(A) of the OSH Act permits an employer to apply to the Secretary for a temporary order granting a variance from an OSHA standard or regulation where the employer can establish that it is “unable to comply with a standard by its effective date because of unavailability of professional or technical personnel or of materials and equipment needed to come into compliance with the standard or because necessary construction or alteration of facilities cannot be completed by the effective date.44 The employer must also demonstrate that it is taking all possible precautions to safeguard their employees from any potential health or safety hazard covered by the standard. In addition, the employer must demon- strate that it has developed a plan for coming into compliance with the standard at a future date.
A temporary variance is only granted to an employer after notice to the em- ployees and an opportunity for hearing and comment. The temporary standard expires after the time needed by the employer to come into compliance with the standard or within one year, whichever period is shorter. An employer may apply for an extension but that extension cannot be granted more than twice. The ap- plication for extension must be filed at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the order.
The application for a temporary order must contain the following informa- tion:
1. A specification of the standard or portion thereof from which the em- ployer seeks a variance;
2. a representation from the employer that it is unable to comply with the standard and detailed explanation of the reasons;
3. steps that the employer has taken or will take (with specific dates) to pro- tect employees against the hazard covered by the standard;
60 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
44 29 U.S.C. 655(b)(6)A).
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4. a statement of when the employer expects to come into compliance with the standard and what steps the employer has taken or will take along with specific dates to come into compliance; and
5. a certification that the employer has notified its employees of the applica- tion by giving a copy of the statement to the employees’ authorized rep- resentative or posting the statement in a place where it is available for viewing by all employees.
7.2 Permanent Variance
Under section 6(d) of the OSH Act, an employer may request a permanent vari- ance from an OSHA standard. The OSH Act requires that when an employer ap- plies for a permanent variance, all employees must be notified and given the op- portunity to participate in a public hearing.45 The Secretary will only issue such a variance if it is determined that the employer has demonstrated by a prepon- derance of the evidence that “the conditions, practices, means, methods, opera- tions, or processes used or proposed to be used by an employer will provide em- ployment and places of employment to his employees which are as safe and healthful as those which would prevail if he complied with the standard.”46 The order for a permanent variance may be revoked upon application by the em- ployer, employees, or by the Secretary on her own motion after six months from issuance. Very few permanent variances have ever been issued by OSHA.
7.3 Interim Order
An employer may also request an interim order which will be effective until the decision on a variance is made.47 The employer may include in its application for an interim order a statement of facts and reasons why the order should be granted. OSHA may rule ex parte on a request for an interim order. If the order is granted, it is published in the Federal Register and the employer must give no- tice to its employees of the order in the same manner that notice of the applica- tion for the variance was made.
8.0 State Law Standards/Jurisdiction
Prior to the enactment of the OSH Act, many states had already adopted their own occupational safety and health standards. What happens when both a state standard and a federal standard regulate the same area?
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 61
45 29 U.S.C. § 655(d). 46 Id. 47 29 C.F.R. § 1905.11(c)(1).
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The OSH Act permits a state to regulate an occupational safety or health is- sue that is not governed by any standard, regulation, or rule under the OSH Act.48 Even if a state regulation or standard governs the same issue or area that is governed by the OSH Act, the state standard may not necessarily be preempted by the OSH Act. As long as the state standard does not impose any lesser obliga- tion required under the OSH Act, the state standard may be permitted to stand. To do so, the state must submit a plan for the development of such standards and for its enforcement.49
An example of a recent issue regarding whether the OSH Act preempts a state standard involves state bans on public smoking. In Empire State Rest. & Tav- ern Assn. v. New York,50 New York State enacted the Clean Indoor Air Act,51
which prohibits smoking in various public establishments including bars and food service establishments. A number of owners of New York state taverns and bars brought suit to permanently enjoin the state of New York from enforcing the law, arguing that the Clean Indoor Air Act was preempted by the OSH Act, and more specifically that 20 C.F.R. 1910.1000, which adopts standards relating to permissible safe exposure levels for employees exposed to “toxic and hazardous substances,” preempted state legislation of occupational tobacco smoke. The court held that the OSH Act did not preempt New York’s Clean Indoor Air Act because OSHA had made clear in various written statements that it declined to regulate environmental tobacco smoke. The court further stated that “many state and local governments already began to address this problem by curtailing smok- ing in public places and workplaces . . . [t]hus, formal OSHA policy indicates not only the compatibility of state and local smoking legislation and the OSH Act and regulations, but also the acknowledgement and approval of OSHA with such state and local action.”52
8.1 State Plans
Section 18(b) of the OSH Act provides that: “Any State, which at any time, de- sires to assume responsibility for development and enforcement therein of an oc- cupational safety and health issue with respect to which a Federal standard has been promulgated under section 6 shall submit a State plan for development of such standards and their enforcement.”53
62 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
48 29 U.S.C § 667. 49 Id. 50 Empire State Rest. & Tavern Assn. v. New York, 360 F. Supp. 2d 454, 460 (D.N.Y. 2005). 51 NYC Administrative Code § 17-501. 52 Empire State Rest. & Tavern Assn. v. New York, 360 F. Supp. 2d 454, 459 (D.N.Y. 2005). 53 29 U.S.C. § 667(b).
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To be approved, the state plan must demonstrate the following:
1. The plan will designate or create a state agency that will administer and enforce the plan;
2. The plan provides for the development of safety and health standards that are at least as effective in providing a safe and healthy workplace as is promulgated under the OSH Act;
3. The plan provides for a right of entry and inspection of workplaces, with- out advance notice, which is at least as effective as the procedures under the OSH Act;
4. The plan assures that it has or will have the legal authority and qualified personnel to ensure that the standards are properly and effectively en- forced;
5. The plan provides adequate assurance that the state will have adequate funds and resources to maintain the plan;
6. The plan provides adequate assurance that there will be a plan in place for the development and enforcement of safety and health standards for state government employees that is at least as effective as the standards con- tained in the approved state plan;
7. The plan requires employers in the state to prepare the same reports to the Secretary of Labor as if the state plan were not in effect, and
8. The plan provides that the state agency will make such reports to the Sec- retary of Labor in such a form and manner as the Secretary may require.
The proposed state plans are then submitted to an OSHA regional office before being sent to the OSHA national office. A copy of the plan is also sent to NIOSH for review and comment. There is also an opportunity for hearing and comment before the Secretary approves or disapproves of a state plan. If a plan is approved, the state plan will be considered in the “developmental” state for the first three years. When the three year period is complete, OSHA will publish a formal no- tice of certification in the Federal Register. If OSHA intends to reject a plan, the state is afforded due notice and an opportunity for a hearing before doing so.54
OSHA will then reconsider the plan, taking into account the remarks during the comment and hearing process.
The Rulemaking Process ❖ 63
54 29 U.S.C. § 667(d).
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9.0 Judicial Review
Any person who is adversely affected by a standard issued pursuant to the OSH Act may seek review at any time prior to the 60th day after such a standard is promulgated in the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit in which such person resides or has her principal place of business.55 If the challenge to the stan- dard is based on the failure of OSHA to adhere to a procedural requirement, the issue must be raised in pre-enforcement proceedings within 60 days before the regulation becomes effective.56 In pre-enforcement proceedings, OSHA will have an affirmative burden to demonstrate the reasonableness of the standard based on “substantial evidence in the record considered as a whole.”57 The burden is also on OSHA to demonstrate by substantial evidence that the standard is feasible, al- though OSHA does not have the burden of proving feasibility with scientific cer- tainty.58 If enforcement proceedings have already commenced, the standard is presumed to be valid and the burden of proof is on the petitioning employer.
64 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
55 29 U.S.C. § 655(6)(f ). The petition must be filed by the 59th day after promulgation. 56 National Industries Constructors, Inc. v. Occupational Safety & Review Com., 583 F.2d 1048 (8th Cir. 1978). 57 Id. 58 AFL-CIO v. OSHA, 965 F.2d 962 (11th Cir. 1992).
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Chapter 3
The Duty to Comply with Standards Arthur G. Sapper, Esq. McDermott Will & Emery LLP Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
Section 5(a)(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(2), states that “each employer . . . shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.” Other sections of the Act im- pose an implicit duty to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Ad- ministration’s (OSHA) regulations.1 Although the duty to comply with standards and regulations seems unqualified, the courts and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC or Commission) have held that the duty is qualified in various ways.
2.0 Applicability of OSHA Standards
2.1 The General Principle of Preemption
The OSHA standards themselves state a general principle—the more specific stan- dard prevails over the more general.2 For this reason, decisions speak of the defense of preemption—that is, a citation will be vacated if the cited condition is regulated by a more specifically applicable standard.3 While many factors are relevant to
1 Section 9(a), 29 U.S.C. § 658(a) (permitting citation to be issued for violation of regulation); Sections 17(a)–(c) and (e), 666(a)–(c) and (e) (permitting civil and criminal penalties to be imposed for violating regulations).
2 29 C.F.R. § 1910.5(c). 3 For example,McNally Constr. & Tunneling Co., 16 BNA OSHC 1886 (Rev. Comm’n 1994), aff ’d and ap-
proved, 71 F.3d 208, 17 BNA OSHC 1412 (6th Cir. 1995).
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such an inquiry,4 the basic question is whether application of the more generally applicable standard would defeat a rulemaking decision implicit in the more specifically applicable standard.5
In accordance with this principle, an employer must first determine whether his industry is specially regulated by one of the several industry-specific “parts” in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). These industry-specific parts are Part 1913, which applies to shipyards; Part 1917, which applies to ma- rine terminals; Part 1918, which applies to longshoring; Part 1926, which applies to construction; and Part 1928, which applies to agriculture.
If no industry-specific part applies, then an employer must look to Part 1910, which is entitled “General Industry Standards” and which applies to all employers engaged in businesses affecting commerce. The employer must then determine whether a special, industry-specific section within Subpart R of Part 1910 or an industry-specific subpart within Part 1910 regulates both his indus- try and the particular condition cited. For example, § 1910.261, the first section in Subpart R, regulates the paper industry, while Subpart T of Part 1910 covers commercial diving. If no industry-specific standard in Subpart R of Part 1910 applies, then the employer is regulated by the many generally applicable sub-parts in Part 1910. For example, Subpart O regulates the guarding of machinery gen- erally.
The preemption principle—that is, the principle that the specific standard prevails over the general standard—applies even to standards within an industry- specific part (for example, within Part 1926, the construction part). Thus, the general provisions in Part 1926 governing the use of nonsparking electrical equip- ment in flammable gas concentrations were held to have been preempted by the specific provisions on the use of such equipment in flammable gas concentrations in tunnels under construction.6
2.2 Special Applicability Problems
May a standard in Part 1910 be applied to work regulated by an industry-specific part (e.g., construction work)? It has been held that, if there is no applicable con-
66 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
4 See Trinity Industries, Inc., 20 BNA OSHC 1051, 1057 (Rev. Comm’n 2003) (“Where a standard provides meaningful protection to employees beyond the protection afforded by another standard, there is no pre- emption”), aff ’d without published opinion, 20 BNA OSHC 1873 (5th Cir. July 23, 2004) (No. 03-60511); Bratton Corp., 14 BNA OSHC 1893 (Rev. Comm’n 1990) (steel erection standards do not preempt general fall protection standards) (acceding to view of several circuits); New England Telephone & Telegraph Co., 8 BNA OSHC 1478 (Rev. Comm’n 1980).
5 Lowe Constr. Co., 13 BNA OSHC 2182 (Rev. Comm’n 1989). 6 McNally Constr. & Tunneling Co., 16 BNA OSHC 1886 (Rev. Comm’n 1994), aff ’d and approved, 71 F.3d
208, 17 BNA OSHC 1412 (6th Cir. 1995).
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struction standard in Part 1926, OSHA may cite an employer for a violation of a Part 1910 standard.7 In addition, some Part 1910 standards expressly state that they apply to construction work.8
Nevertheless, some Part 1910 standards do not apply to construction work. Some expressly state they do not so apply,9 and the preamble to at least one other set of standards states that those standards were not intended to so apply.10 In at least one case, OSHA has refrained from applying a standard to construction work because its proposed version did not give that industry notice and oppor- tunity to comment on its applicability.11
3.0 General Principles of the Duty to Comply
Although OSHA must show that a condition violative of a standard existed, OSHA need not always show that the cited employer himself violated the stan- dard, that is, that the cited employer created the violative condition.12
Unless a standard explicitly or implicitly incorporates hazardousness as an element of a violation, OSHA need not show that a failure to comply with a standard creates a hazard.13 Whether a hazard exists depends on whether there is a “significant risk,” which in turn depends on the severity and probability of harm.14
3.1 The Exposure Rule
With respect to many standards,15 employers must comply only if there is, or rea- sonably predictably will be, exposure of employees to the violative condition.
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 67
7 Western Waterproofing Inc., 7 BNA OSHC 1499, 1501-02 (Rev. Comm’n 1979). 8 For example, § 1910.134 (introductory provision). 9 For example, § 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(A) (lockout standard). 10 For example, the electrical standards in Subpart S of Part 1910. See 46 Fed. Reg. 4034, 4039 (“the electrical
standards of Part 1910 do not apply to construction activities”). 11 Thus, OSHA has stated that the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, § 1910.1030, does not apply to con-
struction work because the construction industry did not receive public notice of, and an advisory com- mittee was not consulted about, such an application when the standard was proposed. Letter from Secre- tary of Labor Lynn Martin to Robert Georgine, “Construction Activities and Operations and the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard” (Dec. 23, 1992), at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_ document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=20968>.
12 See § 3.2 of this chapter. 13 Kaspar Electroplating Corp., 16 BNA OSHC 1517 (Rev. Comm’n 1993); Bunge Corp. v. Secretary of Labor,
638 F.2d 831, 834 (5th Cir. 1981). 14 Weirton Steel Corp., 20 BNA OSHC 1255, 1259 (Rev. Comm’n 2003). 15 See text accompanying note 25 below.
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This principle is reflected in the allocation to OSHA of the burden of proving ei- ther of the following:
1. Employees are or were in the zone of danger created by a violative condi- tion; or
2. It is reasonably predictable that employees, by “operational necessity” or otherwise (including inadvertence) in the course of their work or associ- ated activities (e.g., going to rest rooms) will be in the zone of danger cre- ated by the cited condition.16
The term “zone of danger” refers to “that area surrounding the violative condition that presents the danger to employees which the standard is intended to prevent.”17
The Commission adopted this “reasonably predictable exposure” test after the courts rejected or suggested disapproval of the Commission’s early require- ment that OSHA prove actual exposure—that is, that an employee had actually been endangered by a violation.18 Nevertheless, the mere possibility of exposure is insufficient.19 That the employer is expected in the future to create a violative condition, but has not yet done so, is insufficient.20 On the other hand, exposure of just a single employee is sufficient to trigger the employer’s duty and to satisfy OSHA’s burden of proof.21
OSHA need not show that a compliance officer personally witnessed facts supporting an exposure finding.22 Nor need OSHA show that an employee is, for example, teetering on the edge of an unguarded floor.23 Brevity of exposure is immaterial.24 For some standards and regulations—particularly those requir-
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16 Fabricated Metal Prods., 18 BNA OSHC 1072, 1074 (Rev. Comm’n 1997) (surveying cases); Gilles & Cot- ting, Inc., 3 BNA OSHC 2002 (Rev. Comm’n 1976).
17 RGM Constr. Co., 17 BNA OSHC 1229, 1234 (Rev. Comm’n 1995). 18 Brennan v. Gilles & Cotting, Inc., 504 F.2d 1255, 1263-66, 2 BNA OSHC 1243 (4th Cir. 1974) (remand-
ing for reconsideration of actual exposure test); Brennan v. OSHRC (Underhill Construction Corp.), 513 F.2d 1032, 2 BNA OSHC 1641 (2nd Cir. 1975) (rejecting actual exposure test). See also Adams Steel Erec., Inc., 766 F.2d 804, 812, 12 BNA OSHC 1393, 1398 (3rd Cir. 1985) (same).
19 Fabricated Metal Prods., 18 BNA OSHC 1072, 1074 & n.8 (Rev. Comm’n 1997) (rejecting “physically pos- sible” test); Rockwell Intl. Corp., 9 BNA OSHC 1092 (Rev. Comm’n 1980).
20 Sharon Steel Corp., 12 BNA OSHC 1539 (Rev. Comm’n 1985). 21 For example, Mineral Industries v. OSHRC, 639 F.2d 1289, 1294-95, 9 BNA OSHC 1387 (5th Cir. 1981). 22 For example, Brennan v. OSHRC (Underhill Construction Corp.), 513 F.2d 1032, 1038, 2 BNA OSHC 1641
(2d Cir. 1975); see North Berry Concrete Corp., 13 BNA OSHC 2055, 2055-56 (Rev. Comm’n 1989). 23 For example, Underhill Construction, 513 F.2d at 1038. 24 For example, Morgan & Culpepper, Inc. v. OSHRC, 676 F.2d 1065, 1069, 10 BNA OSHC 1629, 1632 (5th
Cir. 1982) (short duration of exposure no defense); Brock v. L.R. Wilson & Sons, 773 F.2d 1377, 1386, 12 BNA OSHC 1499 (D.C. Cir. 1985); Walker Towing Corp., 14 BNA OSHC 2072, 2074 (Rev. Comm’n 1991); Frank Swidzinski Co., 9 BNA OSHC 1230, 1232 (Rev. Comm’n 1981); see Flint Engineering & Con- struction Co., 15 BNA OSHC 2052, 2056 (Rev. Comm’n 1992).
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ing recordkeeping (e.g., an injury log)—no showing of exposure need be made.25
3.2 To Whose Employee Does the Duty Run?
This question was most vexing in the early years of the Act and, in some respects, the answer is only somewhat clearer today. The question first arose on multi- employer worksites, such as construction sites, where employees of Employer A (usually, a subcontractor) may be exposed to a violative condition created or con- trolled by Employer B (usually, the general contractor or another subcontractor). In its early days, the Review Commission followed a simple rule: The employer of the employees exposed to a violative condition (Employer A) could be cited, regardless of whether the condition had been created by another employer (Em- ployer B) and regardless of whether abatement of the condition was controlled by that employer.26 Moreover, only the employer of the exposed employee (Employer A) could be cited;27 the employer who created or controlled the violative condi- tion (Employer B) could not be cited unless one of his own employees was ex- posed to it as well. Complicating the matter was that Employer A may lack the expertise to recognize that the condition is violative or even hazardous.
Subcontractors complained that this policy was highly unfair to them, and they and OSHA complained that it allowed the most guilty to escape liability. Eventually, beginning with a decision by the Second Circuit,28 the rules of liabil- ity changed in two ways: A new, expanded liability rule was developed (see § 3.2.1 below); and a new series of affirmative defenses was established (see § 3.2.2 below). OSHA has issued a directive to its enforcement personnel attempting to explain these rules in detail.29
3.2.1 The Multi-Employer Worksite Liability Rules
Although OSHA may satisfy its burden of proving exposure by proving an em- ployment relationship between the exposed employees and the cited employer (i.e., showing that the exposed employees are those of the cited employer),30 this
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 69
25 Thermal Reduction Corp, 12 BNA OSHC 1264, 1268 (Rev. Comm’n 1985). 26 R.H. Bishop Co., 1 BNA OSHC 1767, 1769 (Rev. Comm’n 1974). 27 Martin Iron Works, Inc., 2 BNA OSHC 1063 (Rev. Comm’n 1974). See also Hawkins Constr. Co., 1 BNA
OSHC 1761 (Rev. Comm’n 1974); Gilles & Cotting, Inc., 1 BNA OSHC 1388 (Rev. Comm’n 1973), af- f ’d in relevant part, 504 F.2d 1255 (4th Cir. 1974).
28 Brennan v. OSHRC (Underhill Construction Corp.), 513 F.2d 1032, 2 BNA OSHC 1641 (2d Cir. 1975). 29 CPL 2-0.124, “Multi-Employer Citation Policy” (Dec. 10, 1999), at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/
owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=2024. 30 For example,Van Buren-Madawaska Corp., 13 BNA OSHC 2157 (Rev. Comm’n 1989); MLB Industries,
Inc., 12 BNA OSHC 1525, 1528 (Rev. Comm’n 1985).
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is not necessary unless a standard or regulation provides otherwise.31 OSHA may instead—again, unless a standard or regulation provides otherwise—show expo- sure of an employee of some other employer and that the cited employer con- trolled or created the violative condition.32 The current general statutory princi- ple on which multi-employer liability is based is that “an employer who either creates or controls the cited hazard has a duty . . . to protect not only its own em- ployees, but those of other employers ‘engaged in the common undertaking.’”33
An allegedly controlling or creating employer is not liable if its employees are not present on the construction site and engaged in the construction work.34
3.2.1.1 General Construction Contractors
Hence, unless a standard or regulation provides otherwise, OSHA may cite gen- eral contractors for violations to which employees of subcontractors are exposed or which subcontractors created.35 The general contractor is deemed to “have sufficient control over its subcontractors to require them to comply with the safety standards and to abate violations.”36 General contractors must take what- ever measures are “commensurate with its degree of supervisory capacity,”37
which includes some oversight over the work of subcontractors.38 Hence, a gen- eral contractor was expected to detect a problem with a ground fault circuit in- terrupter installed by a subcontractor even though the condition was by nature latent and hidden from view.39 On the other hand, a general contractor is re- sponsible for only those violations that “it could reasonably be expected to pre- vent or detect.”40
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31 See the discussion of Summit Contractors, Inc., 21 BNA OSHC 2020 (Rev. Comm’n, 2007), pet. for review filed, No. 07-2191 (8th Cir., May 15, 2007), in § 3.2.1.2 below.
32 See notes 33–41 below. 33 McDevitt Street Bovis, Inc., 19 BNA OSHC 1108 (Rev. Comm’n 2000). 34 United States v. MYR Group, Inc., 361 F.3d 364, 20 BNA OSHC 1614 (7th Cir. 2004); cf. Reich v. Simp-
son, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc., 3 F.3d 1, 16 BNA OSHC 1313 (1st Cir. 1993) (same holding based on 29 C.F.R. § 1910.12).
35 For example, Huber, Hunt & Nichols, Inc., 4 BNA OSHC 1406, 1407-08 (Rev. Comm’n 1976). 36 Gil Haugan d/b/a Haugan Construction Co., 7 BNA OSHC 2004, 2006 (Rev. Comm’n 1979); see also Lewis
& Lambert Metal Contract, Inc., 12 BNA OSHC 1026, 1030 (Rev. Comm’n 1984). 37 Marshall v. Knutson, 566 F.2d 596 (8th Cir. 1977). 38 McDevitt Street Bovis, Inc., 19 BNA OSHC 1108 (Rev. Comm’n 2000); Centex-Rooney Construction Co., 16
BNA OSHC 2127 (Rev. Comm’n 1994). 39 Blount International Ltd., 15 BNA OSHC 1897, 1899–1900 (Rev. Comm’n 1992). But see Knutson Con-
struction Co., 4 BNA OSHC 1759, 1761 (Rev. Comm’n 1976), aff ’d 566 F.2d 596 (8th Cir. 1977) (gen- eral contractor not liable for failing to detect a one-inch crack on the underside of a scaffolding platform; unreasonable to expect general contractor to detect such a crack).
40 David Weekley Homes, 19 BNA OSHC 1116, 1119 (Rev. Comm’n 2000); Centex-Rooney Constr. Co., 16 BNA OSHC 2127, 2130 (Rev. Comm’n 1994); Blount Intl. Ltd., 15 BNA OSHC 1897, 1899 (Rev. Com- m’n 1992).
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As noted in the next section, however, the Commission held in 2007 that an OSHA regulation does not permit such extra-employment liability to be imposed on an employer engaged in construction work on the mere ground that he is a “controlling employer.”
3.2.1.2 Legal Status of the Multi-Employer Liability Rules
Several courts have, to one degree or another, held that the wording of the OSH Act permitted this extra-employment liability to be imposed in the construction context.41 The Fifth Circuit disagreed with the idea of extra-employment liabil- ity in a maritime industry case, holding that such liability was foreclosed by the statute and by an OSHA regulation governing maritime work.42 The D.C. Cir- cuit has twice reserved ruling on whether the imposition of extra-employment li- ability in the construction context is inconsistent with 29 C.F.R. § 1910.12, which regulates the application of the construction standards in Part 1926.43
That provision requires a construction employer to protect “his employees” (em- phasis added) by complying with the construction standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission held in 2007, however, that § 1910.12(a) foreclosed controlling-employer liability in construction work.44
3.2.1.3 Nonconstruction Applications of the Multi-Employer Liability Rules
Outside the construction industry, OSHA has occasionally attempted to hold boat owners45 and factory owners46 liable for violations committed by their independent
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 71
41 Universal Construction Corp., 182 F.3d 726, 728-31, 18 BNA OSHC 1769 (10th Cir. 1999); United States v. Pitt-Des Moines, Inc., 168 F.3d 976, 18 BNA OSHC 1609 (7th Cir. 1999); R.P. Carbone Constr. Co. v. OSHRC, 166 F.3d 815, 18 BNA OSHC 1551 (6th Cir. 1998); Beatty Equip. Leasing, Inc. v. Secretary of La- bor, 577 F.2d 534, 6 BNA OSHC 1699 (9th Cir. 1978); Marshall v. Knutson Constr. Co., 566 F.2d 596, 6 BNA OSHC 1077 (8th Cir. 1977); Brennan v. OSHRC (Underhill Construction Corp.), 513 F.2d 1032, 1038, 2 BNA OSHC 1641 (2d Cir. 1975).
42 Melerine v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 659 F.2d 706, 10 BNA OSHC 1075 (5th Cir. 1981). 43 IBP, Inc. v. Herman, 144 F.3d 861, 865 and n.3, 18 BNA OSHC 1353 (D.C. Cir. 1998); Anthony Crane
Rental, Inc. v. Reich, 70 F.3d 1298, 1306-07, 17 BNA OSHC 1447 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (noting “tension” be- tween wording of § 1910.12 and liability doctrine).
44 Summit Contractors, Inc., 21 BNA OSHC 2020 (Rev. Comm’n, 2007), pet. for review filed, No. 07-2191 (8th Cir., May 15, 2007). The same issue had been litigated in the courts of several states with OSHA-ap- proved state plans, with mixed results. Compare Davenport v. Summit Contractors, Inc., 45 Va. App. 526, 612 S.E.2d 239, 21 BNA OSHC 1392 (Va. App. 2005) (rejecting liability), rev. denied, 21 BNA OSHC 1184 (Va. 2005), with Commissioner of Labor v. Weekley Homes, L.P., 609 S.E.2d 407, 21 BNA OSHC 1049 (N.C. App. 2005) (imposing liability), rev. denied, 21 BNA OSHC 1184 (N.C. 2005).
45 Harvey Workover, Inc., 7 BNA OSHC 1687, 1689 (Rev. Comm’n 1979); Camden Drilling Co., 6 BNA OSHC 1560, 1561 (Rev. Comm’n 1978) (barge owner responsible for compelling subcontractor to have its employees stop using their own defective fan and either repair it or remove it).
46 For example, IBP, Inc. v. Herman, 144 F.3d 861, 18 BNA OSHC 1353 (D.C. Cir. 1998), rev’g 17 BNA OSHC 2073 (Rev. Comm’n 1997).
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contractors and to which only the contractors’ employees are exposed. In a recent attempt, the D.C. Circuit held that a factory owner is not liable for a contractor’s lockout violation that affected only its own employees when it had no authority over the contractor’s employees and its only “control” stemmed from its ownership of the property or its contract with the contractor.47 See the additional discussion of this point in § 5.3.2 of chapter 11.
3.2.2 Multi-Employer Worksite Defense Rules
As noted above, the liability rule followed in the early days of the Act was that ex- posure of one’s own employee to a violative condition meant that one was liable, even if the cited employer did not create or control the violative condition. This rule has been partially reversed by the creation of a series of affirmative defenses by the Commission,48 which has been accepted by several courts of appeals.49 To- day, a citation will be vacated if the cited employer on a multiemployer worksite
a. Did not create or control the allegedly violative condition (such that he could not realistically correct the condition); and
b. Either
1. Took reasonable alternative protective measures; or
2. Did not know, nor with the exercise of reasonable diligence, could have known of the hazardousness of the cited condition.50
Element (a) may be established by, for example, showing that the employer was prevented from abating a hazardous working condition due to union juris- dictional rules.51
Although these defenses originally arose in the context of construction sites, where there are frequently a number of different employers working at the same time, the Commission later applied them to all multi-employer worksites.52
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47 IBP, Inc. v. Herman, 144 F.3d 861, 18 BNA OSHC 1353 (D.C. Cir. 1998), rev’g 17 BNA OSHC 2073 (Rev. Comm’n 1997).
48 See generally Anning-Johnson Co., 4 BNA OSHC 1193 (Rev. Comm’n 1976); Grossman Steel & Aluminum Corp., 4 BNA OSHC 1185 (Rev. Comm’n 1976).
49 Dun-Par Engineered Form Co. v. Marshall, 676 F.2d 1333, 10 BNA OSHC 1561 (10th Cir. 1982); Electric Smith, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 666 F.2d 1267, 10 BNA OSHC 1329 (9th Cir. 1982); DeTrae Enterprises, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 645 F.2d 103, 9 BNA OSHC 1425 (2d Cir. 1980); Bratton Corp. v. OSHRC, 590 F.2d 273, 7 BNA OSHC 1004 (8th Cir. 1979).
50 For example, LeeRoy Westbrook Construction Co., 13 BNA OSHC 2101, 2103 (Rev. Comm’n 1989); Lewis & Lambert Metal Contractors, 12 BNA OSHC 1026 (Rev. Comm’n 1984).
51 See McLean-Behm Steel Erectors, Inc., 6 BNA OSHC 1712, 1715 (Rev. Comm’n 1978). 52 Rockwell International Corp., 17 BNA OSHC 1801 n. 11 (Rev. Comm’n 1996).
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4.0 Actual or Constructive Knowledge
OSHA must prove that the cited employer actually knew, or could have known with the exercise of reasonable diligence, of the physical circumstances that com- prise the violative condition.53 This element must also be proved in General Duty Clause cases.54 The element pertains to the physical circumstances that comprise the violative condition, not the violativeness or hazardousness of the condition.55
An employer is not reasonably diligent if he neither makes an attempt to be- come aware of the physical conditions facing his employees, nor trains his em- ployees to recognize hazards arising from them.56 Reasonable diligence includes “the obligation to inspect the work area, to anticipate hazards to which employ- ees may be exposed, and to take measures to prevent the occurrence.”57 A cita- tion will be vacated on this ground if an employer reasonably relies on the ex- pertise of the independent contractor who created the condition to which his employees were exposed.58
In general, if a compliance officer can see a physical condition during a nor- mal inspection, it will be inferred that the employer could, with reasonable dili- gence, have seen it too.59 However, OSHA must show that the cited condition was present for a sufficient amount of time such that, with the exercise of rea- sonable diligence, the employer could have discovered its existence.60
5.0 Additional Elements That OSHA Must Sometimes Prove
Sometimes a standard is so vague that it deprives employers of fair notice of its re- quirements, contrary to the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.61 To cure this vagueness, OSHA may be required to prove additional
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 73
53 For example, Ragnar Benson, Inc., 18 BNA OSHC 1937, 1939 (Rev. Comm’n 1999); Continental Electric Co., 13 BNA OSHC 2153, 2154 (Rev. Comm’n 1989); Prestressed Systems, Inc., 9 BNA OSHC 1864, 1870 (Rev. Comm’n 1981).
54 See U.S. Steel Corp., 12 BNA OSHC 1692, 1699 (Rev. Comm’n 1986). 55 Ormet Corp., 14 BNA OSHC 2134, 2138 (Rev. Comm’n 1991); Southwestern Acoustics & Specialty, Inc., 5
BNA OSHC 1091 (Rev. Comm’n 1977) (employer need be shown only to have had knowledge of “physi- cal conditions which constitute a violation,” not that condition was prohibited by law).
56 Beaver Plant Operations, Inc., 18 BNA OSHC 1972, 1976 (Rev. Comm’n 1999). 57 Frank Swidzinski Co., 9 BNA OSHC 1230, 1233 (Rev. Comm’n 1981). 58 For example, Sasser Elec. & Mfg. Co., 11 BNA OSHC 2133 (Rev. Comm’n 1984), aff ’d, 12 BNA OSHC
1445 (4th Cir. 1985) (not officially published). 59 See Green Construction Co., 4 BNA OSHC 1808, 1810 (Rev. Comm’n 1976) (Barnako, Chairman, con-
curring). 60 David Weekley Homes, 19 BNA OSHC 1116, 1120-21 (Rev. Comm’n 2000). 61 For example, Kropp Forge Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 657 F.2d 119, 9 BNA OSHC 2133 (7th Cir. 1981);
Georgia Pacific Corp. v. OSHRC, 25 F.3d 399, 16 BNA OSHC 1895 (11th Cir. 1994) (standard vague as interpreted by OSHA). See generally § 6.4.1 below.
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elements. For example, in Granite City Terminals Corp.,62 the Commission held that, if a standard is vague, OSHA must prove that a reasonable person would have recognized a hazard warranting protective measures, and that the sought measures are feasible. A showing that a “reasonable person” would have recognized the haz- ardousness63 or violativeness of the cited condition has been required, and held or implied to be sufficient, in a number of circuits and by the Commission; they have not expressly required, or have suggested to be unnecessary, a showing that the em- ployer or its industry follow the practice that OSHA seeks to impose.64 At least for the generally worded personal protection standards at 29 C.F.R. 1910.132(a) and 1926.28(a), however, the Fifth Circuit has determined that the employer’s own conduct or “industry custom and practice will generally establish the conduct of the reasonably prudent employer.”65
6.0 The Employer’s Substantive Affirmative Defenses
This section discusses defenses that an employer may raise to a citation. The bur- den of pleading and proving these defenses is on the employer. Additional dis- cussion of some of these defenses is in § 5.3.2 of chapter 11.
6.1 Infeasibility
The Commission has created a limited affirmative defense for the employer who finds that compliance is infeasible. A citation may be vacated if the employer proves that
1. [The Infeasibility Element:] the means of compliance prescribed by the applicable standard would have been infeasible under the cir- cumstances in that either (a) its implementation would have been technologically or economically infeasible or (b) necessary work op- erations would have been technologically or economically infeasible after its implementation; and
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62 12 BNA OSHC 1741 (Rev. Comm’n 1986). 63 Weirton Steel Corp., 20 BNA OSHC 1255, 1264 (Rev. Comm’n 2003). 64 For example, Voegele Company, Inc. v. OSHRC, 625 F.2d 1075, 1078, 8 BNA OSHC 1631 (3rd Cir. 1980);
American Airlines, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 578 F.2d 38, 41, 6 BNA OSHC 1691, 1692–1693 (2d Cir. 1978); Ray Evers Welding Co. v. OSHRC, 625 F.2d 726, 731-32, 8 BNA OSHC 1271 (6th Cir. 1980); Bris- tol Steel & Iron Works, Inc. v. OSHRC, 601 F.2d 717, 722-23, 7 BNA OSHC 1462 (4th Cir. 1979).
65 Cotter & Co. v. OSHRC, 598 F.2d 911, 913, 7 BNA OSHC 1510 (5th Cir. 1979); S & H Riggers & Erec- tors, Inc. v. OSHRC, 659 F.2d 1273, 1285, 10 BNA OSHC 1057 (5th Cir. 1981); Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Donovan, 659 F.2d 1285, 1288, 10 BNA OSHC 1070 (5th Cir. 1981); B & B Insulation, Inc. v. OSHRC, 583 F.2d 1364, 1370, 6 BNA OSHC 2067 (5th Cir. 1978); Power Plant Div., Brown & Root, Inc. v. OSHRC, 590 F.2d 1363, 1365, 7 BNA OSHC 1137 (5th Cir. 1979).
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2. [The Alternative Measures Element:] either (a) an alternative method of protection was used or (b) there was no feasible alternative means of protection.”66
Element two effectively compels an employer to show that, although strict compliance was necessary, he took whatever steps were feasible. See § 6.1.2 be- low for more detail on this point. An employer need not show that a variance ap- plication was inappropriate,67 which is an element of the defense of greater haz- ard. See § 6.2 below.
6.1.1 The Infeasibility Element of the Defense
In the early days of the act, this defense was known as “impossibility.”68 In 1986, in Dun-Par Engineered Form,69 the Commission changed the name of the defense and its first element to “infeasibility” in part because “[s]trict application of an ‘impossibility’ defense does not accommodate considerations of reasonableness or common sense, or reflect the strong sense of the practical implicit in the stan- dards adopted under § 6(a)” and the feasibility element in § 6(b)(5) of the act.70
The defense has often proved difficult to establish. An employer must at least attempt to adapt existing technology and use some creativity to solve the infeasi- bility problem.71 An inability to comply because the appropriate equipment was not onsite is insufficient, for “it is the duty of an employer to use equipment that permits him to comply with the Secretary’s standard.”72 The defense may also be rejected if it was feasible to preclude employee access to the zone of danger.73
Courts that have considered the infeasibility defense have concluded that it encompasses both technological and economic factors.74 At one time, the
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 75
66 Beaver Plant Operations, Inc., 18 BNA OSHC 1972, 1977 (Rev. Comm’n 1999), citing Gregory & Cook, Inc., 17 BNA OSHC 1189, 1190 (Rev. Comm’n 1995); Seibel Modern Manufacturing & Welding Corp., 15 BNA OSHC 1219, 1228 (Rev. Comm’n 1991); Mosser Constr. Co., 15 BNA OSHC 1408, 1416 (Rev. Comm’n 1991); Dun-Par Engineered Form Co., 12 BNA OSHC 1949 (Rev. Comm’n 1986), rev’d on an- other ground, 843 F.2d 1135, 13 BNA OSHC 1652 (8th Cir. 1988).
67 Dun-Par Engineered Form, 12 BNA OSHC at 1956. 68 For example, M.J. Lee Construction Co., 7 BNA OSHC 1140, 1144 (Rev. Comm’n 1979). 69 12 BNA OSHC at 1953–1956. 70 12 BNA OSHC at 1955. 71 See Pitt-Des Moines Inc., 16 BNA OSHC 1429, 1433–1434 (Rev. Comm’n 1993); Gregory & Cook Inc, 17
BNA OSHC 1189, 1191 (Rev. Comm’n 1995) (employer should attempt to acquire more suitable guard; commission “expect[s] employers to exercise some creativity in seeking to achieve compliance”).
72 Williams Enterprises Inc., 13 BNA OSHC 1249 (Rev. Comm’n 1987). 73 Walker Towing Corp., 14 BNA OSHC 2072, 2075–2076 (Rev. Comm’n 1991). 74 Quality Stamping Products v. OSHRC, 709 F.2d 1093, 1099, 11 BNA OSHC 1550 (6th Cir. 1983) (em-
ployer must show not “economically practicable” because “prohibitively expensive”); Donovan v. Williams
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Commission took the position that the economic effect of compliance was irrel- evant.75 However, in State Sheet Metal Co.,76 the Commission stated that “evi- dence as to the unreasonable economic impact of compliance with a standard may be relevant to the infeasibility defense.”77 In Peterson Bros. Steel Erec. Co.,78
the Commission stated that it would look to the effect that compliance would have on the company’s “financial position as a whole” to determine whether the company would be “adversely affected.” It is not sufficient that an employer who has failed to use safety measures would be at a competitive disadvantage with oth- ers that did not use the measures, for an “employer cannot be excused from com- pliance with the Act on the basis that everyone else will ignore the law.”79
6.1.2 The Alternative Measures Element of the Infeasibility Defense
This element—which also appears in the greater hazard and multi-employer defenses—reflects the view that, even if full compliance is not feasible, “an employer [must] comply to the extent feasible.”80 “[B]efore an employer will be excused from ignoring a standard’s requirements and leaving its employees unprotected, it must show that it has explored all possible alternate forms of protection.”81 At one time, the Commission in Dun-Par Engineered Form82 shifted the burden of persuasion on
76 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
Enterprises, Inc., 744 F.2d 170, 178, 11 BNA OSHC 2241 (D.C. Cir. 1984); Faultless Div., Bliss & Laugh- lin Indus. v. Secretary, 674 F.2d 1177, 1189, 10 BNA OSHC 1481 (7th Cir. 1982); Southern Colo. Prestress Co. v. OSHRC, 586 F.2d 1342, 1351, 6 BNA OSHC 2032 (10th Cir. 1978); Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc. v. OSHRC, 534 F.2d 541, 4 BNA OSHC 1061 (3rd Cir. 1976)
75 See, for example, Stan-Best, Inc., 11 BNA OSHC 1222, 1231 (Rev. Comm’n 1983); Research Cottrell, Inc., 9 BNA OSHC 1489, 1498 (Rev. Comm’n 1981).
76 16 BNA OSHC 1155 (Rev. Comm’n 1993). 77 In State Sheet Metal, the Commission stated that in Dun Par Engd. Form Co., 12 BNA OSHC 1962, 1966
(Rev. Comm’n 1986), it first implied that an infeasibility defense may include economic factors. There, it found that the employer had not demonstrated that the costs were unreasonable in light of the protection afforded and had not shown what effect, if any, the added costs would have on its contract or on its busi- ness as a whole. See also Walker Towing Corp., 14 BNA OSHC 2072, 2077 (Rev. Comm’n 1991).
78 16 BNA OSHC 1196, 1203 (Rev. Comm’n 1993), aff ’d, 26 F.3d 573 (5th Cir.1994). 79 Gregory & Cook, Inc., 17 BNA OSHC 1189, 1192 (Rev. Comm’n 1995). Accord, Peterson Bros. Steel Erec-
tion Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 26 F.3d 573, 16 BNA OSHC 1900 (5th Cir. 1994) (employer’s claim that it would be disadvantaged as against competitors that did not comply is not relevant because “an employer cannot be excused from non-compliance on the assumption that everyone else will ignore the law”). See also Peterson Bros., 16 BNA OSHC 1196, 1203 (Rev. Comm’n 1993) (evidence that costs, while substantial, could be absorbed on the project negated the employer’s claim of economic infeasibility); State Sheet Metal, 16 BNA OSHC 1155, 1159, 1160–1161 (Rev. Comm’n 1993).
80 Donley’s Inc., 17 BNA OSHC 1227 (Rev. Comm’n 1995). But see Spancrete Northeast Inc. v. OSHRC, 905 F.2d 589, 14 BNA OSHC 1585 (2d Cir. 1990), which suggests that the defense does not have a second el- ement. The court held that if compliance with the cited standard is infeasible, the Secretary must plead in the alternative and prove a failure to comply with another standard.
81 State Sheet Metal Co., 16 BNA OSHC 1155 (Rev. Comm’n 1993). 82 12 BNA OSHC at 1956–1959.
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The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 77
this element to OSHA, but the Eighth Circuit held otherwise,83 and the Commis- sion later followed that holding.84
6.2 The Greater Hazard Defense
The Commission has also held that employers need not strictly comply with a standard to the extent that compliance would create greater hazards than non- compliance would. It created an affirmative defense based on the idea that “in- dustry is so diverse that any rule is bound to be counterproductive now and again.”85 The defense has three elements:
1. Compliance with the standard would create greater hazards than non- compliance;
2. Alternative protective measures were taken or were not available; and
3. A variance application is inappropriate.86
The defense does not apply to the General Duty Clause because the useful- ness of a proposed abatement method is part of the Secretary’s burden in General Duty Clause cases.87
The first element of the defense requires a showing that compliance would create greater hazards than noncompliance—not new or different hazards.88 It also requires a showing that all alternative ways of protection are more dangerous than noncompliance, not just the means of protection mentioned in the stan- dard.89
The reason for the third element of the defense—the inappropriateness of a variance—is that “some employers will believe incorrectly that their working conditions are safer than those prescribed in the standards. . . . [R]emoving this
83 Brock v. Dun-Par Engineered Form Co., 843 F.2d 1135 (8th Cir. 1988), rev’g 12 BNA OSHC 1949 (Rev. Comm’n 1986).
84 Seibel, 15 BNA OSHC at 1227–1228. 85 Caterpillar Inc. v. Herman, 131 F.3d 666, 18 BNA OSHC 1104 (7th Cir. 1997). 86 Russ Kaller Inc., 4 BNA OSHC 1758 (Rev. Comm’n 1976). See also PBR, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor and
OSHRC, 643 F.2d 890, 9 BNA OSHC 1357 (1st Cir. 1981); John H. Quinlan, 17 BNA OSHC 1194 (Rev. Comm’n 1995).
87 Royal Logging Co., 7 BNA OSHC 1744, 1751 (Rev. Comm’n 1979), aff ’d, 645 F.2d 822, 9 BNA OSHC 1755 (9th Cir. 1981).
88 See Dun-Par, 12 BNA OSHC at 1967; Williams Enterprises Inc., 13 BNA OSHC 1249 (Rev. Comm’n 1987).
89 John H. Quinlan, 17 BNA OSHC 1194 (Rev. Comm’n 1995).
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incentive to seek variances [by eliminating the element] . . . would be allowing an employer to take chances not only with his money, but with the lives and limbs of his employees.”90 The third element does not apply to regulations be- cause a variance cannot be sought from a regulation.91
6.3 Unpreventable Employee Misconduct
This defense has been stated in various ways, but it basically requires an employer to show that he required his employees to take protective measures that comply with the standard and that he enforced that requirement.92 The Commission has distilled its decisions as requiring four elements of proof:
1. The employer has established work rules designed to prevent the viola- tion;
2. It has adequately communicated those rules to its employees;
3. It has taken steps to discover violations; and
4. It has effectively enforced the rules when violations have been discov- ered.93
Effective enforcement generally must be progressive, that is, it must become increasingly severe as an employee commits additional infractions. Thus, an em- ployer was held to have failed to establish the defense when an employer who broke a safety rule for the second time was given only an oral warning instead of a written reprimand.94
Although there is a similar doctrine of supervisory misconduct,95 some cases characterize it as not an affirmative defense but as a rebuttal of the imputation to
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90 General Electric Co. v. Secretary, 576 F.2d 558, 561, 6 BNA OSHC 1541 (3d Cir. 1978) (emphasis in the original). See also Reich v. Trinity Industries, Inc., 16 F.3d 1149, 1154, 16 BNA OSHC 1670 (11th Cir. 1994); Modern Drop Forge Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 683 F.2d 1105, 1116, 10 BNA OSHC 1852 (7th Cir. 1982); Dole v. Williams Enterprises, Inc., 876 F.2d 186, 190 n.7, 14 BNA OSHC 1001 (D.C. Cir. 1989).
91 Caterpillar Inc. v. Herman, 131 F.3d 666, 18 BNA OSHC 1104, 1106 (7th Cir. 1997). 92 For example, Secretary of Labor v. L.E. Myers Co., 818 F.2d 1270, 13 BNA OSHC 1289 (6th Cir.), cert. de-
nied, 484 U.S. 989 (1987); Texland Drilling Corp., 9 BNA OSHC 1023 (Rev. Comm’n 1980). 93 For example, Capform, Inc., 16 BNA OSHC 2040, 2043 (Rev. Comm’n 1994). 94 For example, Gem Industrial, Inc., 17 BNA OSHC 1861 (Rev. Comm’n 1996), and particularly note 8 of
the lead opinion and note 12 of the dissenting opinion there. See generally Arthur G. Sapper, “The Oft- Missed Step: Documentation of Safety Discipline,” Occupational Hazards (January 2006).
95 Daniel Construction Co., 10 BNA OSHC 1549, 1552 (Rev. Comm’n 1982).
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the employer of the supervisor’s knowledge.96 The Commission has stated that involvement by a supervisor in a violation is “strong evidence that the employer’s safety program was lax.”97 “Where a supervisory employee is involved, the proof of unpreventable employee misconduct is more rigorous and the defense is more difficult to establish since it is the supervisor’s duty to protect the safety of em- ployees under his supervision.”98
The objection has been made that the overlap of this defense with the knowl- edge element of OSHA’s case is confusing, for OSHA must prove knowledge while the employer must prove the defense.99
6.4 Invalidity of the Standard
6.4.1 Violation of Statutory Procedural Requirements
A standard is invalid if it was not adopted in accordance with a statutory proce- dural requirement. See generally chapter 2. Two examples of invalidity resulting from violations of such requirements are
1. Making a substantive change in a national consensus or established federal standard adopted under § 6(a) of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. § 655(a).100
This is a special case of failing to give the public notice or an opportunity for comment on the adoption or amendment of a standard.101
2. Failing to consult the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health before proposing a standard regulating construction work.102
6.4.2 Violation of Constitutional Requirement of Fair Notice of Standard’s Requirements
The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that persons subject to penalties be given fair notice of the law’s
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 79
96 For example, Consolidated Freightways Corp., 15 BNA OSHC 1317, 1321 (Rev. Comm’n 1991). 97 Daniel Construction, 10 BNA OSHC at 1552. 98 Seyforth Roofing Co., 16 BNA OSHC 2031 (Rev. Comm’n 1994). 99 See, e.g., New York State Gas & Elec. v. Secretary of Labor, 88 F.3d 98, 17 BNA OSHC 1650, 1655-1657 (2d
Cir. 1996) (reviewing confusing state of law and criticizing Commission for inconsistency); L.E. Myers v. Brock, 484 U.S. 989 (1987) (White, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari) (“confusing patchwork of con- flicting approaches”).
100 E.g., Usery v. Kennecott Copper Corp., 577 F.2d 1113, 6 BNA OSHC 1197 (10th Cir. 1977). 101 See 5 U.S.C. § 553(b); OSH Act § 6(b)(2); 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(2); Kooritzky v. Reich, 17 F.3d 1509 (D.C.
Cir. 1994) (non-OSHA case). 102 National Constructors Ass’n v. Marshall, 581 F.2d 960, 970-71, 6 BNA OSHC 1721 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
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requirements.103 Hence, OSHA standards may not be construed or applied in a way that deprives employers of fair notice of their requirements.104 This re- quirement can also be violated when an OSHA interpretation letter available on the Internet is inconsistent with the interpretation implicit in a citation,105
or when a course of conduct by OSHA induces confusion in the mind of an employer as to the requirements of a standard.106 To avoid a violation of this requirement, several OSHA standards have been construed narrowly.107
6.5 De Minimis
Section 9(a) of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. § 658(a), states: “The Secretary may prescribe procedures for the issuance of a notice in lieu of a citation with respect to de minimis violations which have no direct or immediate relationship to safety or health.” The consequence of characterizing a violation as de minimis is that the violation carries neither an abatement requirement nor a monetary penalty.108
The Commission has long asserted that it may characterize a violation as de min- imis.109 There is a split in the circuits as to whether the Commission has this au- thority. The First, Third, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits have held that it does,110 while the Seventh Circuit disagrees.111
As to what a de minimis violation is, the Commission has formulated the test in various ways, including asking whether the violation is “trifling.”112 In another case, it stated: “A de minimis violation is one in which there is technical non- compliance with a standard but the departure from the standard bears such a neg-
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103 E.g., Gen. Elec. Co. v. EPA, 53 F.3d 1324, 1328 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (non-OSHA case). 104 Beaver Plant Operations, Inc. v. Herman, 223 F.3d 25, 19 BNA OSHC 1053 (1st Cir. 2000) (“The burden
is on the Secretary to establish that [the employer] had actual or constructive notice” of the standard’s re- quirement); Diebold, Inc. v. Marshall, 585 F.2d 1327, 6 BNA OSHC 2002 (6th Cir. 1978). See also the cases cited in note 61 above.
105 Oberdorfer Indus. Inc., 20 BNA OSHC 1321, 1329 (Rev. Comm’n 2003). 106 Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., 21 BNA OSHC 1282 (Rev. Comm’n 2005); Trinity Marine Nashville Inc.
v. OSHRC, 275 F.3d 423, 430-31, 19 BNA OSHC 1673, 1676-77 (5th Cir. 2001). 107 See the cases cited in note 62-65 above. 108 For example, Keco Indus., Inc., 11 BNA OSHC 1832, 1834 (Rev. Comm’n 1984). 109 For example, General Electric Co., 3 BNA OSHC 1031, 1040 (Rev. Comm’n 1975). 110 Donovan v. Daniel Constr. Co., 692 F.2d 818, 10 BNA OSHC 2188 (1st Cir. 1982); Secretary of Labor v.
OSHRC (Erie Coke Corp.), 998 F.2d 134, 16 BNA OSHC 1241 (3d Cir. 1993); Phoenix Roofing, Inc. v. Dole, 874 F.2d 1027, 14 BNA OSHC 1036 (5th Cir. 1989); Chao v. Symms Fruit Ranch, Inc., 242 F.3d 894, 19 BNA OSHC 1337 (9th Cir. 2001).
111 Caterpillar Inc. v. Herman, 131 F.3d 666, 18 BNA OSHC 1104 (5th Cir. 1989). 112 El Paso Crane & Rigging Co., 16 BNA OSHC 1419, 1429 (Rev. Comm’n 1993) (failure to attest and sign
OSHA injury log “trifling”).
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ligible relationship to employee safety and health as to render inappropriate the assessment of a penalty or the entry of an abatement order.”113 One circuit has held that a violation is de minimis if the employer’s safety measures are as safe as those required by a standard.114 The Commission has in effect held that the em- ployer bears the burden of proof on the de minimis issue.115
The Duty to Comply with Standards ❖ 81
113 Keco Indus., Inc., 11 BNA OSHC 1832, 1834 (Rev. Comm’n 1984). 114 Phoenix Roofing, Inc. v. Dole, 874 F.2d 1027, 14 BNA OSHC 1036 (5th Cir. 1989). 115 See Holly Springs Brick & Tile Co., 16 BNA OSHC 1856 (Rev. Comm’n 1994) (rejecting de minimis argu-
ment for lack of evidence).
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Chapter 4
The General Duty Clause William K. Doran, Esq. Katie A. Duggin, Esq. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
Section 5 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), commonly re- ferred to as the “General Duty Clause,” was designed by Congress to be “an en- forcement tool of last resort.”1 It places nonspecific, broad safety requirements on employers when more specific standards or regulations are not applicable. The general duty clause, as it pertains to employers, states that:
(a) Each employer—
(1) shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees2
In recent years the General Duty Clause has been utilized as a sometimes con- troversial mechanism for enforcement of safety guidelines that have not yet been specifically addressed by statute or regulation. The most notable example of this was the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (Review Commis- sion, OSHRC) application of the general duty clause to ergonomic hazards in the Pepperidge Farm case.3 Similarly, the clause is relied upon by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to address issues such as bloodborne
1 Reich v. Arcadian Corp., 110 F.3d 1192, 1199, corrected sub nom. Metzler v. Arcadian Corp., No. 96-60126, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 12693, at *20 (5th Cir. April 28, 1997).
2 29 U.S.C. § 654(a). 3 Pepperidge Farm, Inc., 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1993 (OSHRC 1997).
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pathogen hazards in industries not covered by the general industry regulation at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1030 and reactive chemical process safety.4
As noted above, the general duty clause is not applicable “if a standard specif- ically addresses the hazard cited.”5 This specificity can extend to the type of in- dustry for which the standard was promulgated.6 As noted in the legislative his- tory of the general duty clause: “The general duty clause in this bill would not be a general substitute for reliance on standards, but would simply enable the Sec- retary to insure the protection of employees who are working under special cir- cumstances for which no standard has yet been adopted.”7
The courts and the Review Commission have precisely laid out the Secretary of Labor’s (Secretary) burden of proof under the general duty clause. In order to demonstrate a violation, the Secretary must show that:
(1) a workplace condition presented a hazard, (2) the employer or its in- dustry recognized the hazard, (3) the hazard was likely to cause serious physical harm, and (4) there was a feasible and useful means of abate- ment that would eliminate or materially reduce the hazard.8
These criteria were originally set down in 1973 by the D.C. Circuit in Na- tional Realty.9 In National Realty, a case involving the workplace death of an em-
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4 See OSHA Directive CPL 02-02-069, Enforcement Procedures for the Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens, at Section XIII(A)(3)(e) (November 27, 2001) (“The General Duty Clause should not be used to cite for violations of the bloodborne pathogens rule, but may be used to cite for failure to provide a work- place free from exposure to bloodborne pathogens.”); Assistant Secretary John L. Henshaw, speech to the Center for Chemical Process Safety 18th International Conference, (September 23, 2003) (“OSHA’s strat- egy for reactives includes an enforcement component. We expect to rely on the general duty clause to ad- dress reactive hazards not covered by the PSM standards”); see also OSHA Interpretation Letter, OSHA Pol- icy on Indoor Air Quality: Office Temperature / Humidity and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (February 24, 2003) (hereinafter, “Feb. 24, 2003 OSHA Interpretation Letter”) (“As a matter of prosecutorial discretion, OSHA will not apply the General Duty Clause to [environmental tobacco smoke].”).
5 Active Oil Service, Inc., 21 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1184, 1185 (OSHRC 2005) (citing New York State Elec. & Gas Corp., 17 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1129 [OSHRC 1995], aff ’d in pertinent part, 88 F.3d 98 [2d Cir. 1996]; Ted Wilkerson, Inc., 9 OSH Cas. [BNA] 2012 [OSHRC 1981]; Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., 1 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1381 [OSHRC 1973]). See National Realty & Constr. Co. v. OSHRC, 489 F.2d 1257, 1261 n.9 (D.C. Cir. 1973) (“Specific, promulgated standards preempt the general duty clause, but only with respect to hazards expressly covered by the specific standards.”); Cf Sun Shipbuilding, 1 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1381–1382 (“Citing a respondent under the general duty requirement of the Act is not appropriate where there exists a specific occupational safety and health standard covering the conduct at issue”).
6 Active Oil Service, 21 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1186 (general industry confined space standard does not pre- empt 5(a)(1) application to construction confined space hazard).
7 S. Rep. No. 91-1282, at 10 (1970). 8 Active Oil Service, 21 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1186 (citing Kokosing Constr. Co., 17 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1869,
1872 [OSHRC 1996]). 9 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1265; see also Pelron Corp., 12 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1833, 1835 (OSHRC 1986);
Brennan v. OSHRC, 502 F.2d 946, 952 (3d Cir. 1974) (“Thus the [National Realty]court interpreted the general duty clause, as a matter of law, as imposing the duty of adopting demonstrably feasible measures for materially reducing the likelihood of a particular employee misconduct.”).
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ployee riding on the running board of a loader, the D.C. Circuit reversed a de- cision of the Review Commission that a company had committed a “serious vi- olation” of the general duty clause. The appellate court held that Congress did not intend for the general duty clause to impose strict liability on employers. In- stead, the court held that the employer is obligated only to protect its employees from “preventable hazards.” The court found that a specific instance of equip- ment riding does not qualify as “recognized” or “preventable” under the general duty clause.
Although the general duty clause is cited against employers for workplace hazards, the Act does not absolve employees of all responsibility. In fact, Section 105(b), 29 U.S.C. § 654(b), places a duty upon employees to “comply with oc- cupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.”
This employee responsibility to “comply” with all safety and health stan- dards and rules is significant, but it does not release the employer from its obli- gations to provide a safe workplace.10 The legislative history of the Act specifi- cally states that “final responsibility for compliance with the requirements of this act remains with the employer.”11 The Review Commission has reinforced this proposition.12
However, in demonstrating the elements of a general duty clause violation, “the Secretary must define the alleged recognized hazard in a manner that gives the employer fair notice of its obligations under the Act by specifying conditions or practices which are within the employer’s control.”13 For instance, in a fatal ac- cident case in which an employee was struck by an unloaded truck that was back- ing up, OSHA issued the following general duty clause citation:
Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause
The General Duty Clause ❖ 85
10 Brennan v. Butler Lime & Cement Co., 520 F.2d 1011 (7th Cir. 1975) (“If an employee is negligent or cre- ates a violation of a safety standard, that does not necessarily prevent the employer from being held re- sponsible for the violation. True, an employer is not an insurer under the Act. But an employer is responsi- ble if it knew or, with the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of the existence of a serious violation.”) (citations omitted), appeal after remand, 658 F.2d 544 (7th Cir. 1981).
11 S. Rep. No. 91-1282, at 9. 12 See Pride Oil Well Service, 15 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1809, 1815 (OSHRC 1992) (“The Act places final re-
sponsibility for compliance with its requirements on the employer. An employer who has failed to address a hazard by implementing and enforcing an effective work rule cannot shift to its employees the responsi- bility for assuring safe working procedures.”) (citation omitted).
13 Beverly Enterprises, Inc., 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1161, 1168 (OSHRC 2000) (citing Inland Steel Co., 12 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1968, 1970 [OSHRC 1986]; Pelron Corp., 12 OSH Cas. [BNA] at 1835).
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death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were ex- posed to a struck by and run over by a winch truck hazard:
At the rig site, the employee(s) toolpusher was exposed to a struck by hazard from a winch truck which was not equipped with a reverse audi- ble warning device.
* * *
Some feasible and acceptable means of abatement, among others, are:
a. Install reverse audible warning devices (back-up alarms) on all winch trucks (vehicles) which are operated in reverse.
b. Have the [flagman] guide the trucks traveling in reverse at the rig site.
c. Have all trucks travel in a forward motion if at all possible.14
Only one of the proposed abatement measures need ultimately be proved to be feasible.
2.0 Who Is Protected by the General Duty Clause?
Unlike under specific OSHA safety and health standards, the employer’s obligations under the general duty clause extend only to its own employees.15 OSHA will not cite an employer for a Section 5(a)(1) violation unless the employer’s own employ- ees are exposed to a hazard created or controlled by the employer.16 A common em- ployer defense in a general duty clause case is that it is not an employer of the em- ployees exposed to a particular hazard, and thus owes them no general duty under Section 105(a). The Sixth Circuit in Stein, Inc. explained that “the most important factor in determining whether an entity is an employer is ‘who has control over the work environment such that abatement of the hazards can be obtained.’”17
The court in Stein, Inc. also cited the usefulness of the Review Commission’s “economic realities test.”18 This test evaluates whether an employment relation- ship exists by considering the following factors:
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14 Grey Wolf Drilling Co. L.P., 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1293, 1293–1294 (Yetman, A.L.J. 2003), aff ’d, Grey Wolf Drilling Co. L. P. v. OSHRC, 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1623 (5th Cir. 2004) (unpublished).
15 Anthony Crane Rental, Inc. v. Reich, 70 F.3d 1298, 1305 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (“The language of 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) is specifically limited to situations where an employer’s own employees are exposed to hazards.”) (footnote omitted).
16 Centex Constr. Co., Inc., OSHRC No. 97-0594, 1999 OSAHRC LEXIS 93, at *12 (OSHRC 1999) (“Thus the employer is not liable under the general duty clause when its own employees are exposed to hazards be- yond its reasonable control”).
17 See Stein, Inc. v. OSHRC, No. 95-3686, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 25351, at *14 (6th Cir. 1996) (unpub- lished) (citing MLB Industries, Inc., 12 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1525, 1527 [OSHRC 1985]).
18 Stein, Inc., 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 25351, at *14–15 (citing Loomis Cabinet Co., 15 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1635, 1637 [OSHRC 1992]).
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1. Whom do the workers consider their employer?
2. Who pays the workers’ wages?
3. Who has the responsibility to control the workers?
4. Does the alleged employer have the power to control the workers?
5. Does the alleged employer have the power to fire, hire, or modify the em- ployment condition of the workers?
6. Does the workers’ ability to increase their income depend on efficiency rather than initiative, judgment, and foresight?
7. How are the workers’ wages established?19
Thus, in Stein, Inc., a company was deemed to be an employer because it paid the specific workers, had the power to hire, fire, or modify their employment, made their job assignments, and had “sufficient control” over the job.20
In a multi-employer setting, OSHA will only cite the “exposing employer” for a general duty clause violation.21 An exposing employer is “an employer whose own employees were exposed to a hazard.”22
If the employer-employee relationship is demonstrated, that employer is ob- ligated to protect each of his employees from hazards. With that said, the courts have clarified that “the phrase ‘each of his employees’ in the general duty clause is an inclusive expression which ‘means that an employer’s duty extends to all em- ployees regardless of their individual susceptibilities.’”23
3.0 The Existence of a Hazard
The threshold inquiry in evaluating whether a general duty clause obligation ex- ists is whether there is a hazard. A hazard “is not defined in terms of the absence
The General Duty Clause ❖ 87
19 Stein, Inc., 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 25351, at *14–15. 20 Id. 21 OSHA Directive CPL 02-00-124, Multi-Employer Citation Policy, at Section X(a)(1) (Dec. 10, 1999). 22 Id.; see also OSHA Interpretation Letter, General Duty Clause Citations on Multi-employer Worksites; NFPA
70E Electrical Safety Requirements and Personal Protective Equipment) (July 25, 2005) (“An employer cannot be cited in its role as a ‘controlling employer’ for exposure of subcontractor employees to a General Duty Clause Violation.”).
23 See, for example, Ho, 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1361, 1374 (OSHRC 2003) (quoting Reich, 110 F.3d at 1198, corrected sub nom. Metzler, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 12693, at *16 [upholding a general duty clause viola- tion where a fertilizer plant explosion exposed 87 employees to the hazardous condition and holding that the employer’s duty to protect extended to all employees as a group, regardless of age, pregnancy, or other infirmity]).
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of a particular abatement method.”24 Rather, it is defined “in terms of the phys- ical agents that could injure employees.”25 Matters of “human comfort,” as op- posed to hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm, are not covered by the general duty clause.26
An employer may be cited for a general duty clause violation despite the lack of an accident or incident causing injury.27 Further, hazardous conduct need not actually have occurred.28 If the hazardous condition was preventable, the fact that no injuries occurred will not insulate the employer from enforcement action.29
Conversely, an accident in the workplace does not conclusively prove a violation. If the hazard was not preventable, then regardless of injury, the general duty clause has not been violated.30
The Review Commission and the courts have not provided a firm standard for determining the existence of a hazard. In large part, this is due to disagree- ments over the applicability of a “significant risk” standard to “harm that has al- ready occurred,” as opposed to “prospective harm.”31 In Kastalon, Inc., for exam- ple, the Review Commission determined that the Secretary had the burden of establishing a significant risk of harm in a case involving a possible human car- cinogen in the workplace that was suspected on the basis of extrapolation from animal tests.32
In circumstances involving harm that has already occurred, such as repetitive motion and lifting injuries, the Review Commission has not required the Secre- tary to demonstrate significant risk. The Review Commission explained that “un-
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24 Arcadian Corp., 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) 2001, 2007 (OSHRC 2004) (citing Morrison-Knudsen Co./ Yonkers Contracting Co., 16 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1105, 1121–1122 [OSHRC 1993] [hazard was high levels of air- borne lead produced by bridge demolition, not absence of protective clothing.]).
25 Chevron Oil Co., 11 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1329, 1331 n.6 (OSHRC 1983). 26 Feb. 24, 2003 OSHA Interpretation Letter, supra note 4 (Office temperature and humidity generally not
encompassed under general duty clause). 27 Brennan v. OSHRC, 494 F.2d 460, 463 (8th Cir. 1974) (“Neither the general duty clause nor section 17(k)
requires any actual death or physical injury for a violation to occur.”). 28 Empire-Detroit Steel Div., Detroit Steel Corp. v. OSHRC, 579 F.2d 378, 384 (6th Cir. 1978) (holding that
an employer’s awareness of the potential for explosion satisfies the recognized hazard requirement and stat- ing, “hazardous conduct need not actually have occurred to establish a violation of the general duty clause.”)
29 Con Agra, Inc., 11 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1141 (OSHRC 1983) (reversing the Commission’s decision and re- manding, despite the fact that no injury or accident had yet occurred, with instructions to determine the degree of danger posed by employer’s inadequate pesticide testing procedures).
30 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1267. 31 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1170 n.25. 32 Kastalon, Inc., 12 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1928, 1986, 1987 (OSHRC 1986) (applying “significant risk” test in-
troduced by Supreme Court in Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Institute, 448 U.S. 607 [1980] [the “Benzene case”])
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der section 5(a)(1), the Secretary need only show that the alleged hazards [in the workplace] were causing or likely to cause serious physical harm to employees there.”33
A significant number of decisions have rejected outright the application of the “significant risk” test in a general duty clause case. In Kelly Springfield Tire Co. v. Donovan, the Fifth Circuit argued that the “extension of the significant risk standard to enforcements of the general duty clause would constitute an aban- donment of the National Realty standard.”34
4.0 Recognized Hazard
In defining the second element underlying the general duty clause, that there be a “recognized hazard,” the D.C. Circuit in National Realty focused on a floor speech by Representative Dominick V. Daniels.
A recognized hazard is a condition that is known to be hazardous, and is known not necessarily by each and every individual employer but is known taking into account the standard of knowledge in the industry. In other words, whether or not a hazard is “recognized” is a matter for ob- jective determination; it does not depend on whether the particular em- ployer is aware of it.35
In order to meet its burden of proof, OSHA must demonstrate that a hazard was recognized either by the individual employer or the employer’s industry.36 An em- ployer need not be specifically aware of a hazard to be cited under the general duty clause.37 Individual employer knowledge of the hazard will, however, be suf- ficient to prove that the hazard was recognizable.38 In the absence of individual
The General Duty Clause ❖ 89
33 Pepperidge Farm, 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2013 n.50; see also Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1170 n.25 (declining to establish definitive standard but finding an ergonomic hazard under either “signif- icant risk” or non-significant risk evaluation).
34 Kelly Springfield Tire Co. v. Donovan, 729 F.2d 317, 323 (5th Cir. 1984); see also Waldon Healthcare Center, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1052, 1060 (OSHRC 1993) (“[T]he existence of a hazard is established if the haz- ardous incident can occur under other than a freakish or utterly implausible concurrence of circum- stances.”).
35 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1267 (citing 116 Cong. Rec. (Part 28) 38377 (1970)). 36 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1185 (citing Inland Steel Co., 12 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1968, 1970
[OSHRC 1986]). 37 Tri-State Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc., v. OSHRC, 685 F.2d 878, 880 (4th Cir. 1982) (upholding general duty
clause violation because a “reasonably prudent individual familiar with the circumstances of the industry” would recognize that working 40 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection constitutes a hazard).
38 Safeway, Inc. v. OSHRC, 382 F.3d 1189, 1195 (10th Cir. 2004) (the use of a 40 pound portable propane tank to operate an ordinary barbeque grill constitutes an obvious hazard and violates the general duty clause even though the hazard is not generally recognized by the bread baking industry); See also Peter
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employer knowledge, OSHA will evaluate the hazard to determine if it is gener- ally “recognized” within that employer’s industry or if common sense would make the hazard recognizable.39
It is important to note that in evaluating employer or industry recognition, knowledge of the condition presenting the hazard is not sufficient. Rather, “it is the dangerous potential of the condition or activity being scrutinized that must be known specifically by the employer or known generally in the industry.”40
4.1 Industry Recognition
If a particular hazard is well known or documented within an industry, an em- ployer in that industry has an obligation under the general duty clause to keep its workplace free of that hazard.41 In determining industry recognition of a hazard, the Review Commission and the courts have relied on a variety of in- dices. For instance, it has been “consistently held that voluntary industry codes and guidelines are evidence of industry recognition.”2 Similarly, the opinion of “safety experts familiar with the workplace conditions or the hazard in ques- tion” is also pertinent.43 It is not necessary that the experts be employed in the industry.44
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Cooper Corporations, 10 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1203, 1210 (OSHRC 1981) (holding that the general man- ager’s awareness of an anthrax hazard may be imputed to the employer and stating, “when the Secretary proves that the cited employer has actual knowledge of a particular hazard, the recognition element of a section 5(a)(1) violation is satisfied and industry recognition need not be shown”); International Union, UAW v. General Dynamics Land Systems Div., 815 F.2d 1570, 1577 (D.C. Cir.) (“The duty to protect employees is imposed on the employer, and the hazards against which he has the obligation to protect necessarily include those of which he has specific knowledge.”), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 976 (1987).
39 Kelly Springfield Tire Co., 729 F.2d at 321 (“Where a hazard is ‘obvious and glaring,’ the Commission may determine that the hazard was recognized without reference to industry practice or safety expert testi- mony.”); see also Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Div. of United Technologies Corp. v. Secretary of Labor, 649 F.2d 96, 101 (2d Cir. 1981) (“To be a recognized hazard, the dangerous potential of the condition or activity be- ing scrutinized either must be known by the employer or known generally in the industry.”).
40 Con-Agra, Inc., 11 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1141, 1144 (OSHRC 1983). 41 See Usery v. Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., 568 F.2d 902, 910 (2d Cir. 1977) (“To constitute a recognized haz-
ard, the dangerous potential of a condition or activity must actually be known either to the particular em- ployer or generally in the industry”); Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, 649 F.2d at 100.
42 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1188 (finding NIOSH Lifting Guidelines to be persuasive in demonstrating industry recognition of patient lifting hazard in nursing home industry ergonomics case) (citing Kokosing Constr. Co., 17 OSH Cas. [BNA] at 1873; Kansas City Pwr. & Light Co., 10 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1417, 1422 [OSHRC 1982]; Cargill, Inc., 10 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1398, 1402 [OSHRC 1982]).
43 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1187 (citing Waste Management of Palm Beach, Div. of Waste Management, Inc. of Florida, 17 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1308, 1310–1311 [OSHRC 1995]).
44 Kelly Springfield Tire Co., 10 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1970, 1973 (OSHRC 1982), aff ’d, 729 F.2d 317 (5th Cir. 1984).
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Additional bases for finding industry recognition of a hazard include “evi- dence of industry safety practices,”45 proposed OSHA regulations,46 and warn- ings provided by manufacturers.47 Thus, in Cormier Well Serv., the Review Commission relied on an OSHA compliance officer’s testimony regarding oil derrick fall protection practices to conclude that the hazard of standing on the platform without being protected by a safety belt secured to a lifeline was rec- ognized in the industry.48 The decision further noted that the compliance offi- cer had “a degree in petroleum engineering and five years of oil industry expe- rience.”49
This list is not exhaustive. OSHA will use any available evidence to deter- mine whether the hazard is generally recognized.
4.2 Employer Recognition
As set out above, an employer’s actual knowledge of a hazard in the workplace is not required to prove that a hazard was recognizable. However, if it can be demon- strated that the employer was aware of the hazard, the hazard will be deemed rec- ognizable despite a lack of industry recognition or common sense recognition.50
The Review Commission has expressed a reluctance to rely solely on voluntary safety efforts by an employer in determining recognition of a hazard.51
OSHA has demonstrated employer recognition of hazards in a number of ways. For instance, recognition has been imputed from the knowledge and ex- pertise of safety personnel.52 In Pegasus Tower, 21 OSHC BNA 1190, 1191 (2005), the Review Commission found that the potential 400-foot-fall hazard produced by employees riding a base-mounted dual-drum hoist line at a tower erection construction site was recognized by the employer. The Review Com- mission based its finding on the testimony of the employer’s experienced safety
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45 Cormier Well Serv., 4 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1085, 1087 (OSHRC 1976). 46 Kokosing Construction Co., 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1874 (“We also find that the OSHA standard itself,
which was proposed prior to the inspection in this case and which advocated protection for all employees on formwork, is evidence that safety officials and other individuals familiar with the industry recognized the hazard at that time.”).
47 Young Sales Corp., 7 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1297 (OSHRC 1979) (manufacturer’s warning, in conjunction with the fact that supervisors read the warnings and instructed employees of the danger, is sufficient to prove that the employer had actual knowledge of the hazard).
48 Cormier Well Serv., 4 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1087. 49 Id. at 1087 n.6. 50 Brennan, 494 F.2d at 464. 51 See, for example, Pepperidge Farm, 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2006–2007 (“The rationale is that such reliance
would ‘dissuade employers from taking voluntary protective measures beyond those the law requires’”). 52 Pegasus Tower, 21 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1190, 1191 (OSHRC 2005).
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instructor, which indicated recognition of “the dangers associated with raising and lowering employees on the hoist line.”53
Similarly, in Arcadian Corporation, the Review Commission found that a urea manufacturer recognized the hazard of an explosion caused by leaks that could erode the lining of the reactor.54 Specifically, the Review Commission pointed to testimony regarding the statement of a supervisor regarding the potential for explosion:
The only thing you have to worry about is if that reactor ever leaks or if it ever blows up. You won’t be here to tell about it.55
Other circumstances demonstrating employer knowledge include the exis- tence of voluntary employer safety rules and procedures (in combination with other factors),56 specific warnings given by company management,57 manufac- turers’ warnings,58 complaints by employees,59 and past accidents and injuries.60
It is important to note that the fact that an employer’s work practices are con- sistent with those in the industry does not necessarily demonstrate that the em- ployer could not recognize that the practices are hazardous.61 In Beverly Industries, for instance, the hazards related to patient lifting practices that were standard in the nursing home industry were deemed by the Review Commission to be rec- ognized by the employer because, among other things, management imple- mented a back belt program to address the hazard, specifically warned personnel of the hazard, and distributed a manufacturer’s warning to personnel.62
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53 Id. 54 Arcadian Corp., 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2010. 55 Id. (Employer recognition was also interpreted from supervisor discussions and knowledge of reactor fail-
ures and explosions overseas and at other operations in the United States). 56 See Waldon Healthcare Center, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1061-1062 (precautions taken by an employer can
be used to establish hazard recognition in conjunction with other evidence); Trinity Industries, 15 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1481, 1485 (OSHRC 1992) (Independent evidence of recognition is required before evidence of voluntary protective measures can be relied upon).
57 See Pepperidge Farm, 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2007. 58 See Safeway, Inc. v. OSHRC, 382 F.3d 1189, 1195 (10th Cir. 2004) (manufacturer’s language on propane
grill and in instructions warned against using large propane tank); Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1186.
59 See Empire-Detroit Steel Div., Detroit Steel Corp. v. OSHRC, 579 F.2d 378, 381–382 (6th Cir. 1978) (em- ployer’s refusal to correct hazardous condition despite more than a dozen employee complaints indicates em- ployer recognition and may lead to a finding that the violation was willful); See also Carlyle Compressor Co., Div. of Carrier Corp. v. OSHRC, 683 F.2d 673, 676 (2nd Cir. 1982) (employee complaint indicates that the employer and/or the industry must recognize the hazard).
60 See, for example, Titanium Metals Corp. v. Usery, 579 F.2d 536 (9th Cir. 1978) (company’s experience, marred by numerous fires and minor explosions, was sufficient proof that titanium dust posed a serious fire hazard that was “recognized” by the company); see also ConAgra Flour Milling Co., 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1137, 1150 (OSHRC 1993) (absence of injuries is not dispositive of whether employees are exposed to a hazard).
61 See Beverly Enterprise. 62 Id.
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4.3 Obvious Hazard Recognition
Even if industry or specific employer recognition can not be established, recog- nition can nonetheless be demonstrated if the hazard is deemed to be “obvious.”63
OSHA refers to such hazard recognition as “common sense recognition.”64
OSHA enforcement policy restricts the application of this theory of recognition to “flagrant cases.”65
Thus, in Safeway, the Tenth Circuit found that the recognized hazard ele- ment of the general duty clause criteria was met where a bread-baking plant em- ployer utilized a forty-pound propane tank on an outdoor gas grill designed for twenty-pound tanks. The court rejected the employer’s argument that the bread- baking industry had never recognized this type of hazard, explaining that “Safe- way cannot ignore the presence of an obviously hazardous condition by asserting that its industry is ignorant of such hazards.”66
The courts and the Review Commission sometimes apply a reasonable per- son standard in evaluating the obviousness of a hazard. If a reasonable person would have recognized the existence of a hazard in the workplace, that hazard will be deemed recognizable.67
5.0 Causing or Likely to Cause Death or Serious Physical Harm
Not all workplace hazards are prohibited by the general duty clause. Employers are liable only for preventing hazards that are “causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”68 This language has been interpreted as applying the same standard as that applied to a “serious” violation.69 Specifically, there must be
The General Duty Clause ❖ 93
63 Safeway, 382 F.3d at 1195 (citing Tri-State Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc. v. OSHRC, 685 F.2d 878 [4th Cir. 1982] [working on an unguarded platform 40 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection is clearly a hazard for unprotected workers]); see also Kelly Springfield Tire Co, 729 F.2d at 321 (upholding a violation of the general duty clause despite the fact that neither the employer nor the tire industry in general recog- nized an explosion hazard from the operation of a dust collection system).
64 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual (hereinafter, FIRM), Section 7, Chapter III (C)(2)(c)(2)(b)(3) (1994), available at http://www.osha.gov/Firm_osha_ data/100007.html.
65 Id. 66 Safeway, 382 F.3d at 1195 n.4.s, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1186. 67 See Usery, 568 F.2d at 910 (“It scarcely requires expertise in the industry to recognize that it is hazardous to
dump bricks from an unenclosed chute into an unbarricaded alleyway, twenty-six feet below, between build- ings in which unwarned employees work”).
68 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1); See General Dynamics Corp., Quincy Shipbuilding Div. v. OSHRC, 599 F.2d 453, 458 (1st Cir. 1979).
69 29 U.S.C. § 666(k).
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a “substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition which exists.”70 The occurrence of a death “constitutes at least prima facie evidence of likelihood.”71
In evaluating likelihood, the Review Commission has determined that the general duty clause does not require the Secretary of Labor to prove that an acci- dent is likely.72 Rather, the Secretary need only establish that, if an accident oc- curs, death or serious physical harm would be the likely result.73 Similarly, in eval- uating likelihood with respect to an occupational illness caused by a substance in the workplace, the Secretary must only prove that death or serious harm is likely if an employee contracts the illness.74
Injuries and illnesses that the courts and the Review Commission have indi- cated provide a sufficient basis for a finding that death or serious physical harm could result include “physical disorders that so adversely affect employees that they are disabled from doing their jobs”75 or from performing their normal ac- tivities.76 The Review Commission has also noted that serious physical harm can be demonstrated even in circumstances where there is no evidence of “patholog- ical anatomic change or injury”77—a condition “which cannot be linked to any detectable tissue or body damage or injury.”78
Further, this is true “even if the disability is not permanent.”79 In Consoli- dated Freightways Corp., for instance, the Review Commission found that tem- porary nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and the potential for temporary loss of vision, which caused employees to miss up to seven and a half weeks of work, constituted serious physical harm.80 According to the Review Commission, these
94 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
70 Id. 71 Usery, 568 F.2d at 910. 72 Beverly Enterprise, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1188 (citing Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. OSHRC, 622 F.2d 1160
(3rd Cir. 1980)). 73 Id. 74 See Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co., 10 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1893, 1896-97 (OSHRC 1982). 75 Pepperidge Farm, 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2032 (Focusing on upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders
caused by repetitive motion, the Review Commission noted that a finding of serious physical harm is ap- propriate “even if the disability is not permanent.”); see also Miniature Nut & Screw Corp., 17 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1557, 1559 (OSHRC 1996) (hearing loss is serious physical harm even if employee not disabled from working).
76 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1190. 77 Id. (citing GAF Corp., 9 OSH Cas. [BNA] 1451, 1456, 1457 [OSHRC 1981] [although no systemic im-
plication demonstrated, serious violation proven based on skin and eye discoloration caused by exposure to airborne silver]).
78 Beverly Enterprises at 1189. 79 Id. at 1190 (The Review Commission in Pepperidge Farm “found serious physical harm based on the exis-
tence of a physically detectable and identifiable injury that can be treated by surgery”). 80 Consolidated Freightways Corp., 15 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1317, 1324 (OSHRC 1991).
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conditions, caused by exposure to toxic dye, were indicative of substantial im- pairment to functions of the body.81
6.0 Feasible Measures to Correct the Hazard
The general duty clause has not been interpreted as imposing an impossible re- sponsibility on employers. The National Realty court explained that “Congress quite clearly did not intend the general duty clause to impose strict liability: The duty was to be an achievable one.”82 Further, the D.C. Circuit acknowledged that a “demented, suicidal, or willfully reckless employee may on occasion circumvent the best conceived and most vigorously enforced safety regime.”83 Each employer, therefore, is required by the general duty clause to keep its workplace free of all preventable hazards.84
Determining whether a hazard is preventable is essentially dictated by an evaluation of the feasibility of abating it. Feasibility “means economically and technologically capable of being done.”85 The Secretary of Labor must set out the proposed abatement measures and “demonstrate both that the measures are ca- pable of being put into effect and that they would be effective in materially re- ducing the incidence of the hazard.”86 The Secretary must also establish that a proposed measure of abatement is not cost prohibitive.87
Feasibility can, in some cases, be determined by common sense.88 OSHA can also point to employer or general industry practices to prove that a feasible method of abatement exists.89 Alternatively, an employer may use evidence of its
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81 Id. 82 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1265-1266; see also General Dynamics Corp., 599 F.2d at 458 (“An employer is
not an insurer, and need not take steps to prevent hazards which are not generally foreseeable, including idiosyncratic behavior of an employee, but at the same time an employer must do all it feasibly can to pre- vent foreseeable hazards, including dangerous conduct by its employees.”).
83 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1265–1266. 84 See Morrison-Knudson Co., 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1121–1122; Babcock & Wilcox Co., 622 F.2d at 1164;
Marshall v. L. E. Myers Co., 589 F.2d 270, 272 (7th Cir. 1978). 85 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1191 (citing Baroid Div. of NL Industries, Inc. v. OSHRC, 660
F.2d 439, 447 (10th Cir. 1981)). 86 Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1190 (citing National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1267; Waldon, 16 OSH
Cas. [BNA] at 1062) (further citations omitted). 87 Waldon, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1063. 88 Carlyle Compressor Co., 683 F.2d at 677 (“Courts are entitled to base conclusions upon common sense where
the facts so warrant”). 89 See Puffer’s Hardware, Inc. v. Donovan, 742 F.2d 12, 19 (1st Cir. 1984) (ANSI Standards and common us-
age of safety mechanism by other elevator owners proves the feasibility of the abatement method); see also Young Sales Corp., 7 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1297 (manufacturer’s suggested safety precautions prove the fea- sibility of abatement).
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own abatement efforts or standard industry abatement methods in demonstrat- ing that “it took all necessary precautions to prevent the occurrence of the viola- tion.”90 However, the courts and the Review Commission have made it clear that a safety precaution does not have to have “general usage” in an industry in order to be deemed feasible.91 As explained by the D.C. Circuit in National Realty, “the question is whether a precaution is recognized by safety experts as feasible, not whether the precaution’s use has become customary.”92
In essence, the basic focus in evaluating feasibility is whether the measure is “reasonable and practical.”93 A key component of this inquiry is whether the measure will “materially reduce the hazard.”94 In Waldon Healthcare Center, the Review Commission found that the Secretary’s proposed pre-exposure vaccina- tion measure for Hepatitis provided “virtually the same effectiveness rate” as the postexposure treatment measure offered by the employer.95 Consequently, the Review Commission determined that the Secretary had failed to demonstrate that the abatement measure would result in a material reduction of the hazard.96
In Arcadian Corp., the Review Commission found that three specific abate- ment methods proposed by the Secretary would materially reduce the reactor ex- plosion hazard caused by the leakage of a corrosive chemical (urea).97 Based on the abatement practices in the fertilizer industry and the employer’s own policy for dealing with urea leaks, the Review Commission specifically identified the fol- lowing abatement methods: (1) shutting down the urea reactor upon detection of the leak; (2) inspection of the leak detection system; and (3) regular inspections of the reactor.98
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90 General Dynamics Corp., 599 F.2d at 458; see also Brown & Root, Inc., 8 OSH Cas. (BNA) 2140, 2144 (OSHRC 1980) (Employer abatement measure which provides protection that is just as effective as Secre- tary’s proposed abatement is defense to alleged general duty clause violation).
91 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1267, n.37; see also General Motors Corp., OSHRC No. 77-3790, 1982 OS- HARC LEXIS 116, at *11 (OSHRC August 30, 1982) (“Abatement requirements are based on feasibility and an abatement order may require practices that are of a higher standard than the industry considers ap- propriate”).
92 National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1266, n.37. 93 Waldon, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1064; see also Beverly Enterprises, 19 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1191 (Review
Commission evaluates proposed abatement efforts based on “whether conscientious experts in the industry” would include such measures in developing a safety program) (citing National Realty, 489 F.2d at 1266).
94 Waldon, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1062 (citing Baroid Div. of N.L. Industries, Inc. v. OSHRC, 660 F.2d 439 [10th Cir. 1981]).
95 Waldon, 16 BNA OSHA at 1063. 96 Id. 97 Arcadian Corp., 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 2011–2013. 98 Id.; see also Grey Wolf Drilling Co. L. P., 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1623 (affirming Review Commission final
order finding that obstructed view flagman procedure for backing up loaded trucks was feasible abatement procedure for hazard created when backing up unloaded trucks).
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An equally important component of the feasibility determination is whether the employer can absorb the costs of the proposed abatement measures without threatening its “economic viability.”99 In this regard, two issues that courts and the Review Commission generally consider are: (1) whether the costs of a pro- posed abatement method will “jeopardize a company’s long-term profitability and competitiveness,” and/or (2) whether those costs can be passed on to the cus- tomer.100 In Sun Ship, Inc., the Review Commission found that the Secretary had made a prima facie case of economic feasibility because the proposed $2,500 noise abatement control would not adversely impact an employer with annual sales of $100 million.101
7.0 Practical Enforcement of the General Duty Clause
The mechanics of general duty clause enforcement derive from the central tenet that the clause can only be used when there is no safety standard applicable to the particular hazard involved.102 With this said, agency policy, consistent with court and Review Commission decisions, allows enforcement personnel to cite the gen- eral duty clause, along with a standard, when there is doubt as to the application of the standard.103 OSHA’s Field Inspection Reference Manual provides the OSHA area manager and assistant area manager discretion to conduct a precitation re- view when section 105(a)(1) is contemplated.104
Upon a determination that no standard applies to an identified hazard, OSHA policy directs its enforcement personnel to evaluate whether the four ele- ments of a general duty clause violation, laid out by the courts and the Review
The General Duty Clause ❖ 97
99 Waldon, 16 OSH Cas. (BNA) at 1063. 100 Id. (Review Commission found that the Secretary had failed to demonstrate either of these issues). 101 Sun Ship, Inc., 11 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1028, 1036 (OSHRC 1982) (denying employer’s argument that Sec-
retary’s burden on economic feasibility be based on calculation of cost of plant-wide abatement as opposed to specific violation abatement); see also Walker Towing Corp., 14 OSH Cas. (BNA) 2072, 2077–2078 (OSHR.C 1991) (The cost of installing limited guardrails on barges was insignificant to barge repair em- ployer because such costs “fall within the usual range of charges to barge customers requiring major re- pairs”).
102 FIRM, supra note 60, at Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(1). The Field Inspection Reference Manual does not establish any substantive rights, duties, or benefits. See FIRM, supra note 60, at Section 3, available at http://www.osha.gov/Firm_osha_data/100002.html.
103 FIRM, supra note 60, at Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(3)(a); see Safeway, 382 F.3d at 1191 (citation for general duty clause violation properly amended to allege, in the alternative, violation of a specific standard); see also Carlyle Compressor Co., 683 F.2d at 674 (Secretary may file a complaint alleging violations of the general duty clause while simultaneously alleging violations of a specific standard).
104 FIRM, supra note 60, at Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(4); but see FIRM, supra note 60, at Section 7, Chap- ter III (C)(2)(c)(3)(c) (Precitation review must be conducted “if it can be documented that ‘an employer knows a particular safety or health standard is inadequate to protect his workers against the specific hazard it is intended to address’” (citing International Union, U.A.W. v. General Dynamics Land Systems Division, 815 F.2d 1570, [D.C. Cir 1987]).
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Commission, are met (hazard in the workplace, recognition of hazard, hazard causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm, and feasible abate- ment).105 Under this policy, if no standard exists and all four elements can not be demonstrated, the area office must forward a letter “to the employer and the em- ployee representative describing the hazard and suggesting corrective action.”106
The agency also acknowledges a number of limitations on its ability to cite the general duty clause. The policy specifically states that Section 5(a)(1):
1. Shall not group violations together (can be grouped with related violation of a specific standard);
2. Shall not normally be used to impose a stricter requirement than that re- quired by the standard (unless it can be documented the employer knows that the standard is ineffective in protecting the employees from the spe- cific hazard);
3. Shall normally not require an abatement method not set forth in a stan- dard;
4. Shall not be used to enforce ‘should’ standards;
5. Shall not normally be used to cover categories of hazards exempted by a standard (unless exemption was based on something other than lack of a hazard).107
In proposing civil penalties for general duty clause violations, OSHA has, in the past, attempted to issue penalties based on the number of employees affected by the hazardous condition rather than the condition itself. This, of course, had the effect of greatly increasing the overall civil penalty directed to the employer. In Arcadian Corp., the Fifth Circuit affirmed the Review Commission’s rejection of this position. The court noted that the Act focuses civil penalties on conditions, practices, and violations, and not on employees.108 With this stated, the court ac- knowledged that the number of employees affected by a hazardous condition can be considered by the Review Commission in carrying out its “exclusive role” of
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105 FIRM, supra note 60, Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(1). 106 FIRM, supra note 60, Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(4). 107 FIRM, supra note 60, Section 7, Chapter III(C)(2)(c)(3). 108 Reich, 110 F.3d at 1198–1199, corrected sub nom. Metzler, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 12693, at *19 (employee
could only be unit of violation “if regulated condition or practice was unique to the employee”); see also C.T. Taylor Company, Inc, 20 OSH Cas. (BNA) 1083, 1085 (2002) (Review Commission declining Secretary’s request to overturn Arcadian Corp).
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assessing a civil penalty that has been proposed by the Secretary and contested by an employer.109
8.0 Conclusion
The primary purpose of the general duty clause is to offer an extra measure of protection to employees in the workplace. Most standards implemented under OSHA are targeted at a specific hazard. The general duty clause, however, allows inspectors to cite employers for exposing its employees to a recognized hazard that has not been specifically addressed in the regulations.
The General Duty Clause ❖ 99
109 Reich, 110 F.3d at 1199, corrected sub nom. Metzler, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 12693, at *21 (proper to con- sider number of affected employees in evaluating assessment criteria at 29 C.F.R. § 666(j)); see also FIRM, supra at note 60, Section 8, Chapter IV(C)(2), available at http://www.osha.gov/Firm_osha_data/100008 .html.
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Chapter 5
Recordkeeping Melissa A. Bailey Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P. C. Washington, D. C.
1.0 Overview
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employ- ers to maintain several different types of records. First, the Recording and Re- porting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses regulation requires employers to record work-related injuries and illnesses that meet certain criteria on the OSHA 300 Log.1 Employers must also develop and maintain an OSHA 301 Form de- scribing each individual injury and illness and must certify and post an annual summary of injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300-A Form by February 1 of the year after the injuries and illnesses occurred. The recordkeeping regulation also requires employers to report each fatality or in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees to the local OSHA area office within eight hours.
Second, OSHA safety standards, which are generally intended to prevent physical hazards in the workplace, require a variety of different types of records. For example, OSHA safety standards may require documentation of employee training, written compliance programs, inspection reports and hazard assess- ments.
Third, OSHA’s health standards, which are generally intended to limit expo- sure to substances that may be hazardous to employee health, typically require the employer to prepare and maintain records of employee exposure levels as well as employee medical records. For example, certain substance-specific standards, such as the lead,2 cadmium,3 and benzene4 standards, require employers to per- form monitoring to determine employee exposure levels and to provide medical
1 29 C.F.R. Part 1904. 2 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1025 3 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1027 4 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1028
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surveillance for certain employees. OSHA’s Access to Employee and Medical Records standard mandates that employers maintain the types of records required by these types of health standards.5
Finally, employers often maintain certain records to prove compliance with a standard even if OSHA does not require the records to be retained. For example, Subpart L contains requirements for fire protection, including maintenance and testing provisions for fire suppression systems such as portable fire extinguishers, standpipe and hose systems, and sprinkler systems.6 Although the Subpart L stan- dards do not require employers to maintain records of tests and inspections, the employer may, as a practical matter, be unable to show compliance in the event of an inspection in the absence of testing and inspection records. Many other OSHA standards essentially require employers to keep records to prove compli- ance in the event of an enforcement action.
2.0 Statutory Authority
When the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) was enacted, Congress recognized that data about injuries, illnesses, and hazards would assist OSHA in developing standards to address hazards and in concentrating enforcement re- sources on workplaces with employees experiencing injuries and illnesses. As such, Congress sought to “assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the National safe and healthful working conditions.”7 To achieve this goal, Congress authorized “research in the field of occupational safety and health,” the “development and promulgation of occupational safety and health standards,” and “appropriate reporting procedures with respect to occupational safety and health” to “accurately describe the nature of the occupational safety and health problem.”8
Section 8 of the OSH Act includes several recordkeeping provisions. Section 8(c)(1) requires each employer to “make, keep and preserve” any records OSHA “may prescribe by regulation as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of this Act or for developing information regarding the causes and prevention of oc- cupational accidents and illnesses.”9 Section 8(c)(2) authorizes OSHA to “pre- scribe regulations requiring employers to maintain accurate records of, and make periodic reports on, work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses other than minor
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5 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020 6 29 C.F.R. Subpart L, 1910.155 et seq. 7 29 U.S.C. Section 651. 8 Id. 9 29 U.S.C. Section 657(c)(1).
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injuries requiring only first aid treatment and which do not involve medical treat- ment, loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job.”10 Section 8(c)(3) requires OSHA to “issue regulations requiring employers to maintain accurate records of employee exposures to potentially toxic materials or harmful physical agents.” 11
The remainder of this chapter describes the recordkeeping and documenta- tion provisions OSHA has instituted pursuant to these congressional directives.
3.0 Injury and Illness Recordkeeping
As discussed further below, the Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses regulation, commonly known as the recordkeeping regulation, re- quires employers to record certain work-related injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log, to keep other data concerning these injuries, and to post a sum- mary of injuries and illnesses each February. In addition, employers must report a fatality or in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees within eight hours to the local OSHA area office. The regulation also requires employers to respond to requests from OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for in- jury and illness data.
3.1 History of the Recordkeeping Requirements
OSHA has required employers to keep injury and illness records since shortly af- ter the OSH Act was enacted in 1971. From 1971 to 1990, OSHA and the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics jointly administered the injury and illness recordkeeping system. In a Memorandum of Understanding executed in 1990, BLS agreed to conduct annual surveys of occupational injuries and illnesses and compile the data, and OSHA agreed to administer the enforcement and rulemaking aspects of recordkeeping.
On January 19, 2001, OSHA issued a revised recordkeeping regulation.12
Prior to these revisions, OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation was considered by many employers to be confusing, and employers often had difficulty determining when an injury or illness had to be recorded. Most provisions of the revised recordkeeping regulation became effective on January 19, 2002.13
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10 29 U.S.C. Section 657(c)(2). 11 29 U.S.C. Section 657(c)(3). 12 Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements: Final Rule, 66 Fed Reg. 5916 (Jan-
uary 19, 2001). Most parts of the revised regulation became effective on January 19, 2002. 13 Id.
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3.2 OSHA’s Authority for Requiring Employers to Keep Records
OSHA’s authority to require employers to keep injury and illness records derives from Section 8(c) of the OSH Act. Also, Section 24(a) requires the Secretary to de- velop and implement a program to “compile accurate statistics on work injuries and illnesses which shall include all disabling, serious, or significant injuries and ill- nesses, whether or not involving loss of time from work, other than minor injuries requiring only first aid treatment and which do not involve medical treatment, loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job.”
3.3 Identifying Injuries and Illnesses that Must be Recorded
OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation generally requires employers to record each “non-minor” work-related injury or illness on the establishment’s OSHA 300 Log. The regulation sets out a series of criteria that must be met for an injury or illness to be recorded. These criteria are:
• Has an “injury” or “illness” occurred?
• Is the injury or illness “work-related”?
• Is the work-related injury or illness a “new case”?
• Does the injury or illness meet the general recording criteria, such as days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, or the provision of med- ical treatment?
• Is the injury or illness in a special category, such as an occupational hear- ing loss or tuberculosis, a “significant” injury or illness, or a sharps/needle- stick injury that requires recording?14
Each recordable injury and illness must also be described on an OSHA 301 Incident Report. The OSHA 301 report requires information about the em- ployee, where the employee was treated, how the injury or illness occurred, and the extent of the injury or illness.15 The employer is also required to execute and post an annual summary of illnesses and injuries on the Form 300-A, which de- scribes the injuries and illnesses from the previous year, and must be posted each February.16
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14 The recordkeeping regulation contains a flowchart to assist employers in determining whether an injury or illness is recordable. See 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(b)(2).
15 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.29(b). 16 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.32.
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3.3.1 Determining Whether an Injury or Illness Has Occurred
In the majority of cases, it is obvious whether an injury or illness has occurred. For example, an employee who trips and breaks his ankle has clearly experienced an injury, and an employee who contracts tuberculosis clearly has an illness.17
Section 1904.46 defines an injury or illness as an “abnormal condition,” in- cluding but not limited to a “cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation,” or “a skin dis- ease, respiratory disorder, or poisoning.”18 OSHA intentionally defined “injury or illness” very broadly because the “series of screening mechanisms for record- ing,” such as the work-related requirement and the various recording criteria, are intended to weed out what OSHA considers to be minor injuries and illnesses. Nevertheless, an injury or illness has to constitute an abnormal condition and in- cludes only “those changes that reflect an adverse change in the employee’s con- dition that is of some significance.” Although injury and illness are broadly de- fined, a “mere change in mood or experiencing normal end-of-the-day tiredness” do not meet the definition.19
3.3.2 Defining “Work-Related”: The Geographic Presumption
Employers are required to record only those injuries and illnesses that are work- related. While this determination may seem simple on its face, the question of whether an injury or illness is work-related often presents difficult and complex issues. The recordkeeping regulation is not intended to require recording of only those injuries that result from a hazard in the workplace. Instead, the regulation is designed to capture the vast majority of significant injuries or illnesses that oc- cur or surface at the workplace on a “no fault” basis. The OSHA 300 Log itself states that recording “does not mean that the employer or a worker was at fault or that an OSHA standard was violated.”
The regulation also requires employers to presume that any injury or illness that occurs or surfaces in the workplace is “work-related.” The only exceptions to this geographic presumption are set out in the regulation. This geographic pre- sumption may lead to counterintuitive results. For example, an employee may slip in the company parking lot and suffer an injury. This injury would be con- sidered work-related even though it did not occur because of a hazard in the workplace; the employee was simply clumsy. 20
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17 Prior to the revision of the recordkeeping regulation in 2001, the recording criteria for injuries and illnesses were different. In the revision, OSHA simplified the regulation by treating the recording of injuries and ill- nesses the same.
18 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.46. 19 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 6080 (January 19, 2001). 20 See generally 66 Fed. Reg. 5916, 5928 (January 19, 2001).
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Section 1904.5(a) of the regulation states that an injury or illness is “work- related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or con- tributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing in- jury or illness.” Section 1904.5(b) defines work environment as “the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment,” and the term “includes not only physical loca- tions, but also the equipment or materials used by the employee during the course of his or her work.”
The “geographic presumption” is described as follows: “Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in § 1904.5(b)(2) specifically ap- plies.”21 As such, an injury or illness is work-related if the injury or illness would not have happened but for the presence of the employee in the workplace. The fact that the employer could not have prevented the injury or illness through measures such as a better safety program or machine guards is irrelevant.
OSHA illustrated this concept during the rulemaking by giving several ex- amples, including the following:
Injuries and illnesses also occur at work that do not have a clear connec- tion to specific work activity, condition or substance that is peculiar to the employment environment. For example, an employee may trip for no apparent reason while walking across a level factory floor; be sexually assaulted by a co-worker; or be injured accidentally as a result of violence perpetrated by one co-worker against a third party. In these and similar cases, the employee’s job-related tasks or exposures did not create or con- tribute to the risk that such an injury would occur. Instead, a casual con- nection is established by the fact that the injury would not have occurred but for the conditions and obligations of employment that placed the employee in the position in which he or she was injured or made ill.22
Similarly, OSHA stated:
If an event, such as a fall, an awkward motion or lift, an assault or an in- stance of horseplay, occurs at work, the geographic presumption applies and the case is work-related unless it otherwise falls within an exception. Thus, if an employee trips while walking across a level factory floor, the resulting injury is considered work-related under the geographic pre- sumption because the precipitating event—the tripping accident— occurred in the workplace. The case is work-related even if the employer
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21 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(a). The exceptions in Section 1904.5(b)(2) are discussed later in this section. 22 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5946 (January 19, 2001) (emphasis added).
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cannot determine why the employee tripped, or whether any particular workplace hazard caused the accident to occur.23
OSHA provides additional guidance about determining whether an injury or illness is work-related in the Recordkeeping Policies and Procedures (“Compli- ance Directive”).24 The guidance states that “a case is presumed work-related if, and only if, an event or exposure in the work environment is the discernable cause of the injury or illness or of a significant aggravation to a pre-existing con- dition,” and notes that the “work event or exposure need only be one of the dis- cernable causes; it need not be the sole or predominant cause.”
3.3.3 Preexisting Conditions
An injury or illness is also considered work-related if an “event or exposure . . . significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness.”25 A condition is preexist- ing if “it resulted solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurred outside the work environment.”26 A preexisting condition is considered aggra- vated, and therefore work-related, only if the workplace event or exposure wors- ens the preexisting condition such that one of the following conditions occurs:
(i) Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure;
(ii) Loss of consciousness, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure;
(iii) One or more days away from work, or days or restricted work, or days of job transfer that otherwise would not have occurred but for the oc- cupational event or exposure;
(iv) Medical treatment in a case where no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before the workplace event or exposure, or a change in medical treatment was necessitated by the workplace event or expo- sure.27
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23 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5959 (January 19, 2001). 24 Compliance Directive 02-00-135, December 30, 2004, available at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/
owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3205. OSHA also published a Recordkeeping Handbook in 2005, available at http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/handbook/index.html.
25 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(a). 26 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(b)(5). 27 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(b)(4).
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For example, an employee may have preexisting asthma that is not work- related. If the employee inhales dust while at work, and the dust aggravates his asthma such that he loses consciousness, the incident is considered work-related.
3.3.4 The Employer’s Obligation to Determine Work-Relatedness
Although the employer may rely upon the opinion of a physician in determining whether an injury or illness is work-related, the employer is ultimately responsi- ble for making the decision. OSHA commented during the rulemaking that “the employer is in the best position to obtain the information, both from the em- ployee and the workplace, that is necessary to make the determination” of whether an injury or illness is work-related.28 Further, “although expert advice may occasionally be sought by employers in particularly complex cases, the final rule provides that the determination of work-relatedness ultimately rests with the employer.”29
Accordingly, Section 1904.5(b)(3) instructs that “if it is not obvious whether the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work environment or oc- curred away from work,” the employer must “evaluate the employee’s work du- ties and environment and decide whether or not one or more events or exposures in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.”
3.3.5 Exceptions to Work-Relatedness
Section 19054.5(b)(2) lists nine situations in which an injury or illness will not be considered work-related even though it occurs in the work environment. These nine exceptions essentially invalidate the geographic presumption for in- juries and illnesses that occur in the workplace.
The broadest and most complex exception applies to injuries and illnesses that “involve signs or symptoms that surface at work, but result solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment.” As stated, Section 1904.5(b)(3) requires the employer to evaluate the employee’s work duties and determine whether an event or exposure in the workplace caused the injury or illness.
In the rulemaking, OSHA explained this exception as follows:
This exception is consistent with the position followed by OSHA for many years and reiterated in the final rule: that any job-related contri-
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28 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5965 (January 19, 2001). 29 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5950 (January 19, 2001).
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bution to the injury or illness makes the incident work-related, and its corollary—that any injury or illness in which work makes no actual con- tribution is not work-related.30
OSHA uses the following example in the Compliance Directive to illustrate this example:
Question 5-8: If an employee’s pre-existing medical condition causes an incident which results in a subsequent injury, is the case work-re- lated? For example, if an employee suffers an epileptic seizure, falls, and breaks his arm, is the case covered by the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(ii)?
Neither the seizures nor the broken arm are recordable. Injuries and ill- nesses that result solely from non-work-related events or exposures are not recordable under the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(ii). Epileptic seizures are a symptom of a disease of non-occupational origin, and the fact that they occur at work does not make them work-related. Because epileptic seizures are not work-related, injuries resulting solely from the seizures, such as the broken arm in the case in question, are not record- able.
The other exceptions to the geographic presumption are much more narrow, and are strictly interpreted by OSHA.
General Public
An injury or illness that occurs while the employee is at the workplace as a mem- ber of the general public are not considered work-related.31 For example, a worker employed at a restaurant who stays after his shift to eat with friends has not suf- fered a work-related injury if he slips on the floor.
Voluntary Participation in Wellness Program
An employee who is injured during voluntary participation in a “wellness pro- gram or in a medical, fitness or recreational activity such as blood donation, phys- ical examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball, or baseball” has not suffered a work-related injury or illness. For example, no work-related injury occurs when an employee voluntarily gives blood and faints. The participation must be vol- untary. For example, some employers are required to have employees trained to
Recordkeeping ❖ 109
30 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5950 (January 19, 2001). 31 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(b)(2)(i).
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provide first aid in the event of a medical emergency.32 Employees who provide first aid are required to receive hepatitis vaccinations pursuant to OSHA’s Blood- borne Parthogens standard.33 An employee who suffers a reaction to the vaccina- tion has experienced a work-related injury or illness because his participation on the emergency response team is not voluntary. Similarly, an employee who is re- quired to wear a respirator is required to undergo a medical examination that in- cludes a pulmonary function test, and any injury experienced during the test would also be work-related.34
Injury from Eating or Drinking
An injury or illness that is “solely the result of employee eating, drinking or preparing food or drink for personal consumption” is not work-related. For ex- ample, an employee who is drinking a can of soda has not experienced a work- related illness when a bee comes out of the can and stings him on the lip. If, however, an employee becomes ill from eating food from the company cafeteria, then the illness is work-related. For example, an employee who eats food pre- pared by the employer that is contaminated with lead has experienced a work- related illness.
Injury from Performing Personal Tasks Outside of Working Hours
This exception applies to an injury or illness that occurs when an employee comes to the workplace outside of his or her working hours to perform personal tasks. For example, an injury that occurs when an employee comes to the establishment over the weekend to photocopy personal materials is not work-related. The injury must, however, occur outside of normal working hours. As such, an injury that occurs while an employee is photocopying personal materials during normal working hours is work-related. Similarly, an employee who falls on a sidewalk during a smoking break has experienced a work-related injury.
Personal Grooming, Self-Medication for Non-Work-Related Condition, or Self-Inflicted Injury
This exception covers situations such as an injury that occurs while an employee is brushing her hair, putting in contact lenses, or applying make-up. Similarly, an
110 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
32 OSHA’s Medical Service and First Aid standard requires the employer to ensure the “ready availability” of medical services and states that if there is not an “infirmary, clinic or hospital in near proximity,” the em- ployer must train employees to provide first aid.
33 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030. 34 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.134.
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illness that occurs when an employee reacts to two aspirin he took to alleviate a headache is not work-related.
Common Cold or Flu
Cold or flu, regardless of severity or where the employee contracted it, are not work-related illnesses. However, an employee who contracts a contagious disease, such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, or hepatitis at work has experienced a work- related illness. For example, an employee who works with animals and contracts brucellosis, a flu-like illness that is transmitted by infected animals, has experi- enced a work-related illness.
Car Accidents
An injury caused by a motor vehicle accident that “occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work” is not work related. If, however, an employee on a public road on his way to the bank to make a deposit on behalf of the employer is hit by a car, any injury is work-related.
Mental Illness
Mental illnesses are not considered work-related unless the “employee voluntar- ily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc. ) stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work-related.”
3.3.6 Injuries or Illnesses that Occur While Traveling
Injuries or illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are generally considered work-related if the employee is acting in the interest of the employer. Section 1904.5(b)(6) states:
Injuries or illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work-related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities “in the interest of the employer.” Examples of such activities include travel to and from customer contacts, con- ducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the direction of the em- ployer).
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The definition of “work environment” also establishes that injuries or ill- nesses that occur during business travel are “work-related.” The work environ- ment includes any location “where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment.”35 As such, the work environment of a traveling employee is essentially wherever he or she is traveling.
As such, an injury that occurs while an employee is driving to the airport to return from a business trip is work-related. If the employee takes a side trip to visit relatives and is in a car accident during that trip, any injury is not work-re- lated. Similarly, a bad reaction to food eaten at a sporting event attended by an employee and business associates would be considered work-related, while the same situation at a sporting event the employee attends with personal friends dur- ing a business trip would not be work-related.
3.3.7 Injuries and Illnesses Resulting from Work at Home
Section 1904.5(b)(7) states that “injuries and illnesses that occur while an em- ployee is working from home, including work in a home office, will be consid- ered work-related if the injury or illness occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work rather than to the general home environment or setting.” Section 1904.5(b)(7) also offers the following examples:
For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee’s fin- gernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treat- ment, the injury is considered work-related. If the employee is injured because he or she trips on the family dog while rushing to answer a work phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee work- ing at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not considered work-related.
3.3.8 New Cases
Employers are only required to record work-related injuries and illnesses that are new cases on the OSHA 300 Log. Section 1904.6 states that an injury or illness is a new case if: “the employee has not previously experienced an injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body,” or “the employee previ- ously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had
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35 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.5(b).
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disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event of exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.” OSHA requires employers to record only new cases to prevent double counting when a previously recorded injury or illness failed to heal.
Section 1904.6(b) distinguishes between symptoms of chronic illnesses that surface at work regardless of workplace exposures or events, and chronic illnesses that are aggravated by workplace exposures. Symptoms of some chronic work-re- lated illnesses like occupational cancer may surface at work, but are not consid- ered new cases because no new work-related exposure has occurred. These types of chronic illnesses are only recorded once.36 Employees with other types of chronic work-related illnesses, like occupational asthma, may experience symp- toms when a new workplace exposure occurs.37 If these symptoms are the result of a workplace event or exposure, a new injury or illness has occurred. Employ- ers are not required to consult a physician or other licensed healthcare profes- sional in determining whether a new case has occurred. If the employer does rely upon a medical professional, then it must follow the advice given.38
During the rulemaking, OSHA observed that employers “may occasionally have difficulty in determining whether new signs or symptoms are due to a new event or exposure in the workplace or whether they are the continuation of an ex- isting workplace injury or illness.”39 In most cases, it will be obvious whether a new case has occurred because a workplace exposure will be the cause of the in- jury or illness. For example, a “worker may suffer cut, bruise or rash from a clearly recognized event in the workplace, receive treatment, and recover fully within a few weeks.” Then, “at some future time, the worker may suffer another cut, bruise or rash from another workplace event.” These two events are unrelated and both are considered “new cases.”40
The difficulty in determining whether a new case has occurred typically arises with chronic illnesses. According to OSHA, the key distinction is between chronic illnesses that continue regardless of workplace exposures and those that recur because of workplace exposures. Occupational cancer, asbestosis, and sim- ilar illnesses are diseases that are never cured or completely resolved. Such cases are never closed under the OSHA recordkeeping system, even though the signs and symptoms of the condition may alternate between remission and active dis- ease.”41
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36 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.6(b)(1). 37 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.6(b)(2). 38 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.6(b)(3). 39 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5962-63 (January 19, 2001). 40 Id. 41 Id.
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Other chronic illnesses like reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS) or sensitization to certain workplace chemicals “recur if the ill individual is ex- posed to the agent . . . that triggers the illness again.” Each time symptoms of these types of diseases appear, a separate recordable incident has occurred.42
The Compliance Directive provides some additional guidance on how to de- termine whether an employee has recovered completely from a previous injury such that an injury or illness would be a new case. The directive states:
An employee has “recovered completely” from a previous injury or illness . . . when he or she is fully healed or cured. The employer must use his best judgment based on factors such as the passage of time since the symptoms last occurred and the physical appearance of affected part of the body. If the signs and symptoms of a previous injury disappear for a day only to reappear the following day, that is strong evidence that the injury has not properly healed.
3.3.9 Recording Criteria
Even if an injury or illness is work-related and a new case, the employer is only required to record it on the OSHA 300 Log if it meets one of the recording cri- teria. Specifically, the injury or illness must result in one of the following to be recordable:
• Death
• Days away from work
• Restricted work or transfer to another job
• Medical treatment beyond first aid
• Loss of consciousness
• A “significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care provider”43
The OSHA 300 Log contains columns that are marked by the employer to designate which of the recording criteria are met.
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42 Id. at 5963. 43 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b).
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Death
The requirement to record an injury or illness resulting in death is typically fairly clear. In the Compliance Guide, however, OSHA does discuss one unusual ex- ample. If an employee dies during surgery necessitated by the workplace injury or illness, then the injury or illness is recordable. For example, if an employee dies as a result of work-related knee surgery because he contracts a Staphylococcus in- fection or the physician commits gross medical malpractice, then the employer must record the original injury as resulting in death.
Days Away from Work
If an injury or illness requires the employee to miss work, the employer must record it on the OSHA 300 Log. The box on the OSHA 300 log for “days away from work” is marked, and the employer must also record the exact number of days the employee misses. The day that the injury or illness actually occurs is not counted.44 For example, if an employee hurts his ankle on Monday and misses the remainder of that day, but comes to work on Tuesday, then no recordable in- jury has occurred.
The employer is required to record days away from work even if the em- ployee ignores the recommendations of a physician or other licensed health care professional and comes to work. If, for example, a physician recommends that an employee take five days off, and the employee comes to work on the fourth day and says he is feeling better and is able to work, the employer must nevertheless record each day the physician found that the employee should not work.45 Simi- larly, if the employee does not return to work even though the physician states that he is capable of working, the employer is not required to record the extra days the employee does not work.46 OSHA stated during the rulemaking that the “employer is the ultimate recordkeeping decision-maker and must resolve the dif- ferences in opinion” that may arise between the employer’s physician and the em- ployee’s physician.47
Employers are required to record calendar days away from work. Specifi- cally, each day the employee would not have been able to work but for the in- jury or illness, including holidays, weekends, and vacation days, must be recorded.48 The regulation contains two exceptions to this general rule. First,
Recordkeeping ❖ 115
44 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3). 45 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(ii). 46 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(iii) 47 66 Fed Reg. 5916, 5969 (January 19, 2001). 48 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(iv)
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if an employee is injured or becomes ill on a Friday, reports to work on Mon- day, and was not scheduled to work on Saturday and Sunday, then the em- ployer is not required to record the case on the OSHA 300 Log, unless the em- ployer receives information from the physician or other licensed health care professional that the employee should not have worked on Saturday and Sun- day.49
Second, the employer is not required to record an injury or illness that oc- curs on the day before scheduled time off, such as a vacation or temporary plant closing, unless the employer receives information from the physician or other li- censed health care professional that the employee should not have worked for some period of time during the scheduled time off.50
The maximum number of days away from work that must be recorded is 180.51 If, for example, an employee is away from work for 200 days because of a work-related injury or illness, the employer is only required to record 180 days away from work. Also, the employer is permitted to stop counting days away from work if the employee retires or leaves the company for a reason un- related to the injury or illness. If, however, the employee leaves the company because of his injury or illness, then the employer must record the number of days the employee would not have been able to work.52 For example, if an em- ployee breaks his arm and is projected to be away from work for 30 days, but retires ten days later, the employer would be required to record only ten days away from work. If the employee cannot afford financially to be away from work drawing workers’ compensation pay for 30 days and takes a new job ten days after the injury, the employer would have to record 30 days away from work because the employee left the company because of his injury. Similarly, if an employee is terminated because of drug use revealed during a post-accident investigation, the employer must record all of the days the employee would not have been able to work, even after the termination, because the termination is related to the injury.
Finally, Section 1904.7(b)(3)(viii) addresses cases that span more than one year. For example, an employee may be injured in December 2006 and unable to return to work until January 2007. The employer must record all of the days away from work on the 2006 log.53
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49 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(v). 50 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(vi). 51 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(vii). 52 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(viii). 53 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(3)(viii).
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Restricted Work or Job Transfer
The employer must record each day the employee is unable to perform the rou- tine functions of his normal job and performs restricted work or transfers to a dif- ferent job.54
A work-related injury or illness results in “restricted work” when the employer keeps “the employee from performing one or more of the routine functions of his or her job, or from working the full workday that he or she would otherwise have been scheduled to work”; or “a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the employee not perform one or more of the routine job func- tions of his or her job, or not work the full workday that he or she would other- wise have been scheduled to work.”55 A “routine function” means “those work ac- tivities the employee regularly performs at least once per week.”56
The regulation addresses vague restrictions from physicians, such as instruc- tions to perform only “light duty” or to “take it easy” for some period of time. Section 1904.7(4)(vii) states that if a physician’s recommendation is not clear, the employer should ask “whether the employee can do all of his or her routine job functions and work all of his or her normally assigned work shift.” If the physi- cian concludes that the employee can perform routine job functions for a normal work shift, then the employee’s work is not restricted, and the injury or illness is not recordable. The regulation also states that if the employer is “unable to ob- tain this additional information from the physician or other licensed health care professional who recommended the restriction,” the injury or illnesses should be recorded “as a case involving restricted work.”57
A job restriction ordered by a physician does not necessarily result in a recordable injury or illness. For example, a physician may recommend that an employee not lift over 20 pounds for one week. If the employee does not lift 20 pounds or more at least once each week as part of his job, then the employee’s routine functions are not restricted, and the employer is not required to record the injury or illness. Similarly, OSHA states in the Compliance Directive that if a physician instructs the employee not to use his left arm for one week, and “the employee is able to perform all of his or her routine job functions using only the right arm (though at a slower pace),” the injury has not resulted in restricted work because “loss of productivity is not considered restricted work.”58
Recordkeeping ❖ 117
54 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4). 55 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(i). 56 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(ii). 57 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(vii). 58 Compliance Guide at Question 7-4.
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The “employer has the ultimate authority to restrict an employee’s work, so the definition is clear that, although a health care professional may recommend the restriction, the employer makes the final determination of whether or not the health care professional’s recommended restriction involves the employee’s rou- tine functions.”59 As such, “restricted work assignments may involve several steps: an HCP’s recommendation, or employer’s determination to restrict the em- ployee’s work, the employer’s analysis of whether a suitable job is available, and assignment of the employee to that job.”60
If the employee refuses to follow the work restriction, the employer must nevertheless record the injury or illness. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(viii) states that employers must “ensure that the employee complies with [the] restriction.”61
The employer may also “receive recommendations from two or more physi- cians or other licensed health care professionals” and decide “which recom- mendation is more authoritative and record the case based upon that recom- mendation.”62
As with days away from work, the employer is not required to record a day of restricted work or job transfer if it only applies to the day the injury or illness occurred.63
Medical Treatment beyond First Aid
Any injury or illness that requires medical treatment must be recorded. Medical treatment is defined as “the management and care of a patient to combat disease and disorder,” and does not include: “visits to a physician or other licensed health care professional solely for observation or counseling,” or “the conduct of diag- nostic procedures, such as x-rays and blood tests, including the administration of prescription medications used solely for diagnostic purposes (e.g. eye drops to di- late pupils).”64
The definition of medical treatment also explicitly excludes any treatment meeting the definition of first aid. Section 1904.7(b)(5)(i) provides the following comprehensive list of treatments qualifying as first aid:
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59 66 Fed.Reg. 5916, 5980 (January 19, 2001). 60 Id. 61 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(viii). 62 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(viii). 63 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(4)(iii). 64 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(5)(i).
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• Using a nonprescription medication at nonprescription strength (for med- ications available in both prescription and nonprescription form, a recom- mendation by a physician or other licensed health care professional to use a nonprescription medication at prescription strength is considered med- ical treatment for recordkeeping purposes);
• Administering tetanus immunizations (other immunizations, such as He- patitis B vaccine or rabies vaccine, are considered medical treatment);
• Cleaning, flushing or soaking wounds on the surface of the skin;
• Using wound coverings such as bandages, Band-Aids™, gauze pads, etc.; or using butterfly bandages or Steri-Strips™ (other wound closing devices such as sutures, staples, etc., are considered medical treatment);
• Using hot or cold therapy;
• Using any non-rigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps, non-rigid back belts, etc. (devices with rigid stays or other systems de- signed to immobilize parts of the body are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes);
• Using temporary immobilization devices while transporting an accident victim (e. g., splints, slings, neck collars, back boards, etc.);
• Drilling of a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure, or draining fluid from a blister;
• Using eye patches;
• Removing foreign bodies from the eye using only irrigation or a cotton swab;
• Removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by ir- rigation, tweezers, cotton swabs, or other simple means;
• Using finger guards;
• Using massages (physical therapy or chiropractic treatment are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes); or
• Drinking fluids for relief of heat stress.65
Recordkeeping ❖ 119
65 29 C.F.R. 1904.7(b)(5)(ii).
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Any treatment not listed in the definition of first aid is considered medical treatment that triggers a recordable incident. The listed treatments are also con- sidered first aid regardless of whether a physician, licensed health care profes- sional, or another person, like a member of the employer’s first aid team or a “Good Samaritan,” provides them.66
The Compliance Directive provides some additional information about first aid and medical treatment. The use of surgical glue is considered medical treat- ment because, “all wound closing devices except for butterfly and steri strip are by definition ‘medical treatment’ because they are not included on the first aid list.”67 Although “drinking fluids for relief from heat stress” is first aid, “intra- venous administration of fluids to treat work-related heat stress is medical treat- ment.”68 Finally, the administration of oxygen as a “purely precautionary mea- sure” when an employee is exposed to “chlorine or some other substance” is first aid, but the administration of oxygen to an exposed employee who “exhibits symptoms of an injury or illness” is medical treatment.69
Loss of Consciousness
Every work-related injury or illness that results in a loss of consciousness must be recorded, “regardless of the length of time the employee is unconscious.”70 The loss of consciousness must result from a workplace exposure rather than a condi- tion that is unrelated to work, such as pregnancy or epilepsy. In addition, the em- ployee must actually be unconscious for this provision to apply. Feelings of wooziness or dizziness are not recordable unless one of the other recording crite- ria is met.71
“Significant” Diagnosed Injury or Illness
Section 1904.7(b)(7) states that “work-related cases involving cancer, chronic ir- reversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must al- ways be recorded under the general criteria at the time of diagnosis by a physi- cian or other licensed health care professional.” OSHA considers this a “catch-all” provision to record those rare significant injuries or illnesses that are not required to be recorded under the other criteria. “There are some significant injuries, such as a punctured eardrum or fractured toe or rib, for which neither medical treat-
120 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
66 29 C.F.R. 1904.7(b)(5)(iv). 67 Compliance Directive at Question 7-5. 68 Compliance Directive at Question 7-6. 69 Compliance Directive at Question 7-15. 70 29 C.F.R. 1904.7(b)(6). 71 66 Fed. Reg. 5616, 5994 (January 19, 2001)
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ment nor work restrictions may be recommended,” and “significant progressive diseases, such as byssinosis, silicosis, and some types of cancers” may also not meet the other recording criteria.72
Section 1904.7(b)(7) is designed to capture two categories of injuries and ill- nesses. First, the provision requires recording of “significant injuries and illnesses” that “are not amenable to medical treatment” at the time of initial diagnosis, such as “a fractured rib, a broken toe, or a punctured eardrum,” which are often “left to heal on their own,” or “untreatable occupational cancer.” Second, “chronic ir- reversible diseases” are “cases that would clearly become recordable at some point in the future (unless the employee leaves employment before medical treatment is provided), when the employee’s condition worsens to a point where medical treatment, time away from work, or restricted work are needed.” Injuries and ill- nesses in the second category are “expected to progressively worsen and become serious over time (chronic irreversible diseases).”73
3.4 Special Cases
The recordkeeping regulation has special recording criteria for certain types of in- juries or illnesses.
3.4.1 Hearing Losses
Section 1904.10 sets out a two-part test for determining whether a hearing loss must be recorded. First, the employer must determine whether an employee has experienced a Standard Threshold Shift (STS) in one or both ears since his last audiogram. Pursuant to OSHA’s Occupational Noise Exposure standard, 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.95, an STS is defined as a change in hearing threshold of an average of 10 decibels (dB). The employer determines whether an STS has oc- curred by comparing the annual audiogram to the employee’s baseline audio- gram, which is performed before or soon after the employee begins work. If the employee has previously experienced a recordable hearing loss, then the employer must compare the new audiogram with the revised baseline audiogram, which will reflect the employee’s previous recordable hearing loss.
Second, the employer must determine whether the STS represents an overall hearing level of 25 dB or more. As explained in Section 1904.10(b)(2)(ii), “au- diometric test results reflect the employee’s overall hearing ability in comparison to audiometric zero.” Using the current audiogram, the employer “must use the average hearing level at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz [hertz]to determine whether or not the employee’s total hearing level is 25 dB or more.”
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72 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.7(b)(7). 73 66 Fed. Reg. 5916, 5996 (January 19, 2001).
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If both of these conditions are met, then the hearing loss is recorded in the hearing loss column on the OSHA 300 Log.
In determining whether an STS has occurred, Section 1904.10(b)(3) allows the employer to adjust for age using Table F-1 or F-2 in the Occupational Noise Exposure standard. In addition, the employer may retest the employee’s hearing within 30 days of the first test, and if the retest does not confirm the recordable hearing loss, it does not have to be recorded.74
3.4.2 Needlestick Injuries
Section 1904.8 requires “all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially in- fectious material” to be recorded. The term other potentially infectious material is defined in OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens standard as including human body fluids, such as semen or spinal fluid, “any body fluid that is visibly contaminated with blood,” and “all body fluid in situations where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between body fluids,” and “any unfixed tissue or organ.”75 The inci- dent is recorded on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury regardless of whether one of the other recording criteria, such as medical treatment, days away from work, or job transfer, is met.
Employers are only required to record needlestick or sharps injuries that “bring an employee into contact with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious materials.”76 If an employee has contact with a “clean object” or “a con- taminant other than blood or other potentially infectious material,” the injury is recordable only if it meets one of the other recording criteria, such as medical treatment or restricted work. Similarly, no recordable injury has occurred if an employee is splashed or exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materi- als, but is not cut or scratched.77
Employers are also required to update the OSHA 300 Log if the employee is later diagnosed with an infectious disease, such as hepatitis or human immunod- eficiency virus (HIV), resulting from the sharps or needlestick injury. In addition, the classification of the case must be updated if the case results in death, days away from work, restricted work, or job transfer.78
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74 29 C.F.R. 1904.10(b)(4). The Occupational Noise Exposure standard allows the employer to substitute an annual audiogram for the baseline audiogram if a physician, otolaryngologist, or audiologist determines that the STS is persistent or that the “hearing threshold shown in the annual audiogram indicates significant im- provement over the baseline audiogram.” 29 C.F.R. 1910.95(g)(9).
75 29 C.F.R. 1910.1030(b). 76 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.8(b)(2). 77 Id. 78 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.8(b)(3) and (b)(4).
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The Bloodborne Pathogens standard applies to all employers with employees who have “occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious mate- rial.”79 These employees typically include health care workers and employees who are designated to provide first aid or to clean up blood or other infectious mate- rial after an accident. The Bloodborne Pathogens standard requires all employers who are required to keep injury and illness records under the recordkeeping reg- ulations to keep a sharps injury log that includes: “the type and brand of device involved,” “the department or work area where the exposure incident occurred,” and “an explanation of how the incident occurred.”80 According to the Compli- ance Directive, an employer may use the OSHA 300 Log to meet the require- ments for a sharps injury log as long as “the type and brand of device” is listed, if applicable, and the records are maintained such that sharps injuries are segregated from other types of injuries.81
3.4.3 Medical Removal
Certain OSHA standards addressing exposure to hazardous substances, such as lead, cadmium, benzene, methylene chloride, and formaldehyde, require em- ployers to remove employees from the work area if certain criteria are met. For example, OSHA’s Lead standard requires employees to be removed from work re- sulting in lead exposure if the required periodic blood tests show a certain level of lead.82 These types of provisions are known as “medical removal” and typically require that an employee be moved to an alternate job without exposure or, if there is no alternate job, given paid time off.
Section 1904.9 addresses cases involving required medical removal under these types of OSHA standards. Medical removal cases are recorded as either days away from work if the employee is not offered a different job without exposure, or days of restricted work if the employee is moved to a different job.83 If the medical removal is required by a standard addressing chemical exposure, the case is recorded by checking the “poisoning” column on the OSHA 300 Log.84
Employers may voluntarily remove an employee from a particular job before the criteria for medical removal are applicable. For example, an employer may move an employee to another job even though his blood lead levels are below the threshold. The recordkeeping regulation states that if “the case involves voluntary
Recordkeeping ❖ 123
79 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030. 80 29 C.F.R. 1910.1030(h)(5). 81 Compliance Guide at Question 8-2. 82 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1025(k). 83 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.9. 84 29 C.F.R. 1904.9(b)(1).
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medical removal before the medical removal levels required by an OSHA stan- dard,” the employer is not required to record the case unless or until one of the other recording criteria is met.85
Medical removal may be applicable even if no specific standard applies. For example, an employer may temporarily transfer an employee from a particular job for preventive purposes to prevent a work-related injury from occurring. The rulemaking record states:
Transfers or restrictions taken before the employee has experienced an in- jury or illness do not meet the first recording requirement of the record- keeping rule, i.e. that a work-related injury or illness must have occurred for recording to be considered at all. . . . However, transfers or restric- tions whose purpose is to allow an employee to recover from an injury or illness as well as to keep the injury or illness from becoming worse are recordable because they involve restriction or work transfer caused by the injury or illness. . . . A work restriction that is made for another reason, such as to meet reduced production demands, is not a recordable re- stricted work case. For example, an employer might “restrict” employees from entering an area in which a toxic chemical spill has occurred or make an accommodation for an employee who is disabled as a result of a non-work-related injury or illness. These cases would not be recordable as restricted work cases because they are not associated with a work-re- lated injury or illness.86
3.4.4 Tuberculosis
If an employee is occupationally exposed to a “known case of active tuberculo- sis,” and the employee “subsequently develops a tuberculosis infection, as evi- denced by a positive skin test or diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional,” then a recordable “respiratory condition” has occurred.87
Tuberculosis (TB) may be work-related if it is contracted by a health care worker or if an employee infects other employees. OSHA specifically addressed employee-to-employee transmission of tuberculosis during the rulemaking. First, OSHA pointed out that tuberculosis is “clearly a non-minor” illness that should be recorded if it is work-related even though it is likely impossible for an em- ployer to prevent an employee from contracting TB from a coworker. Under the geographic presumption OSHA set out for work-relatedness, an employee-to- employee transmission is work-related because the employee would not have con-
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85 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.9(b)(3). 86 66 Fed. Reg. 5916, 5981 (January 19, 2001). 87 29 C.F.R. 1904.11(a).
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tracted TB but for his presence in the workplace. Second, for the case to be recordable, the employee must have been exposed to someone at work that has a known case of active TB. As such, the fact that an employee contracts TB and the source cannot be identified is not enough to result in a recordable illness.88
The regulation states that employers may “line out or erase a recorded TB case from the OSHA 300 Log under the following circumstances: (i) The worker is liv- ing in a household with a person who has been diagnosed with active TB; (ii) The Public Health Department has identified the worker as a contact of an individual with a case of active TB unrelated to the workplace; or (iii) A medical investiga- tion shows that the employee’s infection was caused by exposure to TB away from work, or proves that the case was not related to the workplace TB exposure.”89
3.5 Recordkeeping Forms and Retention Periods
The regulation requires employers to use three forms: the OSHA 300 Log, the OSHA 301 report, and the OSHA 300-A form.90 The OSHA 300 Log is the doc- ument on which each work-related injury or illness that meets one of the general recording criteria is recorded. An OSHA 301 report is executed for each record- able injury and illness, and describes the injury or illness in greater detail than the OSHA 300 Log. Each recordable injury or illness must be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log and on an OSHA 301 form within seven calendar days of the employer “receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred.”91
The OSHA 300-A form is an annual summary of recordable injuries and ill- nesses. The 300-A must be posted each February 1, remain posted until April 30, and include the recordable injuries and illnesses from the previous year.92 To pre- pare the OSHA 300-A, the employer must “review the OSHA 300 Log to verify that the entries are complete and accurate, and correct any deficiencies identi- fied,” and then record the following information on the OSHA 300-A: the total for each column on the OSHA 300 Log, the year covered by the annual sum- mary, the name and address of the employer’s establishment, the average number of employees at the establishment during the covered year, and the total hours worked by the employees during that year.93 A “company executive must certify that he or she has examined the OSHA 300 Log and that he or she reasonably
Recordkeeping ❖ 125
88 66 Fed. Reg. 5916, 6013 (January 19, 2001). 89 29 C.F.R. 1904.11(b)(2). 90 29 C.F.R. 1904.29. The regulation allows employers to use “equivalent forms” that have the “same infor-
mation” as the OSHA forms, are “readable and understandable,” and are “completed using the same in- structions as the OSHA form [they] replace.” 29 C.F.R. 1904.29(b)(4).
91 29 C.F.R. 1904.29(b)(3). 92 29 C.F.R. 1904.32(a) and (b)(2)(6). 93 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.32(a) and (b)(2).
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believes, based on his or her knowledge of the process by which the information was recorded, that the annual summary is correct and complete.”94 The company executive who certifies the OSHA 300-A must be an owner, an officer of the cor- poration, the “highest ranking company official working at the establishment,” or the “immediate supervisor of the highest ranking company official working at the establishment.”95
The OSHA 300 Log, OSHA 300-A, and OSHA 301 forms must be retained for five years.96 During the five-year period, the employer must update the OSHA 300 Log to include “newly discovered recordable injuries and illnesses” and must update the “classification of previously recorded injuries and illnesses.”97 If, for ex- ample, an employee experiences a recordable injury in 2006 that steadily worsens until surgery is required in 2007, and the employee is completely unable to work after the surgery, then the employer must update the 2006 OSHA 300 Log to re- flect this. Employers are not required to update the OSHA 301 forms and OSHA 300-A.98
3.6 Employee Involvement and Access to Records
Employers have several recordkeeping obligations to employees. First, employers must “inform each employee of how he or she is to report an injury or illness.”99
To meet this requirement, employers typically establish a work rule requiring em- ployees to report all work-related injuries to supervisors immediately.
Second, employers must provide access to the OSHA 300 Log to employees, former employees, and certain employee representatives. The regulation defines two types of representatives. A “personal representative” is any person designated in writing by an employee or former employee as a representative, or the legal repre- sentative of a deceased or legally incapacitated employee or former employee.100 An “authorized employee representative” is the “authorized collective bargaining agent of employees.”101 The employer must provide access to the current or retained OSHA 300 Log to employees, former employees, personal representatives, and au- thorized employee representatives the next business day after a request is made.102
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94 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.32(b)(3). 95 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.32(b)(4). 96 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.33(a). 97 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.33(b). 98 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.33(b). 99 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(a). 100 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(b)(2)(ii). 101 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(b)(2)(i). 102 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(b)(2).
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Third, employers must provide access to certain OSHA 301 forms. An em- ployee, former employee, or personal representative is entitled to the OSHA 301 form describing the injury or illness experienced by the employee or former em- ployee. The form must be provided the next business day after the request.103 An authorized employee representative is entitled to certain portions of OSHA 301 forms for employees at the establishment. The employer must only provide the information under the section on the OSHA 301 form entitled “Tell us about the case,” which describes how the injury or illness occurred. All other information must be redacted.104
Employers are also required to provide records to OSHA compliance officers conducting an inspection, representatives of the National Institute of Occupa- tional Safety and Health who are conducting a health hazard evaluation, and state agencies administering an OSHA state plan.105 The records must be provided within four hours of the request.106
3.7 Privacy Cases
Employers are not permitted to include the name of the employee on the OSHA 300 Log if the injury or illness is a “privacy concern case.” A privacy concern case is defined as an “injury or illness to an intimate part of the body or reproductive system,” an “injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault,” a “mental illness,” “HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis,” “needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other poten- tially infectious materials,” and “other illnesses, if the employee voluntarily re- quests that his or her name not be entered on the log.” No other situations are considered “privacy concern cases,” and the employer must therefore include the names of employees on the OSHA 300 Log.107 The employer may also redact other information on the OSHA 300 Log if it would identify an employee who has experienced a privacy case injury or illness but must “enter enough informa- tion to identify the cause of the incident and the general severity of the injury or illness.”108
The name of the employee and other identifying information in a privacy case must not be disclosed on the OSHA 300 Log that may be provided to em- ployees, former employees, or representatives. If the employer decides to share the
Recordkeeping ❖ 127
103 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(b)(v)(A). 104 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.35(b)(v)(B). 105 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.40(b)(1). 106 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.40(b). 107 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.29(b)(8). 108 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.29(b)(9).
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recordkeeping forms with third parties voluntarily, identifying information for privacy cases must be redacted unless the forms are disclosed to “an auditor or consultant hired by the employer to evaluate the safety and health program,” a “public health authority or law enforcement agency,” or “to the extent necessary for processing a claim for workers’ compensation or other insurance benefits.”109
The employer must keep a “separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names” for “privacy concern cases,” and must update the list when changes occur. Government representatives are entitled to this information.
3.8 Reporting Injuries and Fatalities
Section 1904.39 requires employers to report a work-related fatality or the in- patient hospitalization of three or more employees to the local OSHA area office nearest to where the incident occurred.110 Employer may also call 1-800/321- OSHA to report the fatality or hospitalizations.111 The information provided to OSHA must include: the establishment name; the location of the incident; the time of the incident; the number of fatalities or hospitalized employees; the names of any injured employees; the contact person at the facility and his or her telephone number; and a brief description of the incident.112 If the local OSHA area office is closed at the time of the notification, the employer must call the toll- free number; a message left or facsimile sent to the local office is insufficient.113
The fatality or hospitalizations must be reported within 8 hours of their oc- currence.114 If the employer does not learn of the fatality or hospitalizations un- til more than 8 hours after they occur, then the employer must report within 8 hours of learning of the incident.115
Two types of fatalities and hospitalizations are exempt from the reporting re- quirements. First, fatalities and hospitalizations that result from motor vehicle ac- cidents on public streets or highways or on a public transportation system, such as a subway or commercial airplane, do not have to be reported.116 Fatalities or hospitalizations that result from motor vehicle accidents that occur in road con- struction work zones must be reported to OSHA.117 Second, a fatality or hospi-
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109 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.29(b)(10). 110 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(a). 111 Id. 112 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(b)(2). 113 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.30(b)(1). 114 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(a). 115 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(b)(7). 116 29 C.F.R. Sections 1904.39(b)(3) and (b)(4). If these injuries or illnesses are work-related, they must be
recorded on the OSHA 300 Log. 117 Id.
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talization must only be reported if it occurs within 30 days of an incident.118 For example, if an employee is in an accident, but does not die until more than 30 days later, the employer is not required to report the fatality.
The recordkeeping regulation requires employers to report all heart attacks that occur at work even though they may not be considered work-related.119
OSHA will investigate and determine whether the heart attack is work-related.
Some states with state OSHA plans have different reporting requirements. For example, employers in California are required to report any “serious injury or illness” or death.120 A “serious injury or illness” is defined as requiring inpatient hospitalization for over 24 hours for treatment other than observation, loss of a “member of the body,” or a “serious degree of permanent disfigurement.”121 In- juries or illnesses meeting the criteria or deaths must be reported “immediately,” which is defined as “as soon as practically possible, but not longer than 8 hours after the employer knows or with diligent inquiry should have known” of the in- cident.122
3.9 Exemptions from Recordkeeping Requirements
The recordkeeping regulation contains two partial exemptions. First, Section 1904.1 exempts employers with ten or fewer employees during the last calendar year from the requirement to keep OSHA 300 logs and prepare OSHA 301 forms and the OSHA 300-A summary. These employers are required to respond to BLS surveys and must report workplace fatalities or hospitalizations in accor- dance with Section 1904.39.
Second, Non-Mandatory Appendix A to the recordkeeping regulation pro- vides a partial recordkeeping exemption for certain industries, including retail stores (e.g. hardware stores, retail bakeries, car dealerships, service stations, apparel stores, drug stores), certain health care offices (e.g., offices of doctors and dentists, medical and dental laboratories, offices of other health care practitioners), recre- ational facilities (e.g., dance studies, orchestras or entertainers, museums and art galleries, bowing centers), and traditional offices (e.g. law, engineering, account- ing, and research offices, computer and data processing services, mailing, produc- tion and stenographic services).123 Facilities that are partially exempt pursuant to
Recordkeeping ❖ 129
118 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(b)(6). 119 29 C.F.R. Section 1904.39(b)(5). 120 8 CCR Section 342(a). 121 8 CCR Section 330(h). 122 8 CCR Section 342(a). 123 29 C.F.R. Section 1904, Non-Mandatory Appendix to Subpart B.
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Appendix A must respond to a BLS survey, and must report deaths and hospital- izations of three or more employees pursuant to Section 1904.39.
4.0 OSHA Standards Requiring Written Documents
OSHA issues two types of standards—health standards and safety standards— and the types of records required generally depend upon the type of standard at issue. Safety standards generally address physical conditions. For example, the standards in Subpart J (Sections 1910.141 through 1910.147) contain re- quirements for addressing general work hazards such as hazardous conditions in confined spaces like tanks, sewers, storage bins, and silos (Section 1910.146) and hazards that may result from servicing and maintenance work on equip- ment (Section 1910.147). Similarly, the Subpart I (Section 1910.132 through 1910.138) standards address personal protective equipment, the Subpart D (Section 1910.21 through 1910.130) standards are intended to protect em- ployees from hazards such as falls, and the Subpart E (Section 1910.33 through 1910.39) standards apply to emergency situations such as fires. The standards applicable to construction that are in Part 1926 also include many safety stan- dards, such as requirements for materials handling, storage, use and disposal (Subpart H), fall protection systems (Subpart M), and crane and similar equip- ment (Subpart N).
Health standards typically address exposure to a substance or condition in the workplace. The standards in Subpart Z (Section 1910.1000 through 1910.1450) contain requirements for controlling exposure to toxic and hazardous substances. Some of the Subpart Z standards have permissible exposure limits (“PEL”) for ex- posure to various hazardous substances. Other Subpart Z standards address chem- ical exposure in broader ways. For example, the Hazard Communication standard (Section 1910.1200) requires employers to provide information about all hazard- ous substances in the workplace to employees.
4.1 Safety Standard Recordkeeping Requirements
OSHA’s safety standards contain many recordkeeping requirements. The types of records that must be kept fall into three general categories. First, certain standards require the employer to develop a written plan describing how a particular haz- ard will be addressed. For example, the Respiratory Protection standard (Section 1910.134) requires employers with employees that use respirators to develop a written program. Similarly, the Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) (Section 1910.147) standard requires employers with employees who perform servicing or maintenance on equipment to develop a written lockout/tagout pro- gram.
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Second, some standards require the employer to maintain written training records. For example, the general Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) standard (Section 1910.132) requires the employer to “verify” that employees who are re- quired to wear PPE have “received and understood the required training through a written certification that contains the name of each employee trained, the date(s) of training, and that identifies the subject of the certification.”124 The Process Safety Management standard (Section 1910.119), which applies to facilities that manu- facture or handle certain quantities of hazardous chemicals, requires employers to “prepare a record” that includes “the identity of the employee, the date of the train- ing, and the means used to verify that the employee understood the training.”125
Third, some standards require the employer to maintain written inspection or preventative maintenance programs. For example, the Powered Platforms for Building Maintenance standard (Section 1910.66) requires employers to perform periodic inspections and keep a certification record of each inspection or test.126
The Portable Fire Extinguisher standard (Section 1910.157) requires an annual inspection that must be documented.127
The following table provides a list of safety standards that have recordkeep- ing requirements. The list is not exhaustive, and is intended to provide a sample of safety standard recordkeeping requirements.
Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
General Industry Fire Prevention/ 1910.38 Written Compliance Plans
Emergency Action
Powered Platforms 1910.66 Log of Maintenance Inspections and Tests
Manlifts 1910.68 Inspection Records Noise 1910.95 Hearing Conservation Program
Report Results of Noise Monitoring to Employees
Audiometric Testing Program and Reporting Requirements
Records of Employee Noise Exposure
Recordkeeping ❖ 131
124 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.132(f )(4). 125 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.119(g)(3). 126 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.66(h). 127 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.157(e). The standard also requires monthly inspections, but does not explicitly re-
quire the inspections to be documented.
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Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
Respirators 1910.134 Respiratory Protection Program Medical examination and fit-testing
records Permit-Required 1910.146 Permit System
Confined Spaces Training Records Lockout/Tagout 1910.147 Lockout/Tagout Program
Periodic Inspection Reports Training Records
Fire Protection 1910.156 Fire Brigade Program Fixed Fire 1910.160 Records of Inspection and Maintenance
Extinguishing Systems
Portable Fire 1910.157 Records of Annual Inspections Extinguishers
Automatic Fire 1910.159 Records of Tests Sprinklers
Overhead and 1910.179 Certification and Inspection Records Gantry Cranes
Crawler, 1910.180 Certification and Inspection Records Locomotive and Truck Cranes
Derricks 1910.181 Preventive Maintenance Program Certification and Inspection Records
Industrial Slings 1910.184 Records of Inspections and Repairs Mechanical Power 1910.217 Certification, Maintenance, Injury
Presses Reports Forging Machines 1910.218 Safety Checks and Certification Welding, Cutting 1910.255 Certification
and Brazing Telecommunications 1910.268 Training Certification
Inspection Records Grain-handling 1910.272 Emergency Action Plan
Facilities Permit for Hot Work Confined Space Permit
Electrical Wiring 1910.304 Assured Equipment Grounding Design and Conductor Protection Program Tests
Electrical Work 1910.333 Lockout/Tagout Procedure Commercial 1910.423 Various Records of Dives
Diving, Post- Dive Procedures
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Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
Maritime Shipyards 1915.7(a)(2) Competent Person Designation
1915.7(c)(1)-(2) Record of Tests and Inspections 1917.7(c)(3) Hot Work and Fumigation Certificates
Explosive and 1915.12(c)(4) Tests, Inspections, Instructions Dangerous Atmospheres
Shackles and 1915.113(b)(1) Certificates and Tests Hooks
Portable Air 1915.172(d) Certification of Examinations and Tests Receivers and Other Unfired Pressure Vessels
Hazardous 1917.23(b) Tests Atmospheres and Substances
Vessel Cargo Gear 1919.11(b) Certification of Vessels Certification
Operators or 1919.12 Register and Certificate of Inspection, Offices of Vessels Testing, Heat Treatment of Derricks,
Cranes, Etc.
Construction Medical and First 1926.50(c) Certification and First Aid Testing
Aid 1926.50(f ) Contact Information for Medical
Response Rigging Equipment 1926.251 Tests on Hooks
and Material Handling
Ground Fault 1926.404 Grounding Conductor Program, Tests Protection
Cranes and 1926.550(a) Inspections Derricks
Crawler, 1926.550(b) Certification Locomotive and Truck Cranes
Personnel Hoists 1926.552 Certification Excavations 1926.652(b) Written Design
1926.652(c) Supporting Data for Deviations from Manufacturer Specifications for Support System
Recordkeeping ❖ 133
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Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
Lift-Slab 1926.705 Instructions Construction Operations
4.2 The Health Standards
As discussed, OSHA has promulgated standards designed to limit exposure to a variety of hazardous substances. These standards include requirements for per- forming monitoring to determine exposure levels as well as mandatory medical examinations. Many of the retention and other requirements for maintaining records required by health standards are set out in the Access to Employee Expo- sure and Medical Records standard.128
4.2.1 The Typical Health Standard
Section 6(b)(5) of the OSH Act contains the requirements OSHA must follow in “promulgating standards dealing with toxic materials or harmful physical agents,” including setting “the standard which most adequately assures, to the extent fea- sible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee will suffer ma- terial impairment of health or functional capacity even if such employee has reg- ular exposure to the hazard dealt with by such standard for the period of his working life.”129
As stated, OSHA has promulgated health standards addressing a variety of toxic substances.130 While each standard is necessarily different because unique substances are addressed, each health standard generally follows a common pattern in that three distinct types of records are required. First, health standards generally require the employer to perform initial monitoring to determine whether the “ac- tion level”—the level at which the employer is obligated to take action—is met. Assuming the regulated substance is present at levels at or above the action level, the employer must then perform periodic monitoring to determine whether the control measures, such as work and engineering controls, are effectively reducing exposure to levels at or below the permissible exposure limit (PEL).
Second, health standards typically require the employer to provide a medical surveillance program. Under the program, employees undergo periodic medical
134 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
128 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020. 129 29 U.S.C. Section 655(b)(5). 130 Health standards are contained in Subpart Z of OSHA’s general industry standards. Some health standards
have also been promulgated for the construction industry (Subpart Z of the Part 1926 standards) and ship- building.
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examinations performed by a physician or other licensed health care professional. The PLHCP prepares a written opinion, and the employer must provide a copy to the employee and retain a copy. In addition, some health standards contain medical removal provisions that require an employer to remove an employee from a particular job when his or her medical examination or other biological moni- toring, such as blood tests, show a certain level of the substance in the employee’s body. If medical removal is required, then additional medical examinations are re- quired, and the employer must maintain these records.
Third, some health standards require the employer to maintain “objective data” supporting any exemption from complying with the standard. For example, the Asbestos standard allows employers to rely upon “objective data that demon- strates that asbestos is not capable of being released in airborne concentrations at or above” the permissible exposure limit rather than performing initial monitor- ing.131 Similarly, the Chromium (VI) standard allows the employer to rely upon “historical monitoring data” obtained before the effective date of the standard rather than performing initial monitoring.132 These standards as well as other health standards require the employer to maintain records regarding this type of historical or objective data.
4.2.2 Health Standards Applicable to General Industry
The recordkeeping requirements for some typical health standards applicable to general industry are listed below:
Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
Asbestos 1910.1001 Exposure monitoring, Medical surveillance, Objective data
13 Carcinogens 1910.1003 Medical surveillance Vinyl chloride 1910.1017 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance Inorganic arsenic 1910.1018 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance Lead 1910.1025 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance,
medical removal Cadmium 1910.1027 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance,
medical removal, objective data Benzene 1910.1028 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance,
medical removal Coke oven 1910.1029 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance
emissions
Recordkeeping ❖ 135
131 29 C.F.R. 1910.1001(d)(2)(iv). 132 29 C.F.R. 1910.1026(b) and (d)(3).
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Topic Standard Recordkeeping Required
Cotton dust 1910.1043 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance 1, 2-dibromo- 1910.1044 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance Acrylonitrile 1910.1045 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance Ethylene oxide 1910.1047 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance Formaldehyde 1910.1048 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance,
objective data133
Methylenedianiline 1910.1050 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, medical removal, objective data
1,3 Butadiene 1910.1051 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, objective data
Methylene chloride 1910.1052 Exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, medical removal, objective data
Ionizing radiation 1910.1096 Exposure monitoring134
4.3 Hazard Communication and Bloodborne Pathogens
Two health standards—Hazard Communication and Bloodborne Pathogens— merit special mention because they apply to many workplaces.
4.3.1 Hazard Communication
Section 1910.1200 applies to general industry worksites as well as construction, marine terminal, shipyard and longshoring worksites and requires employers to maintain Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).135 MSDS must contain certain information about the physical and health hazards of substances and are gener- ally prepared by chemical manufacturers and distributors and sent to purchasers with shipments.136 Employers are required to maintain MSDSs for hazardous substances that are present in the workplace and ensure that MSDSs are “readily accessible” to employees.137
136 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
133 Section 1910.1048(o)(2) requires the employer to “maintain a record of the objective data relied upon to support the determination that no employee is exposed to formaldehyde at or above the action level.”
134 Section 1910.1096(d) requires covered employers to “make such surveys as may be necessary to comply” with the standard, and to provide personal monitoring equipment to employees who enter “restricted areas.”
135 See 29 C.F.R. Section 1926.59 (applying Section 1910.1200 to construction); 29 C.F.R. Section 1918.90 (applying Section 1910.1200 to longshoring); 29 C.F.R. Section 1915.1200 (applying Section 1910.1200 to shipyard employment); 29 C.F.R. Section 1917.28 (applying Section 1910.1200 to marine terminal op- erations).
136 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1200(b)(1). 137 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1200(g)(8).
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Employers are also required to ensure that labels on incoming shipments are not defaced and must also label each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace with information about the identity of the chemicals and hazard warn- ings.138 In addition, the standard requires employers to develop a written pro- gram describing how the employer will comply with the standard.139
Pursuant to OSHA’s Medical Records Access standard (Section 1910.1020), employers are required to keep MSDSs for hazardous substances that are no longer used, or to keep records of when and where hazardous substances were used. The requirements of Section 1910.1020 are discussed later in this chapter.140
4.3.2 Bloodborne Pathogens
The Bloodborne Pathogens standard (Section 1910.1030) applies to general in- dustry and shipyard employment, but does not apply to construction, agricul- ture, marine terminal, or longshoring operations.141 Within general industry and shipyard employment, the standard applies to any employee with “occupational exposure” to blood or other potentially infectious material such as human body fluids, organs, or tissue cultures.142 “Occupational exposure” is defined as “rea- sonably anticipated” contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials that result from the employee’s job duties.143 Based on these definitions, employ- ees in many health care industries, laboratories that handle blood or other speci- mens, and similar facilities are covered by the standard. In addition, employees at non-health care facilities are covered to the extent that they provide first aid or other medical services to other employees.144
Employers with covered employees must develop and maintain several types of documents. First, the employer must offer a Hepatitis B vaccination to any employee with occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious ma- terial. If the employee declines the vaccination, he or she must sign a declination form that must be maintained by the employer.145
Recordkeeping ❖ 137
138 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1200(f )(5). The employer is also prohibited from removing or defacing existing la- bels on incoming shipments. 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1200(f )(8).
139 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1200(e). 140 Hazard communications requirements for laboratories are set out in the Occupational Exposure to Haz-
ardous Chemicals in Laboratories standard, 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1450. 141 See 29 C.F.R. Section 1915.1030 (applying general industry standard at 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030 to
shipyard operations). 142 See definitions at 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(b). 143 Id. 144 OSHA’s Medical and First Aid standard requires employers at facilities without nearby hospitals or clinics
to train employees to provide first aid treatment. 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.151. 145 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(f ).
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Second, in the event an employee is exposed to blood or other potentially in- fectious material, the employer must provide a “confidential medical evaluation and follow-up,” and must obtain and maintain the resulting report from the physician or other health care professional.146
Third, the employer must provide training to employees with occupational exposure. The training records must be kept for three years from the date of the training.147
Fourth, the employer must maintain a “sharps injury log” with information about any “percutaneous injuries from contaminated sharps,” such as needlesticks.148
Fifth, the employer must develop a written “exposure control plan” that de- scribes how the employer determined which employees have occupational expo- sure as well as methods the employer will use to comply with the standard.149
Finally, required employee medical records, such as post-exposure medical examinations, must be kept in accordance with the Medical Records Access stan- dard (Section 1910.1020), which is discussed in the next section.
4.4 The Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records Standard
The Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records standard (the “Access standard”) contains requirements for providing access to specific types of records to employees and their representatives, and also governs how long records must be retained. The standard applies to employers in the general, construction and maritime industries.150
The Access standard requires employers to retain the types of records re- quired by the health standards discussed in the previous section. Specifically, em- ployers are required to retain “employee medical records” and “employee exposure records.” An employee medical record concerns the “health status of an em- ployee” and is “made or maintained by a physician, nurse, or other health care personnel, or technician.” Medical records include: “medical and employment questionnaires or histories”; “results of medical examinations,” such as pre- employment or periodic physical examinations, work-related laboratory tests or X-rays; “medical opinions, diagnoses, progress notes and recommendation”; “first aid records,” “descriptions of treatments and prescriptions,” and; “employee med-
138 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
146 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(f )(5). 147 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(h)(2). 148 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(h)(5). 149 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(c). 150 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020.
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ical complaints.” Medical records do not include actual physical specimens, health insurance records that are maintained by the employer’s health insurance company that are “not accessible to the employer by employee name or other di- rect personal identifier,” records that are privileged under the attorney-client priv- ilege or attorney work product doctrine, or records resulting from employee as- sistance programs, such as drug or alcohol counseling services.151
“Employee exposure records” are defined as having the following types of in- formation: results from “environmental (workplace) monitoring or measuring of a toxic substance or harmful physical agent,” such as personal or area sampling results; “biological monitoring results,” such as blood or urine tests; material safety data sheets; and records like chemical inventories that show where and when chemicals were used.152
Employers are required to maintain employee medical records for the dura- tion of employment plus thirty years.153 Employers are not required to meet this retention period for “health insurance claims records maintained separately from the employer’s medical program and its records” or “first aid records” for minor scratches, cuts or similar injuries that do not result in an entry on the employer’s OSHA 300 Log.154 Employers are not required to maintain medical records for employees who work at the facility for less than one year as long as the records are provided to the employee upon termination of employment.155
Employers are generally required to maintain employee exposure records for a total of thirty years regardless of how long the employee is employed at the fa- cility. “Background data” like laboratory reports and worksheets from workplace monitoring must only be kept for one year as long as a report with the results is maintained. MSDSs for substances that are no longer at the facility do not have to be maintained for any specified period as long as the employer maintains for 30 years a record of when and where particular substances were used.156
The purpose of maintaining employee medical and exposure records is to provide access to employees, their designated representatives, and OSHA. Em- ployees and their designated representatives must generally be given access to all employee exposure records upon request.157 Employees must be given access to their own medical records, and designated employee representatives and OSHA
Recordkeeping ❖ 139
151 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(c)(6)(i). 152 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(c)(5). 153 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(d)(1)(i). 154 Id. 155 Id. 156 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(d)(1)(ii). 157 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(e)(2)(i).
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are permitted to review personally identifiable medical records only if they have written consent from the employee.158
If an employer ceases to do business, all records covered by the standard must be transferred to the successor employer. If there is no successor employer, then current employees must be notified of their rights to access records at least three months before the business closes. In addition, records must be sent to the Na- tional Institute of Occupational Safety and Health if the employer ceases to do business and there is no successor or the employer plans to dispose of any records required to be maintained for at least 30 years.159
5.0 Using Records to Prove Compliance
Even if particular OSHA standards do not require a written record, employers may, as a practical matter, have to prepare written records to prove compliance in the event of an enforcement action. For example, the Respiratory Protection standard requires employers to provide training to employees who wear respirators, but does not have any explicit requirements to document the training.160 Similarly, the Noise standard requires employers to provide annual training on the “effects of noise on hearing,” “the purpose of hearing protectors,” and “the purpose of audio- metric testing.”161 Although the standard requires employers to provide “materials related to the employer’s training” to OSHA, no explicit recordkeeping provisions are included in the standard.162 Even though no records are required by these and other standards, written records will be the most effective way to prove that the em- ployer complied with the standards in the event of an OSHA inspection.
Employers also often rely upon written records to prove that employees have been informed of safety requirements. For example, the employer may have spe- cific safety rules that prohibit employees from operating equipment when machine guarding has been removed. No OSHA standard requires this type of written rule. If, however, OSHA inspects the facility and observes employees working on un- guarded equipment, the employer will be able to show that it had written rules prohibiting this conduct and trained employees on the requirements of the rule. By presenting these documents to OSHA, the employer may be able to show that the OSHA violation resulted from unpreventable employee misconduct and the employer is therefore not liable.
140 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
158 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1020(e)(2)(ii). See also 29 C.F.R. Part 1913.10 (rules governing OSHA access to medical records).
159 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.1030(h). 160 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.134(k). 161 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.95(k). 162 Id.
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Finally, employers often develop documents such as audits or inspection checklists that may be used to prove that a particular hazard was addressed. For example, OSHA’s general housekeeping standard requires floors to be clean and dry and requires aisles to be clear.163 Written safety rules and checklists for peri- odic inspections of the worksite may be used to show OSHA that the employer made reasonable efforts to ensure that the housekeeping requirements were met. Through these types of documents, the employer may be able to show that it could not have had knowledge of housekeeping violations that did not exist for extended periods of time.
Recordkeeping ❖ 141
163 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.22.
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Chapter 6
Employers’ and Employees’ Rights John B. O’Loughlin, Jr., Esq. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and its implementing regula- tions vest employers and employees with a wide range of rights and protections. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a concise summary of those rights. The chapters throughout this handbook contain descriptions of employers’ and em- ployees’ rights in the context of the procedural or substantive issues addressed within each chapter. For example, chapter 10 contains a discussion of employers’ and employees’ rights during an inspection, whereas chapters 11 and 13 discuss in more detail the due process rights of employers to challenge an enforcement action.
As will be seen, some of what have become known as rights of employees are not expressly set forth in the OSH Act or implementing regulations as “rights” per se, but instead are affirmative regulatory obligations imposed on employers. Consequently, the OSH Act does not allow employees to sue their employers for failing to meet those obligations.
Except where noted, the following discussion does not address certain work- place rights and protections provided by other statutes or common law legal the- ories, such as protection against unfair labor practices or job discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion, national origin, or other unlawful grounds.
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2.0 Employers’ Rights
2.1 Inspections and Warrants1
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections of work- places are the primary mechanism for enforcing safety standards and the general duty clause and identifying imminent hazards. Section 8(a) of the OSH Act pro- vides OSHA’ authority to enter and inspect worksites during reasonable times.2
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Consti- tution to require either a warrant or the employer’s consent to the inspection.3
Warrants can be broad or narrow in scope, and the employer may insist that the inspection of its premises be limited to those areas or work practices specified in the warrant. Similarly, the employer has the right to place conditions on its vol- untary consent to an inspection. The employer may insist on a warrant at any time, even after it has consented initially to a search. Although employers do not have a right to participate in warrant proceedings before a federal magistrate, an employer can challenge the validity of a warrant during a subsequent enforce- ment proceeding.4 An employer can face contempt proceedings and fines for fail- ing to permit an inspection pursuant to a warrant.5
Under limited circumstances, OSHA has the authority to enter and inspect a worksite without obtaining a warrant or the employer’s express consent. For ex- ample, the worksite may be controlled by a third party who may consent to the inspection.6 In addition, because the standard for consent to administrative searches is less stringent than that required for consent to a criminal search, courts have held that the mere failure of the employer to object constituted consent.7 Fi- nally, inspectors may gather information about hazardous conditions that are in plain view even if the purpose of their otherwise lawful presence is unrelated to the alleged violation they observe.8
If an inspection is scheduled in response to a complaint rather than as a mat- ter of routine oversight, employers are entitled to receive a copy of the complaint submitted by an employee or employee representative.9 If an inspection reveals that there is an imminent hazard, the inspector must notify the employer imme-
144 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
1 See chapters 10 and 14 of this text. 2 29 U.S.C. § 657(a). 3 Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978). 4 Baldwin Metals Co. v. Donovan, 642 F.2d 768, 771–777 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 826 (1981). 5 Rockford Drop Forge Co. v. Donovan, 672 F.2d 626 (7th Cir. 1982). 6 See, for example, J.L. Foti Constr. Co. v. Donovan, 786 F.2d 714 (6th Cir. 1986). 7 United States v. Thriftmarts Inc., 429 F.2d 1006 (9th Cir. 1970). 8 Lake Butler Apparel Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 519 F.2d 84, 88 (5th Cir. 1975). 9 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1).
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diately and request that the employer remove its employees or immediately abate the hazard.10 Inspectors do not, however, have the authority to shut down a fa- cility or order an employer to abate a hazard. If the employer does not abate a hazard voluntarily, the inspector must institute an imminent hazard proceeding and seek a court order to compel the employer to abate the hazard or shut down the facility. The employer has the right to appear and be heard if OSHA seeks a temporary restraining order in a court proceeding.11
Even if an employer immediately abates an imminent hazard, the inspector must nevertheless issue a citation and penalty.12 In addition, if an inspector ob- serves violations that do not qualify as imminent hazards, the inspector usually will issue a citation shortly after the inspection. As discussed below, employers have the right to challenge all citations.
2.2 Challenging Citations and Civil Penalties13
Employers may challenge any adverse citation, civil penalty, or abatement order by filing a Notice of Contest (NOC) with the Commission within 15 working days of receipt of the violation.14 The filing of an NOC by an employer begins the formal process leading to a full evidentiary hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). During the trial, employers enjoy many procedural and sub- stantive protections designed to preserve their right to due process.15 In addition, employers may seek a discretionary review by the Commission of an adverse ALJ decision. Employers also may submit a Petition for Modification of Abatement (PMA) if the required abatement cannot be completed on time due to factors be- yond the control of the employer or if abatement would cause significant finan- cial hardship to the employer.16
Employers often enter into informal settlement negotiations with the OSHA area director to reclassify the seriousness of an alleged violation (e.g., from serious to nonserious) or reduce the amount of the penalty. Settlements are contingent upon the employer correcting the violation voluntarily. As a contingency, employ- ers are advised for two reasons to file an NOC even if settlement negotiations are already underway. First, the requirement to file the NOC within 15 days is not tolled during negotiations, so the failure to file can result in the citation becoming
Employers’ and Employees’ Rights ❖ 145
10 29 U.S.C. § 662(c). 11 Marshall v. Whirlpool Corp., 593 F.2d 715 (6th Cir. 1979), aff ’d, 455 U.S. 1 (1980). 12 OSHA is not required to initiate an imminent danger proceeding if the employer voluntarily abates the haz-
ard. The employer retains the right to challenge the citation through a Notice of Contest. 13 See chapter 11 of this text. 14 29 C.F.R. § 2200.33. 15 29 C.F.R. § 2200. 16 29 C.F.R. § 1903.14a.
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a final order not subject to review by the Commission if the matter is not settled. Second, the filing of an NOC delays the start of the abatement period until the Commission issues a final order. Employers also may withdraw a challenge any time during the process. Therefore, other than administrative and legal costs, there appears to be no downside to preserving the employer’s rights by filing an NOC. Similarly, if the employer files a timely PMA requesting additional time to imple- ment the abatement, the beginning of the abatement period is tolled until the Commission issues a final order.
2.3 Judicial Review17
Any employer adversely affected by a final Commission order may file an appeal in the appropriate U.S. circuit court of appeal.18 The federal circuit courts have exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals of final orders of the Commission. Review by a circuit court panel is generally restricted to the issues preserved for appeal and is decided on the basis of the written record of the proceedings below, the briefs submitted by the parties, and oral argument.19 Employers may also petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a discretionary review of an adverse decision by the court of appeals.20
2.4 Participation in Rulemakings21
Under Section 6 of the OSH Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, em- ployers and their trade associations must have notice of any proposed OSHA rule, an opportunity to provide comments on the proposed rule, and an oppor- tunity to challenge a final rule in court before it goes into effect.22 The Act also requires OSHA to hold a formal hearing if one is requested during the period prior to the promulgation of a final rule.23 As a practical matter, OSHA usually includes hearing dates in the Federal Register notice of proposed rulemaking be- cause at least one affected party usually requests a hearing. Employers and other parties may preserve their right to participate in rulemaking hearings by filing a Notice of Intent to Appear. Parties participating in the hearing have the right to testify, question other witnesses, and submit post-hearing comments and briefs.24
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17 See chapter 13 of this text. 18 29 U.S.C. § 660. 19 Id. 20 Id. 21 See chapter 2 of this text. 22 29 U.S.C. § 655. See also the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553. 23 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(3). 24 29 C.F.R. Part 1911.
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A party waiving its right to testify at the hearing may still submit comments and briefs after the hearing.
An employer may challenge a final OSHA safety standard or other regulation prior to 60 days after the date the rule is published in the Federal Register.25 Chal- lenges cannot only attack the substantive basis for the rule (e.g., by claiming that it is not technically or economically feasible), but may also focus on any proce- dural deficiencies in the rulemaking process (e.g., by claiming that OSHA failed to provide adequate opportunity for notice and comment, or that the rulemak- ing record did not contain adequate substantiation for the rule).26
Employers have the right to seek temporary relief from compliance with OSHA standards if they make a good-faith showing that they need more time to comply.27 In addition, if an employer can show that alternative practices and con- trol measures provide protection to employees that is equivalent to that provided by the standard in question, OSHA may grant the employer a permanent vari- ance or issue a letter of interpretation that the violation will not trigger enforce- ment action.28
2.5 Protection of Trade Secrets29
Section 8(c) of the OSH Act requires employers to “make, keep and preserve, and make available” for inspection records prescribed in the OSHA regulations.30 Un- der certain circumstances, employers can request that OSHA protect proprietary and sensitive business information they submit to the agency.31 An employer can demand that OSHA obtain a subpoena or warrant before providing access to records.32 On the other hand, access to records that employers must maintain in accordance with the OSHA regulations, such as access to employee injury logs, may not require a warrant.33
If an employer is obligated to submit information to the agency, it may nev- ertheless designate the information as confidential, which restricts the extent to which OSHA may disseminate the information to third parties. For example, during a contest challenging a final Commission order, an employer may seek the
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25 29 U.S.C. § 655(f ). 26 Associated Indus. of New York State, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t. of Labor, 487 F.2d 342 (2d Cir. 1973). 27 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(6)(A). 28 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(6) and (d); 29 C.F.R. Part 1905. 29 See chapters 5 and 8 of this text. 30 29 U.S.C. § 657(c). 31 29 U.S.C. § 664; 29 C.F.R. § 1903.9(c). 32 McLaughlin v. Kings Island, 849 F.2d 991, 995 (6th Cir. 1988). 33 Secretary v. Monfort of Colorado, Inc., 14 BNA OSHC 2055 (OSHRC 1991).
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court’s protection of information provided in the discovery process so that it is not made part of the public record or otherwise subject to release upon requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.34 Similarly, employers can des- ignate confidential records submitted during an inspection and can inform the inspector that certain areas of the workplace are competition sensitive to prevent potentially harmful disclosure.35 To prevent disclosure to third parties, the em- ployer should clearly designate on documents and other records that they contain confidential business information.
The Hazard Communication Standard requires employers to provide safety and health information about hazardous chemicals in the workplace.36 As long as the employer provides the required Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each hazardous chemical, and the MSDS adequately describes the known risks and symptoms of exposure to a substance and the proper medical or emergency re- sponse methods, an employer does not have the authority to violate the confi- dentiality of chemical identities that are justifiably withheld by their suppliers. Notably, this provision is protective not of the employer’s rights but of its sup- pliers’ trade secrets.
3.0 Employees’ Rights
Employees enjoy significant rights under the OSH Act and the implementing regulations. These include the right of employees to complain about health and safety conditions at the worksite, the right to remove themselves from hazardous situations, the right against retaliation for complaining or refusing to work, the right to have an employee representative accompany OSHA personnel during workplace inspections, and the right to contest the time permitted for an em- ployer to abate a violation. As mentioned at the outset, the so-called employee “right” to obtain access to workplace information is more accurately characterized as an affirmative regulatory obligation imposed on employers.
3.1 Complaints37
Employees have the right to file complaints about worksite conditions or practices that they believe violate OSHA regulations or pose an imminent danger to their health and safety.38 Although at one time OSHA distinguished between formal and
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34 29 U.S.C. § 664. See also 29 C.F.R. § 2200.52(d). 35 29 C.F.R. § 1903.9. 36 29 C.F.R. § 1900.1200. 37 See chapter 7 of this text. 38 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11(a).
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informal complaints, current practice requires only that the employee or employee representative give reasonably specific notice of the alleged violation and request an inspection by the area director or a compliance safety and health officer.39 In addi- tion, an employee may, prior to or during a workplace inspection by OSHA per- sonnel, notify the inspector in writing of violations the employee believes to exist in the worksite.40 All complaints must be signed by the employee.41 OSHA must pro- vide a copy of the complaint to the employer no later than at the time of inspection, but OSHA must withhold the identity of the employee filing the complaint if so re- quested.42 Employees also may seek a writ of mandamus if they believe the Secre- tary of Labor has wrongly declined to seek a temporary restraining order to abate an imminent hazard, although this is a rarely—if ever—used provision.43
3.2 Refusal to Work44
Employees have the right to refuse to perform a task if they have a good-faith ba- sis for believing they would be exposed to an imminent hazard.45 Although this right is not expressly set forth in the OSH Act, the Supreme Court has upheld the OSHA regulation establishing this important right.46 The right of self-help is particularly important because employees are powerless to force an employer to abate an imminent hazard and, under the federal program, OSHA must obtain a court order to compel an employer to abate an imminent hazard. Before refusing to perform a task, however, the employee first should ask the employer to elimi- nate the hazard.47 If a reasonable person would agree that there is a real risk of se- rious injury or death, if there is insufficient time for the employee to seek an OSHA inspection, and if the employer fails to address the problem, the employee will have a good-faith basis for refusing to perform a task.48 This right does not, however, give employees the unlimited right to walk off the job, and it does not require an employer to pay employees for time not worked.49
In addition to the protections found in the OSH Act, two provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provide limited protection for employees
Employers’ and Employees’ Rights ❖ 149
39 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11(a). 40 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(2); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11(c). 41 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11(a). 42 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1). 43 29 U.S.C. § 662(d). 44 See chapter 7 of this text. 45 29 C.F.R. § 1977.12(b)(2). 46 Whirlpool Corp. v. Marshall, 445 U.S. 1 (1980). 47 Id. at 10. 48 29 C.F.R. § 1977.12. 49 See Whirlpool, 445 U.S. at 17–19.
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who refuse to work on safety-related grounds. The NLRA allows unionized em- ployees to enter into collective bargaining agreements containing no-strike clauses and, in general, employees can be disciplined for violating a no-strike pro- vision even if the basis for the labor action was related to workplace safety. Sec- tion 502 of the NLRA provides an exception that the quitting of labor by an em- ployee in good faith because of abnormally dangerous conditions shall not be deemed a strike.50 The Supreme Court has held, however, that for the section 502 exception to be invoked, there must be objective evidence of an unreasonable risk of harm.51 In addition, the right of workers to collectively leave work to protest safety conditions may be protected under section 7 of the NLRA.52 In any event, unionized employees should also be aware of limits that may be imposed upon them by the applicable arbitration provisions set forth in their collective bargain- ing agreement.
3.3 Protection from Discrimination53
Employers may not discriminate against employees who have complained or tes- tified about workplace conditions or who in good faith refuse to perform a task because of an imminent danger. Section 11(c)(1) of the OSH Act provides:
No person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against any em- ployee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding or because of the exercise by such employee on behalf of himself or others of any right af- forded by this Act.54
Conduct short of termination can qualify for discriminatory conduct. For ex- ample, suspension, time off without pay, demotion, or reduction in responsibil- ity or pay can constitute discrimination.55 Section 11 does not create a private right for employees to take legal action against their employers.56 Instead, em- ployees who believe that they have been unfairly disciplined for asserting their rights under the Act (e.g., by refusing to work, requesting an inspection, partici-
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50 29 U.S.C. § 143. 51 Gateway Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers, 414 U.S. 368, 386 (1974). 52 29 U.S.C. § 157. See also, NLRB v. Washington Aluminum, 370 U.S. 9 (1962) (holding that collective
protest of safety conditions may be protected “concerted activity”). 53 See chapter 7 of this text. 54 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11(d). 55 Marshall v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 8 BNA OSHC 1637 (D.C. Ill. 1980). 56 See, for example, Ellis v. Chase Communications, Inc., 63 F.3d 473 (6th Cir. 1995).
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pating in inspections or enforcement) must file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor within 30 days of the alleged violation.57
3.4 Participation in Inspections and Enforcement58
Employees have a right to participate in an inspection.59 OSHA inspectors rou- tinely include employees or their representatives in the opening and closing con- ferences with management as well as during the walk-through inspection of the facility.60 An employee representative may be an employee selected by fellow em- ployees, a union official, industrial hygienist, safety engineer, or other consultant designated by employees to represent their interests.61 The inspector has the right to limit the number of participants to prevent the inspection party from becom- ing unwieldy. OSHA encourages its inspectors to interview individual employees as part of the inspection, and employees may initiate contact with inspectors and may volunteer to meet with inspectors in confidence outside of the workplace. Employers are not required to pay employees for time they spend participating in inspections.62
In addition to the right of employees to request an inspection leading to pos- sible enforcement actions, employees become aware of their opportunity to par- ticipate in enforcement proceedings because employers are required to post cita- tions at a conspicuous place in the worksite. During the 15-day period following the receipt of a citation by the employer, employees or their representatives may request an informal conference with the OSHA area director to discuss the cita- tion, penalty, or abatement, and OSHA has the authority to adjust the citation as a result of the informal conference.
Section 11(a) of the OSH Act authorizes employees and employee repre- sentatives to challenge formally the time permitted for an employer to abate a violation or unsafe workplace condition.63 The Act does not, however, grant employees a right to directly challenge a citation or penalty.64 Instead, employ- ees can elect to intervene in the employer’s NOC. Employers must post the NOC in the same location as the citation to provide employees or their repre- sentatives the opportunity to become a party to the NOC proceedings. By
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57 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)(2). 58 See chapter 10 of this text. 59 29 U.S.C. § 657(a)(2), (e), and (f )(2). 60 OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual CPL 2.103, § II.A.2.h. 61 29 C.F.R. § 1903.8(c); OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual CPL 2.103, § II.A.2.h. 62 Chamber of Commerce v. OSHA, 636 F.2d 464 (D.C. Cir. 1980). 63 29 U.S.C. § 659(c); 29 C.F.R. § 1903.17(b). 64 See Marshall v. Sun Petroleum Prods. Co., 622 F.2d 1176 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1061 (1980).
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electing to become a party to the NOC proceeding, the employee or employee representative has the right to introduce evidence and cross-examine witnesses called by the employer or OSHA.65 Once an employee or employee represen- tative elects party status before the Commission, he or she can also appeal final decisions of the Commission to an appropriate U.S. circuit court of appeals and seek discretionary review by the Supreme Court of an adverse circuit court decision.66 Even if they have not elected party status, employees must be pro- vided written notice of a proposed settlement so that they can file objections with the ALJ within 10 days after the proposed settlement has been reached.67
Employees and their unions do not have the authority to continue an enforce- ment action if OSHA withdraws a citation.68 Finally, if an employer seeks a variance from compliance with an OSHA standard, employees and their repre- sentatives must be given advance notice and an opportunity to participate in a hearing.69
3.5 Access to Information
Employees have a number of ways to learn of workplace hazards. Section 8(c) of the OSH Act and its implementing regulations require employers to keep and maintain a variety of records, including records of workplace injuries and fatali- ties.70 Any current or former employee, or their designated representative, must be provided access to these records.71 In addition, employers are required to post an annual summary of workplace injuries for the previous year in a conspicuous place accessible to employees.72 If an employer maintains medical records of em- ployees, the regulations require the employer to provide access to the affected em- ployee or his or her representative upon the employee’s instruction.73 The so- called access rule requires employers to maintain and make available certain employee medical and exposure records for up to 30 years following termination of employment.74
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65 29 C.F.R. Part 2200. 66 29 U.S.C. § 660. 67 29 C.F.R. § 2200.100(c). 68 Cuyahoga Valley Ry. v. United Transp. Union, 474 U.S. 3 (1985). 69 29 U.S.C. § 665. 70 29 U.S.C. § 657(c)(1); 29 C.F.R. Part 1904. 71 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7(b). 72 29 C.F.R. § 1904.5. 73 See 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1020 App. A. 74 See 29 U.S.C. § 657(c)(3); 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1020. There are some exceptions to the 30-year requirement,
such as when the worker is employed for less than one year or where an OSHA rule, such as the noise stan- dard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.95, specifies a shorter time for records retention.
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Section 8(c)(3) of the OSH Act requires employers to allow employees or their representatives to observe the sampling or monitoring of hazards in the workplace. Some OSHA standards include express sampling provisions.75
The Hazard Communication Standard requires employers to provide em- ployees with information about the substances to which employees are exposed on the job.76 This rule requires the employer to prepare a written hazard com- munication program and maintain Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) for each chemical in the workplace. These materials must be accessible to employees at the worksite.77
Not all employer records are accessible by employees, however. For example, in BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc.,78 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that an employer’s report, which had been prepared to assist counsel in an- ticipation of litigation concerning OSHA citations, was covered by the attorney- client privilege and not subject to disclosure to employees.
4.0 Conclusion
The OSH Act and implementing regulations create a number of rights for em- ployers and employees alike. Both employers and employees may participate in rulemakings and in the inspection and enforcement processes. The rights of em- ployees are somewhat narrower during enforcement, however, because the obli- gations and restrictions created by the OSH Act fall primarily on employers, and the notion of due process requires OSHA to afford employers an opportunity to defend themselves when charged with a violation. The regulations also create a number of obligations for employers to provide workplace health and safety in- formation to employees and the government. Strictly speaking, these are not “rights” of employees since only OSHA can punish violating employers. Never- theless, the increasingly widespread notion of the employee’s “right to know” has made such obligations an undeniable expectation of workers in most industries.
Employers’ and Employees’ Rights ❖ 153
75 See, for example, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.95(f ) (employees permitted to observe taking of noise measurements). 76 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200. 77 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.1200(b)(3)(ii), (b)(4)(ii), (f )(6), (g)(8), (g)(10). 78 337 NLRB No. 141, 170 LRRM (BNA) 1289 (2002).
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Chapter 7
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection Kenneth B. Siepman, Esq. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Indianapolis, Indiana
1.0 Overview
This chapter discusses the protection afforded by the law to employees who either refuse to perform an assigned task on the grounds that it presents a danger to safety or health1 or register a complaint—that is, “blow the whistle”—regarding a haz- ardous condition.
Employer-employee relationships in the United States historically have been governed by the doctrine of employment at will. Under this doctrine, in the ab- sence of a contract of employment for a fixed term, an employee may leave his employment at any time, and the employer may discharge an employee at any time for any reason, good or bad, or indeed for no reason at all.
The at-will doctrine has undergone continuing erosion. Not only do state and federal statutes create exceptions, but courts have also found or created exceptions under various common law theories. Further, collective bargaining agreements usually provide that employees can be terminated only for cause.
1 Hereinafter, “safety” includes “health.”
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2.0 Refusal to Work
2.1 Federal Statutes
A number of federal statutes protect employees, under certain circumstances, from being discharged or disciplined for refusing to perform an assigned task.2
Our discussion is limited to the protection afforded under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act (“the Act”)3 and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), as amended.4
2.1.1 Occupational Safety and Health Act
While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not ex- pressly confer upon employees a right to refuse to work, Section 11(c) of the Act prohibits discrimination against an employee because he has filed a complaint, taken part in any legal proceeding brought under OSHA, or exercised “on behalf of himself or others . . . any right afforded” by the Act.5
The Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) interpreted this clause to entail a right to refuse to work and, accordingly, promulgated a regulation found at 29 CFR § 1977.12. Under this regulation, an employee cannot be disciplined for refusing to perform work if (1) such refusal was made in good faith and not for some ulterior purpose; (2) the refusal is based upon the existence of a dangerous condition such that a reasonable person faced with the same situation would conclude that there is a real danger of death or serious injury; (3) there was in- sufficient time to deal with the hazard through the use of the ordinary enforce- ment mechanisms provided by the Act; and (4) “where possible,” the employee has first tried to get his employer to eliminate or correct the perceived danger- ous conditions.
The leading case upholding an employee’s right to refuse to perform dan- gerous work under OSHA is Whirlpool Corp. v. Marshall, 445 U.S. 1 (1980). In Whirlpool, the Supreme Court upheld the Secretary’s regulation and,
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2 See, for example, Surface Transportation Assistance Act, 49 U.S.C. § 31105(a) (commercial driver may re- fuse to operate a vehicle when the operation would violate a regulation or safety standard or when he or she reasonably apprehends that the conditions of the vehicle makes injury to the driver or the public a risk); Federal Railroad Safety Act, 49 U.S.C. § 20109(b) (a railroad carrier may not discriminate against or dis- charge an employee who, in good faith, refuses to work when confronted with a condition that a reasonable employee would believe either presents an imminent risk of serious injury or death or that cannot be cor- rected through regular statutory means due to the urgency of the situation if the employee has notified his or her employer of the condition in a timely manner).
3 29 U.S.C. § 651 et seq. 4 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq. 5 29 U.S.C. § 660(c).
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through that prism, examined the claims of two workers who were repri- manded after refusing to walk out onto a wire mesh screen suspended 20 feet above the plant floor. The Court, applying the regulation, held that the two men had been improperly disciplined (just two weeks earlier a man had fallen through the screen to his death, and the employees had several times requested that the mesh screen be strengthened). But the Court stressed that Whirlpool could have stayed within the law simply by reassigning the employees to other nonhazardous work and could have disciplined the employees if they had re- fused to perform it.
The Whirlpool holding remains good law. Recognizing the potential for abuse, however, subsequent courts have required “objective evidence” demonstrating the existence of the hazardous condition to show that an employee’s apprehension was reasonable.6
2.1.1.1 Enforcing Rights under OSHA
OSHA does not give employees a private right of action.7 Only the Secretary can bring an action to enforce an employee’s Section 11(c) right to refuse to perform hazardous work.
An employee who believes he has been disciplined in violation of Section 11(c) must file a complaint with the Secretary within 30 days of the alleged vio- lation.8 This period may, however, be extended or “tolled . . . on recognized eq- uitable principles or because of strongly extenuating circumstances.”9 Upon re- ceiving the complaint, the Secretary makes a determination whether Section 11(c) has been violated, and, upon that determination, may bring suit against the employer. Although the Secretary is supposed to notify the complaining em- ployee of his determination within 90 days,10 the Secretary often takes longer to decide whether to file an action. Moreover, the 90-day limit is intended for the
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6 See,for example, Marshall v. National Indus. Constructors, 8 OSHC 1117 (D.Neb. 1980) (finding no objec- tive evidence to justify the employee’s refusal to work).
7 Ellis v. Chase Communications, Inc. 63 F.3d 473, 477 (6th Cir. 1995) (“OSHA does not create a private right of action”).
8 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)(2). 9 29 C.F.R. § 1977.15(d)(3). Essentially, the 30-day limit operates as a statute of limitations. If the period ex-
pires because the employer has “lulled” the employee into not exercising statutory rights, equitable rules may allow an extension. For example, in Donovan v. Hahner, Foreman & Harness, Inc., 11 OSHC (BNA) 1081 (D. KAN. 1982), aff ’d 736 F.2d 1421 (10th Cir. 1984), the Court held that the 30-day period was tolled because the employer led the employee to believe he was laid off, when in fact he had been fired. On the other hand, the regulation expressly states that the pendency of a grievance under a collective bargaining agreement or a complaint before another agency does not justify tolling the 30-day period.
10 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)(3).
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benefit of the complainant, not the employer, and the Secretary can bring an ac- tion outside its limits with impunity.11
Workers’ attempts to force the Secretary to sue on their behalf have proven unsuccessful.12
2.1.1.2 Secretary’s Burden in Litigation
The Secretary has the burden to prove that an employer violated Section 11(c). To succeed, the Secretary must produce evidence that (1) the employee had rea- sonable fear of serious injury or death, (2) there was insufficient time to eliminate the danger through regular statutory enforcement mechanisms, and (3) circum- stances permitting, the employee tried unsuccessfully to have the employer cor- rect the dangerous condition.13
2.1.1.3 Burden Shifting Analysis
Courts apply a “burden shifting” analysis, adopted from Title VII discrimination cases, to determine whether an employer violated Section 11(c).14 Under this analysis, the Secretary must first demonstrate that the employee engaged in pro- tected activity, and that as a result of doing so, the employee suffered “an adverse action.”15 If the Secretary makes this showing, the burden shifts to the employer to articulate a nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment action, such as, for example, poor performance or insubordination. If the employer articulates a non-discriminatory reason, the burden shifts back to the Secretary to prove that this reason is a mere “pretext” for discrimination—that is, a false reason designed to cover an illegal motive.
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11 See, for example, Donovan v. Freeway Construction Co., 551 F.Supp. 869, 878 (D. R.I. 1982) (in rejecting an employer’s argument that the Secretary’s failure to institute an action within 90 days precluded the suit, the court noted “The defendant may not pervert a statutory provision protecting employees against em- ployer harassment in order to insulate itself against an action brought in response to a [Section 11(c)] grievance”)
12 Wood v. Department of Labor, 275 F.3d 107 (D.C. Cir. 2001). 13 See Chao v. Karamourtopoulos, 2006 DNH 40, 21 OSHC (BNA) 1474 (D. N.H. 2006). 14 See Gombash v. Vesuvius USA, Inc., 380 F.Supp. 2d 977 (N.D. Ill. 2005). 15 Recently, in a retaliation case under Title VII, the Supreme Court held that “a plaintiff must show that a
reasonable employee would have found the challenged action materially adverse, which in this context means it well might have dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrim- ination.” Burlington N. & S. Railway Co. v. White, 126 S.Ct. 2405, 2415 (2006). See also Hendrix v. American Airlines, Inc., 2004-AIR-10, 2004 SOX-23, slip op. at 11-14 (ALJ Dec. 9, 2004) (analyzing di- vergent administrative decisions on the meaning of “adverse action” under whistleblower protection statutes).
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2.1.1.4 Remedies
OSHA provides that where an employee has been discriminated against in viola- tion of Section 11(c), the court may restrain all such violations and “order all ap- propriate relief including rehiring or reinstatement . . . with back pay.”16 “All ap- propriate relief ” can include compensatory and punitive damages.17
2.1.2 National Labor Relations Act18
Although the principle purpose of the NLRA is to encourage the resolution of workplace disputes through collective bargaining, two sections of the NLRA pro- tect employees who refuse to perform unsafe work.
The first is Section 7 of the Act, which provides that employees have the right to “engage in . . . concerted activities for the purpose of . . . other mutual aid or protection.”19
The second is Section 502 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA), which amended the NLRA.20 Section 502 provides that the “quitting of labor by an employee or employees in good faith because of abnormally dan- gerous conditions for work at the place of employment [shall not] be deemed a strike under this Act.” Section 502 principally protects unionized employees by creating a statutory override of collective bargaining agreements that contain no- strike clauses under which employees who cause a work interruption can be dis- ciplined.
2.1.2.1 Protection under Section 7
Section 7 prohibits an employer from disciplining employees for a concerted ac- tivity protesting unsafe working conditions. The seminal case is NLRB v. Wash- ington Aluminum, 370 U.S. 9 (1962), in which employees were discharged for walking off the job in protest of extremely cold conditions in the work area after a furnace failed. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Supreme Court found that firing the employees was an “unfair labor practice” because they were engaged in “concerted activity” for “mutual aid or protection.” The Court
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection ❖ 159
16 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)(2). 17 Reich v. Cambridgeport Air Systems, Inc., 26 F.3d 1187, 1191–1192 (1st Cir. 1994) (upholding district
court’s award of damages equal to twice the employees’ lost back pay); see also Franklin v. Gwinnett County Pub. Sch., 503 U.S. 60 (1992) (holding that absent a clear indication from Congress, all remedies are pre- sumed available in actions brought pursuant to a federal statute).
18 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. 19 29 U.S.C. § 157. 20 29 U.S.C. § 143.
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in Washington Aluminum held that “reasonableness” does not play any role in the identification of protected concerted conduct—that “it has long been settled that the reasonableness of workers’ decisions to engage in concerted activity is irrele- vant to the determination of whether a labor dispute exists or not.”21 The Court followed up by stating that when concerted activity in a labor dispute is covered by the NLRA, only steps that are “unlawful, violent or in breach of contract . . . [or] characterized as ‘indefensible’ because they . . . show a disloyalty to the work- ers’ employer” are subject to penalty.22
Accordingly, the protection afforded by Section 7 depends not on the rea- sonableness of the employees’ refusal to work, but on whether the refusal is “con- certed” activity. But what actually counts as “concerted”?
The NLRB considered this precise question in its Meyers decisions.23 In the first of these cases, the board held that an activity is concerted if it is “engaged in with or on the authority of other employees, and not solely by and on behalf of the employee himself.”24 In the second case, the board explained that its standard “encompasses those circumstances where individual employees seek to initiate or to induce or to prepare for group action, as well as individual em- ployees bringing truly group complaints to the attention of management.”25 In Meyers, an employee was discharged in part because he refused to drive a truck that he claimed to be unsafe. The board concluded that “concerted activity” is “collective” in nature and that the driver’s refusal to drive the truck was for his own individual interest and was not collective in nature, thus not “concerted activity.”
A union-represented employee whose refusal to work due to unsafe work conditions can be construed as an attempt to enforce a labor agreement will gen- erally satisfy this “collective” requirement26; a single, nonunion employee refus- ing to do work will not unless there is evidence the employee was acting “with or on the authority of other employees.”
Note that the lack of specific authorization by the other employees does not necessarily cast a single employee’s protest outside the protection of Section 7. An
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21 Washington Aluminum, 370 U.S. at 16. 22 Id. at 17. 23 Meyers Indus., Inc., (“Meyers I”) 268 N.L.R.B. 493 (1984), on remand, Meyers Indus., Inc., (“Meyers II”)
281 N.L.R.B. 882 (1986), aff ’d. 835 F.2d 1481 (D.C. Cir. 1987), cert. denied 487 U.S. 1205 (1988). 24 Meyers I at 497 (footnote omitted). 25 Meyers II at 887. 26 See NLRB v. City Disposal Sys., 465 U.S. 822 (1984) (employee that refused to drive a vehicle he believed
was unsafe engaged in protected concerted activity where he relied on an express provision of the collective bargaining agreement to support his refusal).
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employee can satisfy the “with or on the authority of other employees” require- ment by voicing shared group concerns.27
2.1.2.2 Comparison of Section 7 and Section 502
Section 502 is significantly narrower than Section 7. Under Section 7, a good- faith belief that danger exists is sufficient to protect action, so long as it is “con- certed.” Under Section 502, in addition to a good-faith belief, there must be “as- certainable objective evidence” that an “abnormally dangerous” condition for work exists28 (emphasis added). Many jobs are, for lack of a better term, “nor- mally dangerous” to one degree or another, and Section 502 does not provide a general right for employees in dangerous professions to refuse to work. Finally, the employee’s refusal must be based on an “identifiable, presently existing threat” not some vague general safety concern.29
2.1.2.3 Cooperation between OSHA and the NLRB
To avoid unnecessary litigation and conflicting enforcement efforts, the NLRB and OSHA have agreed that when a charge of retaliation that would be covered by Section 11(c) is filed with the NLRB and a corresponding complaint is filed with OSHA, the NLRB will either dismiss or defer the charge. Where such a charge is filed only with the NLRB, the board will advise the charging party of his right to file a Section 11(c) complaint with OSHA. When it is determined the charge falls within the NLRB’s exclusive jurisdiction but relates to discrimination based on safety and health issues, the board and OSHA will confer.30
2.1.3 Arbitration and Collective Bargaining Agreements
2.1.3.1 Collective Bargaining Agreements
Most labor agreements require the employer to provide a safe workplace. Some agreements expressly provide that an employee may refuse to perform work that he believes to be unsafe. Usually such refusal can be made only after certain steps have been followed, for example, requesting the union steward and su- pervisor to review the situation, and accepting alternative work until the dis- pute is resolved.
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection ❖ 161
27 See NLRB v. Talsol Corp., 155 F.3d 785 (6th Cir. 1998) (employee’s expressions of safety concerns protected where made in presence of other employees, “concerned the safety of the plant and were not purely personal gripes”).
28 Gateway Coal Co. v. U.M.W., 414 U.S. 368, 386–387 (1974). 29 Id. at 386. 30 Memorandum of Understanding between OSHA and NLRB. 40 Fed. Reg. 26,083–084.
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In addition, virtually all labor agreements provide that an employee can be disciplined only for cause; where the union disagrees with the employer’s issuance of discipline, the matter will ultimately be resolved through arbitration.
Typically, an employee cannot unilaterally refuse to perform work. For ex- ample, an employee who believes that his seniority entitles him to a different job than the one he is being asked to perform is entitled to file a grievance under the agreement, but must perform the assigned task in the meantime: “Work now— grieve later.”
In such a case, the employee who refused to work would be subject to disci- pline, including discharge “for cause,” that is, insubordination. But arbitrators have carved out an exception when the refusal is based on safety concerns. To qualify for this exception, “the employee must show that a safety or health haz- ard was the real reason for the refusal and that the alleged hazard existed at the time of the refusal.”31
It has frequently been said that the arbitrator is a “creature of the contract,” and as such cannot exceed the authority that parties have mutually agreed to give him. The Supreme Court has held that an arbitrator “does not have ‘general au- thority to invoke public laws that conflict with the bargain between the par- ties.”32 Consequently, the language of the agreement and principles of contract interpretation govern an arbitration decision.
Nevertheless, where statutory rights may be in question, arbitrators will some- times find that they have the authority, granted either explicitly or by implication, to consider statutory requirements in rendering their decision. Whether an arbi- trator has such authority is a fact-specific question.
2.1.3.2 Arbitration not under a Collective Bargaining Agreement
In recent years, many employers, in an effort to limit litigation, have entered agreements with employees that require all complaints be resolved through arbi- tration. Other employers have provided for voluntary arbitration as a part of an internal employee complaint procedure, often set forth in an employee handbook or policy manual.
There are two issues: (1) Can the employee who signed the agreement to ar- bitrate be foreclosed from initiating litigation to enforce a statutory right, and (2) can an agency like OSHA be precluded from exercising its enforcement powers by an employee’s agreement to arbitrate? It is now well settled that, with limited
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31 Elkouri and Elkouri, How Arbitration Works, Sixth Ed., (BNA 2003) pp. 1023–1024 (“Elkouri”). 32 Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane, 500 U.S. 20, 34, (1991) (quoting Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415
U.S. 36, 53, [1974]).
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exceptions, employees can be required to arbitrate claims arising under federal and state statutes. In a landmark decision in 1991, the Supreme Court upheld en- forcement of an agreement requiring an employer to arbitrate discrimination claims arising under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).33 Ten years later, in Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105 (2001), the Supreme Court held that employment contracts, other than those for transportation “workers actually engaged in the movement of goods in interstate commerce,” were covered by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA); therefore, contractual agree- ments to arbitrate statutory employment discrimination claims were enforceable pursuant to the FAA.
On the other hand, the general rule is that agreements to arbitrate are only enforceable against the parties to the agreement, meaning that the Secretary is not bound by the terms of such agreements.34 This conclusion was driven home by the Supreme Court in EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279 (2002). In that case, the Supreme Court allowed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis- sion (EEOC) to bring an action under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in federal court for both injunctive relief and for back pay, reinstatement, and compensatory damages for an employee who was bound by an agreement to arbitrate his ADA claims. The Court noted that the EEOC was not a party to the arbitration agreement, it did not agree to arbitrate its claims, and its suit was not a derivative action—it had an independent right to prosecute a claim without the victim’s consent and without direction from the victim in the EEOC’s pursuit of the public interest.35
2.1.3.3 Deferral
A related issue is the extent of deference that an agency such as OSHA or the NLRB is likely to give to an arbitration award. The NLRB will defer to arbitra- tion when (1) the underlying dispute arises from a collective bargaining relation- ship, (2) the employee does not allege that the employer is opposed to the em- ployee’s exercise of protected rights, (3) the parties are willing to arbitrate, (4) the arbitration agreement covers the dispute, and (5) the unfair labor practice centers on a collective bargaining agreement.36 The board will also defer to an arbitrator’s
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection ❖ 163
33 Gilmer, 500 U.S. 20 (1991). 34 See, for example, Reich v. Sysco Corp., 870 F.Supp 777 (S.D. Ohio 1994) (holding that an arbitration award
concerning an employee’s discharge did not preclude an action under Section 11(c) of OSHA by the Sec- retary).
35 The Court left open the question of whether a settlement or arbitration judgment in which the employee participated would impact the validity of the EEOC’s claim. It did, however, note that it could and “should preclude double recovery by an individual.” Id. at 297.
36 Elkouri at pp. 531–532.
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decision if certain conditions are met.37 Of course, this doctrine will not be ap- plied if the result of the arbitration award requires an unlawful act.38 There is also a broad exception to this doctrine when its application would require a party to file the same grievance twice to resolve an ultimate issue.39 In all cases, the board reserves the right to assume jurisdiction whenever it believes that the purposes of the NLRA require it.40
The Secretary of Labor has promulgated a regulation authorizing OSHA to postpone its own determination and defer to the decision of an arbitrator or other agency where it concludes that the rights conferred by Section 11(c) have been adequately protected.41 But there is some judicial authority rejecting OSHA’s au- thority to suspend action on a complaint pending the NLRB’s decision on a cor- responding charge.42
Under very limited circumstances, a court may review an arbitration award even if OSHA or the NLRB has deferred to the arbitration. The FAA allows courts to vacate arbitration awards when (1) the award was obtained through cor- ruption, fraud, or other undue means; (2) an arbitrator was evidently partial or corrupt; (3) the arbitrators were guilty of some sort of misconduct of the pro- ceedings; or (4) the arbitrators exceeded their powers or exercised them so im- perfectly that no final award was made.43 Further, some federal courts have held that arbitration awards can be vacated for “manifest disregard of the law.”44 Any party injured by the award can petition the court for review.45
The law in this area is intricate, and the nuances are beyond the scope of this chapter. The existence of an agreement to arbitrate should, at least, signal the need for informed legal guidance.
2.2 State Statutes
An employee’s right not to be disciplined for refusing to perform allegedly haz- ardous work is protected in many state statutes or constitutions. Like OSHA,
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37 See Spielberg Mfg. Co., 112 NLRB 1080 (1955) (NLRB will defer to an arbitrator’s award if the procedures are fair and regular, all parties agreed to be bound, and the arbitrator’s decision is not clearly repugnant to the purposes and policies of the NLRA).
38 LID Elec., Inc. v. IBEW, Local 134, 362 F.3d 940, 943 (7th Cir. 2004). 39 Elkouri at p. 532. 40 29 U.S.C. § 160(a). 41 29 C.F.R. § 1977.23. 42 See Newport News Shipbuilding v. Marshall, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15906, 90 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P12,427
(E.D. Va. 1980). 43 9 U.S.C. § 10(a) 44 Red Apple Supermarkets/Supermarkets Acquisitions v. Local 338, RWDSU, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12199, 162
L.R.R.M. 2365 (S.D. N.Y. 1999) (citations omitted). 45 9 U.S.C. 10(c).
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most state statutes provide that only the authorized state official may initiate lit- igation, but some state statutes create a private right of action.46
2.3 Common Law
In addition to statutory protections, many state courts recognize a tort action for wrongful discharge based on a “public policy” exception to the doctrine of em- ployment at will. Under this exception, an employee discharged for refusing to perform illegally hazardous work may bring a civil action to get his job back and to recover compensatory or even punitive damages.47 Note that even in states that recognize a common-law action for wrongful discharge, the action may be pre- empted by the existence of a separate, administrative remedy.48
3.0 Whistleblowing49
In many instances the protection for refusal to work or whistleblowing emanates from the same statutory language or common law principle; for example, Section 11(c) of OSHA, 29 USC § 660(c), which prohibits an employer from discrimi- nating in any way against an employee, either for filing a complaint or refusing to work.
In some instances, a statute prohibits discrimination based on either refusal to work or whistleblowing but not both. For example, § 502 of the Labor Man- agement Relations Act, 29 USC § 143, protects only the right to refuse to work.
3.1 Federal Statutes
There are a number of federal statutes that expressly prohibit retaliation against employees who complain of hazardous conditions or illegal actions attributable
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection ❖ 165
46 Compare, for example, Brevik v. Kite Painting, Inc., 416 N.W. 2d 714 (Minn. 1987) (Minnesota State OSH Act creates individual cause of action for discriminatory discharge) with Silkworth v. Ryder Truck Rental, 70 Md. App. 264 (1987) (Maryland state act tracks federal law and thus creates no private right of action).
47 See, for example, Cabesuela v. Browning-Ferris Industries of Calif. Inc., 68 Cal. App. 4th 101, 80 Cal. Rptr. 2d 60 (6th Dist. 1998), (holding that an employer who fires an employee for protesting unsafe work con- ditions violates public policy).
48 See Kornischuk v. Con-Way Cent. Express, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14459 (S.D. Iowa 2003) (a common-law claim for retaliatory discharge in violation of public policy existed but was inapplicable because a statute set out an administrative remedy for truck drivers discharged in violation of public policy).
49 For a comprehensive discussion of court decisions on whistleblowing, see 75 ALR 4th, 13, Gregory G. Sarno, J.D., Annotation: Liability for Retaliation against At-Will Employees for Public Complaints or Efforts Re- lating to Health or Safety. See also Monique C. Lillard, Exploring Paths to Recovery for OSHA Whistleblowers: Section 11(c) of the OSH Act and the Public Policy Tor , 6 Empl. Rts. and Pol’y J. 329 (“Lillard”); William Dorsey, An Overview of Whistleblower Protection Claims at the United States Department of Labor, 26 NAALJ 43 (2006).
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to their employers.50 [Au: Changed “attributable to ether employers” to “attributa- ble to their employers.” Edited as meant?]Only OSHA protections concern us.
3.1.1 Occupational Safety and Health Act
The antiretaliation provisions of the OSH Act, found in Section 11(c), are dis- cussed above in connection with refusal to work.
Although on its face, Section 11(c) appears to be limited to protecting those who file complaints with OSHA or testify in OSHA proceedings, it has been given a broad interpretation. Hence, even employees who complain only to their employers are protected from retaliation under Section 11(c), so long as such complaints are made in good faith.51
Employees are also protected under Section 11(c) from retaliation based on their having informed journalists of safety and health concerns at the work- place.52
3.1.1.2 Preemption
In some cases, courts have ruled that a given state statute or legal action is pre- empted by one or more federal statutes.53 An extended discussion of the complex question of preemption is beyond the scope of this chapter, but anyone involved in a potential state whistleblowing case should be aware of the issue.
3.2 State Statutes
Most states have statutes that protect employees who complain of hazards that threaten employees or the public in general. Some of these protect both private and public employees who blow the whistle on unsafe conditions,54 while others protect only public employees.55
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50 Surface Transportation Assistance Act, 49 U.S.C. § 31105(b) (commencing, participating or testifying in proceedings relating to violations of commercial motor vehicle safety provisions); Federal Railroad Safety Act, 49 U.S.C. § 20101 (refusal to work or reporting safety violations); Energy Reorganization Act, 32 U.S.C. § 5851(a) (commencing, participating, or testifying in proceedings under the ERA or Atomic En- ergy Act).
51 See, for example, Marshall v. Springville Poultry, 445 F. Supp. 2, 5 OSHC 1761 (M.D. Pa. 1977). 52 See, for example, Donovan v. R.D. Andersen Constr. Co., 552 F. Supp. 259, 10 OSHC 2025 (D. Kan. 1982). 53 In the aftermath of Taylor v. Brighton Corp., 616 F2.d 256, which held that Section 11(c) creates no private
right of action, some state courts were reluctant to allow a de facto private right of action under Section 11(c) through the mechanism of the common-law. See generally Lillard for an expanded discussion of this issue.
54 See, for example, Ct. Gen. Stat. § 31–51m, Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.52. 55 See, e.g., Alaska Stat. 39.90.100, Del. Code Ann. Tit. 29 § 5115.
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3.3 Common Law
In addition to state statutes that protect the right of employees to complain about hazardous conditions, the courts of most states have created an exception to em- ployment at will in the form of an action in tort for violation of public policy.
The essentials necessary to establish a successful case under the public policy exception vary from state to state but always involve “a causal-motivational link between a violation of public policy and the discharge.”56
In New Mexico, an employee makes a prima facie case by showing (1) dis- charge for performing an act that public policy has authorized or encouraged, (2) the employer’s knowledge or suspicion that the employee’s act was protected, (3) causal connection between protected action and the discharge, and (4) that the employee suffered damage thereby.57
In some states, a separate tort action based on the public policy exception is available in addition to the statutory remedy.58 Other states do not recognize the public policy exception and only an express statutory provision will suffice to support an action for retaliatory discharge for reporting hazardous conditions.59
4.0 Conclusion
Federal and state legislation and court decisions establish strong protection for workers faced with dangerous conditions. Employers should avoid disciplining or otherwise discriminating against employees who, in good faith, refuse to work under conditions they believe to be dangerous or who point out the existence of such conditions, unless there are unrelated, legitimate reasons to do so.
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection ❖ 167
56 Lillard at 351. 57 Id., citing Weilder v. Big J. Enters., Inc., 953 P.2d 1089, 1096-97 (N.M. Ct. App. 1997). 58 Shawcross v. Pyro Prods., Inc., 916 S.W.2d 342 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995). 59 See Walsh v. Consolidated Freightways, Inc., 563 P.2d 1205 (Or. 1977), Grzyb v. Evans, 700 S.W.2d 399 (Ky.
1985).
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Chapter 8
Hazard Communication: Moving toward a Globally Harmonized System in the 21st Century1 John B. Flood Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
The fact that producers and importers of hazardous chemicals and the employers who use such chemicals have obligations to evaluate and communicate their haz- ards is certainly a well-known practice, as these obligations are firmly rooted within the business practices of industry.2 Since 1983, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) effectuated its standard regarding haz- ard communication (29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 et seq.), most producers, importers,
1 The author thanks Francina M. Segbefia, Esq., attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., for her important assistance in researching and drafting this chapter.
2 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, Executive Summary, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
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employers, and workers have grown accustomed to complying with these require- ments and have relied upon the resulting increased flow of information to prop- erly deal with hazardous chemicals in the workplace.3 As OSHA has described it, “There is a whole generation of employers and employees now who have never worked in a situation where information about the chemicals in their workplace is not available.”4 Hence, as the 25th anniversary for OSHA’s hazard communication standard (HCS) draws near, the requirements of the HCS and key issues relating thereto are stable, and the industries that deal with the HCS are well aware of its current requirements.
This stability will almost certainly change, however, because of ongoing ef- forts to harmonize America’s standards with those standards used globally. As the world becomes increasingly “flat” (to use the term coined by Thomas L. Fried- man), and globalization and international standardization become the norm in- stead of the exception, the potential for significant changes through globaliza- tion of the hazard communication requirements for the American industry is truly great.5 This potential for change should not be surprising given that indi- cations of the potential move towards global harmonization in this arena were made by OSHA as early as 1983, when the agency first signaled that it was com- mitted to global unification of hazard communication.6 Rather, what may be surprising and will warrant careful scrutiny are the current efforts to spur the move towards globalization and increased uniformity of hazard communication standards.
The reality that regulatory change produces fear, along with other potentially significant consequences (e.g., costs), is recognized in OSHA’s recent comments regarding the impact of any change in the hazard communication standard:
The Agency has been mindful of the fact that any modifications to labels and [Material Safety Data Sheets] will be costly and time-consuming, as well as being associated with a very large paperwork burden. Therefore, any such changes should be considered very carefully in terms of the ben- efits that would accrue as a result.7
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3 HAZCOM Standard went into effect on November 25, 1983. 48 Fed. Reg. 53, 280 (1983) (codified at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200).
4 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, pp. 2, 3, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
5 Friedman, Thomas L., The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
6 See OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 10, available at http:// www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html (noting that the preamble to the HCS in 1983 “included a commitment by OSHA to pursue international harmonization of hazard communication requirements”).
7 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 3, available at http://www .osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
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Thus, OSHA’s stated intentions, as recently as 2004, were to proceed slowly and judiciously down the path towards global harmony while recognizing the concern that there may be a great economic burden that the changes to the HCS would bring.8 In spite of this tempered language regarding the pace for potential changes, recent developments make clear that this potential for change is fast be- coming a reality. At the same time, the precise scope of any such changes is an is- sue of vital importance that remains unresolved and unclear.
In this chapter, we review the history of the HCS, including its key pur- pose and requirements. We also consider ongoing areas of concern, which may help to explain the impetus of the move towards a globally harmonized hazard communication standard. Finally, we review the recent events and efforts to move towards the global harmonization of hazard communication require- ments in the United States and address the key questions of the scope of po- tential changes that may take place in this arena, including when such changes are likely to occur.
2.0 The Hazard Communication Standard
2.1 Key Purpose and Scope of Application
The key purpose of the HCS is best described in a single word—awareness. The standard seeks to promote workplace safety by ensuring that employees who are exposed or reasonably likely to be exposed to chemicals in the work- place are aware of the hazards and accordingly know how to effectively protect themselves.9 To that end, the standard requires manufacturers and importers of chemicals to evaluate those hazards and ensure that the value gained through such evaluation is communicated to those who are the equivalent of wholesale consumers and end users of hazardous chemicals—the employers and employees.10
Hazard Communication ❖ 171
8 In 1988 and 1989, OSHA expanded coverage of the HCS from only the manufacturing industry to all em- ployers and estimated that the standard would cover an additional 18 million workers in more than 3.5 mil- lion worksites, at estimated costs of about $687 million for the first year alone. U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet No. OSHA 89-26, June 26, 1989, on file with the author).
See also Peter A. Susser, The OSHA Standard and State “Right-to-Know” Laws: The Preemption Battle Con- tinues, Employee Relations Law Journal (Spring 1985), p. 615, noting that OSHA estimated the rulemak- ing process for the HCS as the costliest rulemaking in OSHA’s history.
9 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (a)(1) provides that the “purpose of this section is to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals produced or imported are evaluated, and that information concerning their hazards is transmit- ted to employers and employees.” (Emphasis added.) See also, OSHA Publication 3104, Hazard Communi- cation, A Compliance Kit, 1988, p. A-1.
10 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (a)(1).
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Estimates by OSHA reveal the dramatic scope of the hazard communication standard in America’s workplaces. This information indicates the following:
• As many as 650,000 hazardous chemical products are present,
• In over three million workplaces, and
• The standard protects over 30 million workers potentially exposed to haz- ardous chemicals.11
Accordingly, the rule, rather than the exception, is that most if not all manufac- turers and importers of chemicals, as well as employers whose workplaces feature such chemicals, are covered by the HCS. This is confirmed through the extremely broad language of the HCS, which defines a hazardous chemical as “any chemi- cal which is a physical hazard or a health hazard.” The standard further states that it applies to “all employers,” which has been the case since the standard was mod- ified in 1988.12 This rule is also confirmed through the provisions of the HCS, which preempt all state or local laws, except in states and jurisdictions that have OSHA-approved state programs.13
Like manufacturers and importers of hazardous chemicals, employers have significant obligations under the HCS, the first of which is to develop and main- tain a written hazard communication program in the workplace.14 As discussed below, such programs encompass the employer’s obligations to make sure that their employees are aware of chemical hazards in the workplace including the po- tential effects of exposure to those chemicals, through the proper use and main- tenance of labels and Material Safety Data Sheets and through the provision of information and training.15
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11 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, Executive Summary, p. 4, avail- able at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html. In 1988, OSHA estimated that about 32 million workers were potentially exposed to chemical hazards in the workplace, and that there were ap- proximately 575,000 existing chemical products. OSHA Publication 3104, Hazard Communication: A Compliance Kit, p. A-1.
12 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (c) and (b), respectively (emphasis added). All employers, except for those in the construction industry, have been covered since the HCS was modified in 1988, which OSHA began en- forcing on August 1, 1988. The standard became effective for the construction industry in 1989, and OSHA began enforcing its requirements on March 17, 1989. (U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet No. OSHA 89-26, June 26, 1989 on file with the author).
13 U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet No. OSHA 89-26, June 26, 1989 on file with the author; 29 U.S.C. § 667(b).
14 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (b)(1). See discussion, section 2.2.1, infra. 15 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (b)(1).
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2.2 Key Requirements
The standard’s initial responsibilities lie with the chemical manufacturers and importers of chemicals, who must evaluate chemical hazards before sending these products into the stream of commerce within the United States. Chemical man- ufacturers are employers “with a workplace where chemical(s) are produced for use or distribution,” and an importer is “the first business with employees within the Customs Territory of the United States which receives hazardous chemicals produced in other countries for the purpose of supplying them to distributors or employers within the United States.”16 Importantly, distributors of hazardous chemicals are also covered by the HCS and also have a duty to transmit infor- mation concerning hazardous chemicals.17
Manufacturers and importers must first consider whether a given chemical is hazardous based upon the “available scientific evidence concerning such haz- ards.”18 They must treat as hazardous those chemicals previously designated as such by OSHA (at 29 C.F.R. § 1910, subpart Z), or those deemed hazardous by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists based upon the chemical’s established threshold limit values for the workplace.19 Beyond these categories of chemicals, manufacturers and employers must treat chemicals as hazardous when their purported hazards are shown by evidence that is “statisti- cally significant and which is based on at least one positive study conducted in accordance with established scientific principles . . . if the results of the study meet the definitions of health hazards” found in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200.20 Sim- ilar rules apply under the HCS regarding the obligations of manufacturers and employers towards carcinogens and potential carcinogens.21
Beyond this initial evaluative process, the HCS strives to promote awareness of chemical hazards in the workplace at various stages of their progression in the stream of commerce through three key components: the use of labels, Material Safety Data Sheets, and the provision of information and training to employees against the backdrop of a larger hazard communication program.
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16 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (c). 17 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (b)(1). 18 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (b)(1); 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (d)(2). Employers who choose not to rely upon the
hazard analysis conducted by chemical manufacturers and importers must also comply with this provision. 19 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (d)(3)(i), (ii). Examples of such covered by Subpart Z would include air contami-
nants such as acetone and ammonia, as well as benzene and silica. 20 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (d)(2). 21 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (d)(4) (i–iii). Under the standard, they must consider those chemicals as carcino-
gens or potential carcinogens which have been designated as such through the latest editions of the National Toxicology Program’s Annual Report on Carcinogens, the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monographs, or Subpart Z of 29 C.F.R. § 1910.
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2.2.1 Labels
The HCS imposes additional obligations upon manufacturers, importers, and distributors once a chemical is deemed hazardous through labeling requirements. Labels are a critical component of the HCS in terms of ensuring that employers and employees are aware of the presence of hazardous chemicals in the workplace, because labels are usually the first warning signs that alert users or handlers to the presence of hazardous chemicals. OSHA has aptly described the role of a label as that of a “snapshot” intended to serve as the initial reminder to workers that ma- terials may be hazardous.22
Before a container with hazardous chemicals leaves the manufacturing plant or the place of export, it must be “labeled, tagged, or marked” to identify the hazard- ous chemical contained therein.23 Labels must also provide appropriate warnings concerning the potential hazards of the chemical, and the name and address of the manufacturer or importer.24 Generally speaking, the labeling requirement applies to “each container of hazardous chemicals.”25 Manufacturers, importers, and distrib- utors must also ensure that labels comply with the requirements of any other OSHA health standards which specifically apply to a given hazardous chemical.26
While labels must provide the substantive information required by the HCS and any other applicable OSHA standard, the HCS currently does not mandate that any specific format for labels be used, although the standard does require cer- tain minimal information such as the identity of the hazardous chemical, appro- priate hazard warnings, and the name and address of the chemical manufacturer, importer, or other responsible party.27 A commonly used format for labels is found in a national consensus standard adopted by the American National Stan- dards Institute (ANSI) for the preparation of labels.28
Employers also have obligations for labels for hazardous chemicals once they arrive at the workplace. Employers must ensure that each container of hazardous chemicals is “labeled, tagged, or marked” to clearly identify the hazardous chemi- cal contained therein, and must further provide appropriate warnings to employ-
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22 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 4, available at http://www .osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
23 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f ). 24 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f ). 25 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f ). An exception to this requirement exists for the labeling of solid metal, solid
wood, or plastic items that are not exempted from the labeling requirements because of their later use, or for whole grain shipments, for which a label only has to be provided to the customer a the time of the first shipment, so long as the information on the label does not change. 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f )(2).
26 For example, perchloroethylene used in dry cleaning. 27 29 C.F.R. §1910.1200. 28 This standard is ANSI Z129.1—1994.
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ees regarding the chemical’s potential hazards.29 To satisfy this second obligation, employers can use “words, pictures, symbols, or a combination thereof,” so long as they provide at least “general information regarding the hazards of the chemi- cals” and “provide employees with the specific information regarding the physical and health hazards of the hazardous chemical” when combined with other infor- mation given to employees as part of the employer’s hazard communication pro- gram.30 The HCS also provides employers with flexibility in terms of the labeling requirements concerning the use of individual stationary process containers, as well as for portable containers into which employees place hazardous chemicals for their own immediate use during a single shift.31 Employers cannot remove or de- face existing labels on containers of hazardous chemicals which they receive, un- less they immediately mark the container with another appropriate label. The la- bels or other types of warnings must be legible and written in English.32
Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and employers all have a continuing ob- ligation to provide accurate information on labels for hazardous chemicals. The HCS also requires revisions to labels for chemicals within three months of becoming aware of any new, significant information regarding the hazards of chemicals, and updates to labels accordingly on subsequent shipments of the affected chemicals.33
2.2.2 Material Safety Data Sheets
If labels are intended to serve as the initial reminder to employers and employees of the presence of hazardous chemicals, then Material Safety Data Sheets (MS- DSs) are designed to serve as the HCS’s more substantive means of ensuring awareness of hazardous chemicals in the workplace. To that end, the HCS re- quires chemical manufacturers, importers, and employers to develop and main- tain MSDSs for hazardous chemicals.34
The HCS sets forth the key components that must be contained within every MSDS, which include:
• Identity of the chemical used on the label,
• Key physical and chemical characteristics and properties of the hazardous chemical (e.g., vapor pressure, flash point),
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29 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f )(5)(i), (ii). 30 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f )(5)(ii). 31 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (c) and (f )(6), (7). 32 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f )(8), (9). Employers with employees who speak languages other than English may
add information in those other languages, so long as it is still provided in English. 33 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (f )(11). 34 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g).
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• Known physical hazards of the chemical (e.g., fire hazard, explosion, and reactivity),
• Health hazards of the chemical (e.g., signs and symptoms of exposure, in addition to any medical conditions recognized as being aggravated by ex- posure to the chemical),
• Primary route(s) of entry of the hazards into the body (e.g., eye contact, skin contact, inhalation, or ingestion),
• Established permissible exposure limits,
• Information about whether the chemical has been deemed a carcinogen or a potential carcinogen,
• Any precautions for handling the chemical in a safe manner and generally accepted control measures that are known to the preparer of the MSDS (i.e., the manufacturer, importer, or employer),
• Emergency and first aid procedures,
• Date when the MSDS was prepared and the date of the last modification, and
• Key contact information for the person or party who prepared the MSDS or distributed it, who could provide additional information about the haz- ards at issue and appropriate emergency procedures to follow.35
While this information is required on every MSDS, to the extent the infor- mation is known, as is true for labels, the HCS does not require that Material Safety Data Sheets follow any particular format when presenting this informa- tion.36 OSHA has explained that the HCS was designed to be a “performance- oriented” standard, and that it did not mandate the use of a specific format for MSDSs in order to accommodate companies in various industries that already used MSDSs of varying formats.37 OSHA suggests the use of a two-page MSDS
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35 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(2). The level of detail regarded to identify the chemical listed on the label can vary depending upon whether or not the chemical is a single substance or a mixture of substances, which may or may not have been subject to testing. 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(2)(i). Additional protections are afforded to help protect trade secrets when identifying hazardous chemicals on an MSDS. See 29 C.F.R.§ 1910.1200 (i).
36 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 5, available at http://www .osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
37 OSHA, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 4, available at http://www .osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
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form (OSHA 174)38 that calls for disclosure of the key information required by the HCS, but many manufacturers, importers, and employers now use a format provided for in a national consensus standard adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for the preparation of MSDSs.39
Chemical manufacturers or importers must provide distributors and em- ployers with an appropriate MSDS with the initial shipment of a hazardous chemical and with the first shipment of such after an MSDS is updated.40 Simi- larly, distributors must provide MSDSs to other distributors and employers with their first shipment of a hazardous chemical and with their first shipment of such after updated information is available.41 Employers must maintain MSDSs in the workplace for each hazardous chemical and must ensure that they are “readily ac- cessible” during each shift to employees in the areas where they work.42
As with labels, each MSDS must be written in English, although the use of other languages in addition to English is permissible.43 Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and employers all have a continuing obligation to provide accurate in- formation on MSDSs for hazardous chemicals. The HCS requires that employers and distributors revise MSDSs for chemicals within three months of becoming aware of any new, significant information regarding the hazards of chemicals.44
2.2.3 Training and Information for Employees
The third key component of the HCS to ensure awareness of hazardous chemi- cals in the workplace is the requirement that employers provide information di- rectly to employees and train them about hazardous chemicals in the workplace. Employers must provide employees with “effective information and training” re- garding hazardous chemicals in the workplace at the time of their first assignment to a work area and whenever a new physical or health hazard is introduced into the area for which the employee has not been trained.45 Information that must be provided to employees includes:
• The requirements of the HCS,
• Any operations in their work area where hazardous chemicals are present, and
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38 OSHA Form 174 is available at: http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/msds-osha174/msdsform.html. 39 This standard is ANSI Standard Z400.1. 40 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(6)(i). 41 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(7)(i). 42 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(8). 43 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(2). 44 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (g)(5). 45 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (h)(1).
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• The location and availability of the employer’s written hazard communication program (including the required list of hazardous chemicals and MSDSs).46
Employers must train employees on ways to detect the presence or release of hazardous chemicals in their work areas and must provide employees with the knowledge of the physical and health hazards that such chemicals may present.47
Employers must also train employees on measures that employees can take to pro- tect themselves against these hazards and inform employees about procedures the employer has adopted to protect employees against exposure. Employers must also provide a hazard communication program that includes appropriate use of labels and MSDSs and addresses the employees’ rights to know such information.48
2.2.4 Hazard Communication Program
The HCS requires employers to develop and maintain a hazard communication program at each work place to provide information to their employees about the chemical hazards present in the workplace.49 The hazard communication pro- gram must explain how the employer will satisfy its obligations concerning labels, MSDSs, and the provision of information and training under the HCS.50 The program must also include a list of the hazardous chemicals that are known to be present in the workplace. Chemicals should be identified with the same infor- mation used on the MSDSs, and the employer will inform employees of the “haz- ards of non-routine tasks . . . and the hazards associated with chemicals contained in unlabeled pipes in their work areas.”51
The HCS also contains special provisions concerning the hazard communi- cation program of employers on multi-employer worksites. It requires an em- ployer on a multi-employer worksite (e.g., “Employer A”) to ensure that its haz- ard communication program addresses how it will provide other employers at the same worksite with information and access to its MSDSs for hazardous chemicals to which these other employees may be exposed. The HCS also requires Em- ployer A to provide information on how it will advise other employers of any nec- essary precautionary measures to protect all employees on the worksite and in- formation on how Employer A will advise other employers of the labeling system used at the site.52
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46 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (h)(2). 47 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (h)(3)(i), (ii). 48 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (h)(3)(iii), (iv). 49 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (b)(1), (e)(1). 50 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (e)(1). 51 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (e)(1)(i), (ii). 52 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200 (e)(2)(i–iii)
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3.0 Continued Problems with the HCS as the Impetus for Change
A relevant question is why significant changes would need to be considered by the HCS on the eve of its 25th anniversary, given the relative stability that it has brought to this field during this time. While many view the HCS as a success in terms of the increased awareness and protections it has afforded workers since its inception, many also view it as deficient in several key ways. First and foremost, the HCS is not fully consistent with the requirements for hazard communication utilized by other countries—which range from countries with advanced hazard communication requirements to many others with only minimal or no require- ments at all. Second, the requirements for hazard communication reflected in the HCS are not fully consistent with requirements from other governmental agen- cies in the United States that regulate the communications requirements for haz- ards that fall within their purview. Finally, the accuracy and reliability of infor- mation contained on MSDSs and labels for hazardous chemicals have generally been called into question.
If the HCS is dramatic in terms of its scope, the potential scope of the ap- plicability and implementation of a globally harmonized system is truly pro- found. OSHA has aptly described the use and production of chemicals as “fun- damental” to the economies of the world and estimates that the international chemical business exceeds $1.7 trillion per year.53 OSHA further estimates that the United States exports more than $80 billion each year in chemicals.54 Thus, the massive size of the global chemical industry serves as an important backdrop for considering the harmonization of the approach to hazard communication on a global scale and would seem to both warrant and caution against potentially dramatic changes to the HCS. On the one hand, the incredible size of the global industry warrants consideration of global harmonization regarding hazard com- munication because the economic harm caused by a nonharmonized system may be great, and the potential, long-term benefits of such a system may be profound. Such benefits could not reasonably be obtained, however, without potentially sig- nificant burdens because the changes needed to produce such results would al- most certainly be very expensive and extremely difficult to effectively implement on a global scale.
A key reason for the move towards harmonization within the United States and elsewhere is that the HCS is not fully consistent with the requirements for
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53 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), § 1.2, available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
54 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), § 1.2, available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
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hazard communication utilized by other countries. Many countries have laws with different requirements concerning hazard communication for chemicals, and naturally, such laws vary greatly depending upon their country of origin.55
Thus, varying requirements exist on an international scale concerning which sub- stances are covered, what is and is not a hazard, what information is required on labels and MSDSs, and what symbols and pictograms are required to convey ap- propriate warnings.56 One example is the acute oral toxicity level (LD
50 ) for liq-
uids and substances under the HCS, which varies with the levels established by other countries and international bodies (e.g., Australia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union).57 Another example includes the flammability of liquids. Different international standards regarding flammability result in cer- tain liquids being deemed hazardous under the hazard communication systems of some countries and accordingly labeled as such, while not so deemed and labeled under the systems of others.58
Another source of concern that serves as a basis for the move towards global harmonization relates to the quality of the information that is being disseminated regarding hazardous chemicals. For example, questions persist about the accuracy of information on MSDSs that are being distributed by employers and manufac- turers. Although compliance with the HCS is a high priority for OSHA in terms of enforcement, there is no regulatory body that reviews each MSDS to ensure its accuracy.59 To be sure, the sheer volume of MSDSs in the stream of commerce warrants the conclusion that some of the information on MSDSs is out of date or may be incomplete, despite the standard’s requirement to update MSDSs within three months of significant changes.
A study commissioned by OSHA in 1991 regarding the accuracy of infor- mation contained on 150 MSDSs found that:
• 37% accurately identified health effects data,
• 76% gave accurate information regarding first aid procedures,
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55 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 10, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
56 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 10, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html (cite to UN document, p. 3).
57 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), Figure 1.2, available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
58 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), Figure 1.3, available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
59 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 13, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html (noting that in fiscal year 2003, OSHA issued over 7,000 citations for violations of the HCS, making it the second most frequently cited OSHA standard and resulting in over $1.3 million in assessed penalties).
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• 47% accurately identified appropriate personal protective equipment to be utilized, and
• 47% accurately identified all relevant occupational exposure limits.60
While this study indicates the potential need for change, it is limited in terms of its scope. OSHA has noted, perhaps paradoxically to those concerned with the potential costs of moving to a globally harmonized system, that a comprehensive study of the potential problem has never been undertaken because such a study or investigation would have to be “far-reaching, costly, and time-consuming.”61
Thus, it is nearly impossible to determine how widespread the problem of inac- curate information in MSDSs actually is.
In addition to concerns about accuracy of information contained in MSDSs, concerns also exist about whether or not end-users of chemicals can readily un- derstand information contained therein.62 Many MSDSs contain complicated technical explanations that may be lost on a lot of readers.63 Although the pri- mary audience for MSDSs is safety and health professionals who presumably are trained to understand the highly technical explanations and information con- tained therein, MSDSs, like labels, need to communicate the information con- tained therein in a clear and comprehensible manner so that it can be understood by experts and nonexperts alike.
The MSDS requirements also impose substantial paperwork burdens on the companies creating them, although this burden has lessened in recent years as many companies move towards electronic communications.64 Despite such increased efficiencies, these burdens continue to exist particularly for multi- national companies, as well as medium and smaller companies that engage in international trade of chemicals, which must comply with multiple rules and regulations within the United States and abroad. Certainly, compliance with such requirements requires significant investments of time and money and
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60 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, available at avail- able at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html (citations omitted).
61 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, available at avail- able http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/msds-osha174/msdsform.html.
62 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 6, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
63 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 6, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
64 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 6, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html. OSHA noted that the complexity of information provided on MSDSs may also be due in part to products liability lawsuits within the United States based upon a theory of “failure to warn.”
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serves as a basis for consideration of the move towards a globally harmonized system.65
Similar concerns also exist about the current labeling requirements of the HCS.66 Employers have a choice as to how they will convey information on a la- bel, as the HCS standard allows the information on the labels to be “performance oriented.”67 One problem is that workers see many different labels that attempt to convey the same information, thus leading to confusion. There is no specific standard as to the format of labeling, so one symbol may have different meanings depending on the manufacturer or distributor.68
Concerns also exist about the qualifications of those who prepare MSDSs. The HCS does not specify any requirements regarding the qualifications of per- sons who prepare MSDSs.69 Naturally, this may be a less significant problem for larger chemical producers and distributors, which have greater resources available to employ persons with advanced technical degrees and training regarding chem- ical hazards and the requirements of the HCS or at least to pay outside providers of such services.70 In contrast, smaller companies may have far fewer resources. In OSHA’s view, this is a significant factor in the differing quality of information provided on MSDSs.71 If such is true within the United States, the same would certainly be true, to a far greater degree, on a global scale.
These problems make the concept of a globally harmonized system for haz- ard communication very appealing, if such a system would create uniformity in labeling and MSDS requirements. While a globally harmonized system may ap- pear to be an ideal solution for resolving the various concerns relating to the HCS against the backdrop of the massive global chemical industry, it would not be free of complications. Given recent developments, however, the move towards a glob- ally harmonized system may no longer be a question of “if,” but rather, “when” and “to what extent” such changes will occur.
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65 OSHA Publication, A Guide to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, pp. 2–3, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
66 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 8, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
67 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, available at avail- able at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
68 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 8, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
69 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 7, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
70 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 7, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
71 OSHA Publication, Hazard Communication in the 21st Century Workplace, March 2004, p. 7, available at available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.
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4.0 The Global Harmonization System
4.1 Overview of the GHS
When the HCS was first enacted in 1983, its preamble articulated OSHA’s com- mitment to move towards global harmonization. Despite OSHA’s early statement of support for a globally harmonized system, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) did not formally progress until June of 1992, when a mandate from the United Nations Conference on Envi- ronment and Development called for the development of a globally harmonized system concerning chemical hazards.72 This mandate led to the creation of the Coordinating Group on the Harmonization of Chemical Classification Systems under the umbrella of the Interorganization Programme for the Sound Manage- ment of Chemicals. OSHA chaired the coordinating group, and took the lead for the United States on classification of mixtures and hazard communications.73
Through this combined effort, the Globally Harmonized System of Classifi- cation and Labeling of Chemicals was created and adopted by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals in December of 2002.74
The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemi- cals is a system for standardizing and harmonizing the classification and labeling of chemicals on a global/international basis.75 The intended benefits of the GHS include the provision of an internationally comprehensible system for hazard communication and providing a “recognized framework for those countries with- out an existing system.”76 These benefits further include the reduction of the need for testing and evaluation of chemicals, and the promotion of international trade in chemicals “whose hazards have been properly assessed and identified on an international basis.”77
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72 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules.
73 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules, pp. 53618–53619.
74 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules.
75 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html. The full official text of the GHS (also referred to as “The Purple Book”) is available at http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_rev00/00files_e.html.
76 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), p. 7, available at http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_rev00/00files_e.html.
77 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), p. 7, available at http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_rev00/00files_e.html.
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Importantly, the GHS is not a regulation or a standard. Rather, it provides a “framework” from which competent authorities “may select the appropriate har- monized classification and communication elements. Competent authorities of participating nations will decide how to apply the various elements of the GHS within their systems based on their needs and the target audience.”78 As explained herein, the flexibility inherent within the GHS may ultimately serve to limit its ability to produce the desired benefits of a globally harmonized system.
4.2 Scope of Potential Changes under the GHS
“Implementation of the GHS will require changes to the performance-oriented nature of the HCS. These changes will include required label elements and a re- quired MSDS format, as well as criteria changes.”79
While implementation of the GHS is voluntary, significant changes to key components of the HCS will be required if implementation occurs within the United States. If the GHS is adopted by OSHA, key changes to the HCS would occur in several areas, including the use of labels and MSDSs.
Under the GHS, labels must contain more detailed information than is presently required under the HCS. These requirements include the following forms of information:
• Signal words,
• Hazard statements,
• Precautionary statements and pictograms,
• Product identifiers’ and
• Supplier identification.80
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78 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), p. 10, available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html. Competent authority means “any national body(ies) or authority(ies) designated or otherwise recognized as such in connection with the Globally Har- monized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).” Within the United States, for ex- ample, “competent authorities” would include OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the De- partment of Transportation. Similarly bodies in other countries would also be competent authorities.
79 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
80 OSHA Publicatio, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
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A “signal word” is “a word used to indicate the relative level of severity of haz- ard and alert the reader to a potential hazard on the label.”81 Danger and warn- ing are the two signal words utilized under the GHS. Danger is used to signal “more severe hazard categories,” whereas warning is used to identify less severe hazards.82
A hazard statement means “a phrase assigned to a hazard class and category that describes the nature of the hazards of a hazardous product, including, where appropriate, the degree of hazard.”83 The types of hazard statements required vary among four categories depending upon the substance at issue.84
A precautionary statement means “a phrase (and/or pictogram) that describes recommended measures that should be taken to minimize or prevent adverse ef- fects resulting from exposure to a hazardous product, or improper storage or han- dling of a hazardous product.”85 While such statements and pictograms are re- quired on labels under the GHS, the choice of which to use are left to the discretion of the labeler or an appropriate competent authority.86
Product identifiers are required on GHS labels and should match those used on MSDSs. Labels must include the chemical identity of the substance and may have to include the chemical identities of ingredients contained therein depend- ing upon the type of substance at issue and the hazards related thereto (e.g., re- quired for mixtures or alloying elements).87 Supplier identification required un- der the GHS includes the name, address, and telephone number of the chemical manufacturer or supplier.88
Changes to MSDSs will also be required if the GHS is adopted by OSHA. MSDSs are referred to as Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) under the GHS. A key change to Safety Data Sheets under the GHS would be the requirement for uniformity in
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81 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
82 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
83 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
84 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
85 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
86 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
87 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
88 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html..
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their format, which is not the case under the HCS. An SDS under GHS will need to provide the following information, in the following order:
• Hazard Identification,
• Composition/information on ingredients,
• First aid measures,
• Accidental release measures,
• Handling and storage,
• Exposure controls/personal protection,
• Physical and chemical properties,
• Stability and reactivity,
• Toxicological information,
• Ecological information,
• Disposal considerations,
• Transport information,
• Regulatory information, and
• Other information.89
According to OSHA, exposure limits would be addressed under the “exposure controls” section of the SDS. Changes required under GHS to safety data sheets would be less significant for producers already following the voluntary interna- tional consensus standard for MSDSs.90 Information required on safety data sheets under HCS that is outside of OSHA’s power to regulate (e.g., environmental and transport information) would likely not be required on safety data sheets.91
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89 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53625.
90 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53625.
91 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53625.
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Other substantial changes between the HCS and GHS would include the evaluation of mixtures.92 The GHS expectation of physical test data for mixtures is another substantial difference between the two standards. The MSDS require- ments are also changed with the GHS. The GHS will require much more exten- sive information than the current requirements under the HCS. The perform- ance orientation of the HCS MSDS will require a 16-section MSDS format with a specified sequence and a minimum required contents under the GHS. Many larger companies are already using the 16-section MSDS format, but smaller companies are not currently providing such a format. There will be some discre- tion in determining whether an MSDS is required based on requirements in the existing systems.
The GHS requirements on information and training are more general than those required under the HCS. The HCS specifies the minimal type of training employees are required to receive, such as methods of observation that may be used to detect the presence or release of chemicals and the measures the employ- ees can take to protect themselves from hazards.
Another key concern with implementation of the GHS is the costs associated with the changes.
4.3 When Will GHS Be Implemented and Key Areas of Concern
Several international bodies have proposed implementation goals. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and the Intergovernmental Fo- rum for Chemical Safety (IFCS) have encouraged countries to implement the new GHS as soon as possible with a view to having the system fully operational by 2008.93 The Ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have also said that as many APEC economies as possible should implement, on a voluntary basis, the GHS by 2006.94
The timeline for implementation of the GHS within the United States is not firm, although the United States has generally agreed to work towards imple- mentation consistent with the goals of these international groups.95 To that end, in 2006, OSHA took an important step along the path of likely implementation by publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the
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92 Id. 93 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12,
2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53619. 94 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12,
2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53619. 95 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12,
2006/Proposed Rules, p. 53619.
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Federal Register for the promulgation of new rules to develop a Globally Harmo- nized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.96 In the ANPRM, OSHA sought input from the public on issues related to the implementation of the GHS.
In response to the ANPRM, OSHA received over 100 comments from a va- riety of sources, including large multinational corporations, smaller corporations and businesses from a variety of industries, and various groups and associations within the field of safety and health.97 These comments serve to highlight three key concerns with the likely implementation of the GHS.
One key concern is the impact that the flexibility of the GHS would bring. While flexibility can be a positive attribute of a regulation or regulatory system, the inherent flexibility within the GHS framework may prove detrimental to the achievement of its fundamental goal of global harmony concerning chemical haz- ards if nations choose to implement GHS in different ways.98
Under the GHS, harmonization is defined as “establishing a common and co- herent basis for chemical hazard classification and communication, from which the appropriate elements relevant to means of transport, consumer, worker, and envi- ronment protection can be selected.”99 The goal of harmonization clearly should not be mistaken for a fully uniform system of hazard communication, however, as the flexibility inherent in the GHS framework means that not all countries and competent authorities that adopt the GHS will do so in a uniform manner. The lack of full harmony that the GHS would bring because of its inherent flexibility may ultimately prove to be a barrier to resolving at least some of the problems with the HCS that have prompted the move towards a harmonized system.
A second significant concern relates to the costs that the implementation of the GHS would almost certainly bring, which would be most significant during the process of implementing the GHS100 The costs of moving to GHS would
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96 Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 176/Tuesday, September 12, 2006/Proposed Rules. 97 See Hazard Communication Docket H022K, available at http://ecomments.osha.gov/search/browseEx-
hibits.asp. 98 See Hazard Communication Docket H022K, Exhibit 2-7, p. 3, “However, if the GHS is not truly harmo-
nized and states/countries can continue to add requirements and modify the GHS, then we have traded one confusing system for another.”
99 OSHA Publication, GHS-OSHA HCS Comparison, Comparison of Hazard Communication Requirements, available at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHSOSHAComparison.html.
100 See, for example, Hazard Communication Docket H022K, Exhibit 3-26, p. 2 (estimating the costs of train- ing and adaptation to the GHS at over $8 million within the newspaper and printing industries); Exhibit 3-9 (estimating transition costs of at least $426,000 for Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. for software en- hancements, updating MSDSs and labels, and publishing new documents in multiple languages); and Ex- hibit 2-2 (noting that the costs required to update their new chemical database system used to prepare ship- ping documents for chemicals and the costs of training on the new requirements would be significant).
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vary significantly depending upon the role of companies in relation to hazardous chemicals, with the highest costs falling to producers of such chemicals. Long- term costs may also be impacted to the extent that the GHS is not truly harmo- nized on an international scale.
A third key concern is with the timeline for implementation of the GHS once it is adopted. The OSHA GHS guidelines state that there is no international implementation schedule for the GHS: “It is likely that different national sys- tems/sectors will require different timeframes for GHS implementation. Existing systems will need to consider phase-in strategies for transition from their current requirements to the new GHS requirements.”101 Comments provided in response to the ANPRM advocated that a wide range of timelines be adopted for imple- mentation of GHS (e.g., from 18–24 months, three years, five years, and from six to nine years).102
5.0 Conclusion
Since 1983, producers and importers of hazardous chemicals, as well as employ- ers utilizing such chemicals in the workplace, have increasingly relied upon the requirements of the HCS as a source of stability for protecting workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. This stability did not, however, negate several problems that existed with the HCS and its requirements, many of which have grown in- creasingly problematic as the flow of hazardous chemicals has continued to in- crease within the stream of international commerce. OSHA’s resolve to move to- wards a globally harmonized system for hazard communications seems clear and was reaffirmed in 2006 through the publication of the advanced notice of pro- posed rulemaking regarding the adoption of GHS. Thus, little doubt exists that the GHS will ultimately be adopted by OSHA. Key questions that remain to be answered are the scope of changes that OSHA may make when implementing the GHS, the timeline for when such changes will occur, and the length of time that producers and importers of hazardous chemicals, as well as employers, would have to comply with such changes. While changes associated with the GHS may ultimately prove beneficial, the process of adopting the GHS will almost certainly prove costly and confusing, at least initially, and the flexibility of the GHS could hinder its primary goal of globally harmonizing hazard communication if the sys- tem is not adopted among different states and competent authorities in a truly harmonized manner.
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101 OSHA Publication, A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), available at www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html.
102 See Hazard Communication Docket H022K, Exhibits 2-12, 2-7, 2-11, and 2-15, respectively, available at http://ecomments.osha.gov/search/browseExhibits.asp.
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Chapter 9
Voluntary Safety and Health Self-Audits Michael T. Heenan Margaret S. Lopez Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
With the complex array of federal and state regulations that reach nearly every as- pect of every company’s operations, it is not surprising that many companies find self-auditing of their regulatory compliance to be an essential business practice.1
This is certainly true with regard to workplace safety and health.
Quite clearly, safety and health audits have become an integral procedure for a majority of enterprises. The fact is, well-planned and -executed periodic audits can provide company management with an excellent means of precisely identify- ing safety and health hazards; it is a measure that allows management to correct such conditions promptly. Audits may serve as the central monitoring device for a company’s safety and health program. When the information from an audit results in workplace improvement, this serves to demonstrate a company’s commitment to a safe workplace. Audits also allow companies, over time, to identify trends in their long-term efforts to improve safety and compliance with regulations.
With the increasing employer utilization of self-auditing procedures has come concern about the ways in which audit information may be used against
1 Of course, companies also conduct self-audits for reasons not directly related to monitoring regulatory com- pliance (e.g., to monitor compliance with company policies or to look for potential problems not related to regulatory concerns). Since this book concerns OSHA law, this chapter concentrates on audits in the OSHA regulatory compliance context.
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the employer in regulatory agency enforcement activities as well as in criminal and civil litigation. This chapter briefly discusses the broad significance of volun- tary self-auditing as a component of a company’s safety and health program. The chapter then considers the legitimate concerns about the potential for self-audit information to be used as adverse evidence against the company. The chapter de- scribes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) voluntary self-audit policy, which the agency developed to respond to those concerns. Fi- nally, other potential legal protections for audit information are discussed.
2.0 The Significance of Voluntary Safety and Health Auditing
Safety and health audits are a comprehensive approach to monitoring and assess- ing safety protections and ensuring compliance with government regulations. There are important reasons why almost any employer might choose to employ auditing in its safety program. Reasonable screening for violations and prompt elimination of problem conditions not only serve to protect safety and health, but also put the employer in a position of being able to demonstrate diligence in its regulatory compliance efforts. Such a showing of diligence could help counter al- legations of negligence in legal proceedings against the employer. In this connec- tion, it is noteworthy that some insurance providers strongly encourage the use of auditing by reducing premiums for companies with strong safety and health programs that include auditing.
As safety and health regulations have come to cover more and more aspects of the workplace, and as workplaces themselves, in many instances, have become more complex, auditing has become a significant tool for monitoring regulatory compliance and identifying potential safety and health hazards in the workplace. Auditing gives the company the ability literally to inspect itself and thereby find and resolve problems before they become legal liabilities.
2.1 Overview of Audits
2.1.1 The Audit Team
Safety and health audits can take many forms. Often they are conducted by teams of company personnel who specialize in safety and health. Many companies also use outside consultants to audit company operations. Outside consultants offer two advantages over exclusive use of in-house personnel. First, consultants can provide technical expertise needed to identify hazards company personnel may miss. Second, they can provide an independent review of the company’s operation.
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Legal counsel is also often involved in conducting safety and health audits. The company’s lawyers can assist in evaluating whether a condition identified by technical members of the audit team actually would constitute a violation under legal precedent. They also can assist, from a legal perspective, in assessing the severity of the conditions observed and can provide guidance, again from a legal perspective, for evaluating potential remedies for the hazards identified. As is dis- cussed in more detail later in this chapter, the involvement of legal counsel in the audit also may provide the basis for application of evidentiary privileges for pro- tecting certain audit information from mandated disclosure to third parties.
2.1.2 Scope of the Audit
Audits vary considerably in their scope. They may extend from a limited audit (focusing on a part of an operation or compliance with a single regulation) to a comprehensive audit covering the entire operation and the full panoply of OSHA regulations. They may be conducted infrequently, or they may be conducted on a regular, scheduled basis. The frequency of audits may be a function of the par- ticular company’s size and ability to dedicate resources. Larger companies may be more dependent on audit procedures than smaller companies to ensure that safety requirements are being met. No matter how frequently an employer con- ducts audits, the important thing is to ensure that a procedure is put in place to promptly respond to any deficiencies, violations, or hazards that are discovered. Generally speaking, the scope of an audit should never be greater than the em- ployer’s capability for immediate response.
2.1.3 Audit Information
Depending upon their scope and the methods used to conduct them, audits may produce a considerable amount of information. A variety of tools may be used to gather this information. Some of the more common are interviews, first-hand ob- servations, technical tests and measurements, and questionnaires. This informa- tion is usually preserved in the form of notes of the audit team members, test re- ports and other technical data, diagrams, photographs, and videos. Before the audit begins, there are often memoranda and perhaps an audit-planning docu- ment that detail the scope and outline the steps for conduct of the audit.
Once the information-gathering phase is over and the audit team has had a chance to evaluate the data, most audit teams will create a formal report. The re- port will detail the audit team’s findings and recommendations for correction of hazards. The report, therefore, typically contains not only descriptions of what the team found, but also the team’s analysis of those findings and its opinions about corrective action to be taken.
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After the audit is finished, other documents may be created that reflect the company’s response to the audit findings and recommendations. These docu- ments may show management’s consideration of alternative actions, either pro- posed in the audit itself or beyond those the audit team recommended. These documents may also describe the manner and timing of correction of the prob- lems identified in the audit.
Certainly, much of the information generated in the course of an audit is im- portant to the audit’s serving its intended function of improving safety and health at the operation. In many instances, a company’s audit information demonstrates that the company has a solid safety and health program in place. It shows that the company regularly conducts thorough audits and in a timely manner addresses the deficiencies found in those audits.
2.2 Auditing Tips
An exhaustive list of “dos” and “don’ts” for auditing are beyond the scope of this chapter. However, a few tips to avoid legal pitfalls are offered here for general guidance.
2.2.1 Take Steps to Protect Confidentiality of Audit Information
In some circumstances, it may be in the company’s best interest to resist efforts of outside parties seeking to force disclosure of the company’s audit informa- tion—not necessarily because the company has done anything wrong, but be- cause the audit may be used in a way that may turn the company’s good inten- tions and efforts against itself.2 Thus, from a legal perspective, part of the audit planning should include consideration of what documents will be created and how their confidentiality will be maintained. The reasons and methods for this are discussed in further detail later in this chapter. We mention it here, however, because disclosure issues should always be in the forefront of counsel’s mind when advising a company on conducting a safety and health audit.
2.2.2 Be Prepared to Promptly Respond to Every Hazard Identified in the Audit
It is essential that the company commit, in advance of the audit, to remedy every hazard that will be identified in the audit in a timely way. For obvious reasons,
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2 For example, the company may not have had sufficient time to correct an identified condition before it would be required to disclose its audit documents in a government inspection or investigation or in a legal proceeding.
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conducting a voluntary audit and then ignoring the problems found is worse than not auditing at all. Care must also be taken if upper management disagrees with an audit team’s conclusion that something is unsafe. Prudence would dictate that management accept and address the conclusions of the audit team without reservation. Once an issue is raised in an audit, it cannot be ignored without peril. More than one company has found itself facing charges after a serious ac- cident because audit warnings were ignored or rejected.
2.2.3 Document Every Significant Step Taken to Respond to Hazards
Whenever a company has documented problems found, it is important to also document promptly that the problems were resolved in a timely manner. If the resolution will take some time, the company should create a contemporaneous record of each step taken to resolve the problem. In this way, the company will be able to show its prudence and good faith in responding to hazards that have come to its attention.
2.2.4 Do Not Censor the Auditors
From the preliminary planning phase through preparation of the last document concerning the audit findings and recommendations or remediation, manage- ment must not censor audit documents. It is one thing to decide in advance that, for valid reasons, the audit will only address a limited list of compliance issues, but it is quite another thing to instruct an auditor to ignore a hazard that was found in the audit (or to edit a valid finding out of a draft report).
Again, once the company has committed to conducting an audit, the com- pany must be willing to face up to the findings, whatever they are. Covering up findings will only escalate legal problems for the company should the censorship later come to light in an enforcement or litigation action.
It is also imperative that audit documents not be destroyed as a means of cov- ering up evidence of a violative condition. To avoid even the appearance of pos- sible destruction of evidence, audit documents should only be destroyed in the ordinary course of document destruction in accordance with the company’s record retention and destruction program.
2.2.5 Attribute Appropriate Gravity to Audit Findings and Recommendations
The audit report and all other audit-related documents should neither exagger- ate nor understate problems found in the audit. Audit documents should treat the findings and recommendations in a manner commensurate with their actual
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importance. This will provide the proper foundation for later measurement of the appropriateness of the company’s response, should that be necessary.
3.0 OSHA’s Voluntary Self-Audit Policy
3.1 Purpose
In recognition of the important role that voluntary audits play in maintaining ef- fective workplace safety and health programs (and in response to considerable po- litical pressure3), OSHA issued a formal policy on agency use of company audit information.4 The policy statement, titled Final Policy Concerning the Occupa- tional Safety and Health Administration’s Treatment of Voluntary Employer Safety and Health Self-Audits, was published in the Federal Register in July 2000. The policy makes clear that “the Agency will not routinely request self-audit reports at the initiation of an inspection, and the Agency will not use self-audit reports as a means of identifying hazards upon which to focus during an inspection.”5 It does not appear that the policy has greatly affected companies’ use of self-audits in their safety programs, however. As noted above, many companies choose to in- volve their legal counsel in the self-audit process for evidentiary privilege pur- poses. However, even documents prepared or reviewed by an attorney will not be protected to the extent that the audit is required by law or regulation. Still, OSHA’s policy is a positive official step in support of the agency’s stated goal to encourage voluntary auditing.
3.2 Scope
OSHA’s audit policy only applies to audits that are “systematic, documented, and objective reviews conducted by, or for, employers to review their operations and practices to ascertain compliance with the Act.” Further, the policy only applies to voluntary audits. It does not apply to audits that are required to be conducted by the Act, by agency regulations, or by a settlement agreement.6
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3 Numerous bills have been introduced in Congress in the past that would have created an audit privilege in one form or another and would have required OSHA to employ other incentives to encourage auditing. See, for example, Safety and Health Audit Promotion Act of 1999, H.R. 1438, 106th Cong. (1999); Safety and Health Audit Promotion and Whistleblower Improvement Act of 1999, H.R. 1439, 106th Cong. (1999); Safety and Health Improvement and Regulatory Reform Act of 1995, H.R. 1834, 104th Cong. (1995).
4 OSHA, Final Policy Concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Treatment of Vol- untary Employer Safety and Health Self-Audits, 65 Fed. Reg. 46,498-46,503, July 28, 2000.
5 Id. 6 Many standards require companies to self-inspect to monitor compliance and retain and make available to
the agency related records of monitoring. See, for example, 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.119, 1910.120, 1910.1025(d), (e), 1926.20(b).
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The policy extends to information gathered in the course of a voluntary self- audit, as well as to “analyses, conclusions, and recommendations” resulting from the audit. Thus, the term voluntary self-audit report, as used in the policy, is given a broad definition, including not only the audit report itself but, presumably, other documents containing audit-related information.
3.3 Provisions
3.3.1 Use of Self-Audits in Agency Inspections
There are four major declarations in the policy. The first states that “OSHA will not routinely request voluntary self-audit reports at the initiation of an inspec- tion.” In other words, “OSHA will not use such reports as a means of identify- ing hazards upon which to focus inspection activity.” This declaration is OSHA’s attempt to respond to a major concern of employers that they were essentially cre- ating a roadmap in company audit records of areas of the operation for OSHA inspectors to focus on in an enforcement inspection. Even so, the word routinely has still left some employers nervous that OSHA has left itself a large loophole. In fact, it appears that this policy has operated as a check-and-balance on the compliance officer in the field, prohibiting an inspector from using self-audit re- sults as a roadmap during his inspection unless he first receives permission from the OSHA area director.
The policy goes on to state that “if the Agency has an independent basis to believe that a specific safety or health hazard warranting investigation exists, OSHA may exercise its authority to obtain the relevant portions of voluntary self- audit reports relating to the hazard.” Here lies a potentially larger loophole.7
3.3.2 No Citation for Corrected Conditions
In the second declaration, OSHA states that it “will not issue a citation for a vi- olative condition that an employer has discovered as a result of a voluntary self- audit, if the employer has corrected the violative condition prior to the initiation of an inspection (and prior to a related accident, illness, or injury that triggers the inspection) and has taken appropriate steps to prevent a recurrence of the violative condition that was discovered during the voluntary self-audit.” This statement il- lustrates the importance of documenting actions taken to respond to hazardous
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7 The authority that OSHA is purporting to rely on must be carefully examined in each case. If there is no OSHA regulation requiring a document, such as an audit report, OSHA compliance officers may not be able to compel its production without a search warrant or subpoena. At the same time, it must be remem- bered that even if the agency does not seek to obtain audit information at the time of inspection, the audit report may be demanded later in discovery during litigation concerning any citations that may be issued based on other evidence.
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conditions identified in an audit, particularly actions that are aimed at preventing recurrence of the hazard.
3.3.3 Protection from Use of Self-Audits to Show Willfulness
The third declaration, the so-called safe harbor provision, provides that “if an em- ployer is responding in good faith to a violative condition discovered through a vol- untary self-audit and OSHA detects the condition during an inspection, OSHA will not use the voluntary self-audit report as evidence that the violation is willful.” (A willful violation is one in which the employer intentionally violated a require- ment of the Act and has either shown reckless disregard for the possibility of a vio- lation or has shown plain indifference to safety and health of employees. Penalties for such violations may range from a minimum of $5,000 to $70,000.)8
OSHA explains that “this policy is intended to apply when, through a vol- untary self-audit, the employer learns that a violative condition exists and promptly takes diligent steps to correct the violative condition and bring itself into compliance, while providing effective interim employee protection, as nec- essary.” Again, note the importance of good documentation with respect to in- termediate responsive steps.
3.3.4 Penalty Reduction for Good Faith
The final declaration provides that the agency will “treat a voluntary self-audit that results in prompt action to correct violations found [as described in the safe harbor provision], and appropriate steps to prevent similar violations, as strong evidence of an employer’s good faith with respect to the matters covered by the voluntary self-audit.” Accordingly, the agency will reduce by up to 25% the amount of the penalty that would otherwise be assessed for the violation.9 The policy defines good faith as “an objectively reasonable, timely and diligent effort to comply with the requirements of the Act and OSHA standards.”
3.4 Limitations
In issuing the policy, the agency was careful to state in the policy itself that it is in- ternal guidance only and is not legally binding: “The policy statement is not a final Agency action. It is intended only as a general, internal OSHA guidance, and is to
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8 29 U.S.C. § 666(a). 9 The Act provides that an employer’s good faith is to be considered by the Occupational Safety and Health
Review Commission in assessing civil penalties. 29 U.S.C. § 666(j). OSHA’s Field Inspection Reference Manual authorizes the agency to reduce a civil penalty by up to 25% when the agency finds the employer acted in good faith.
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be applied flexibly, in light of all appropriate circumstances. It does not create any legal rights, duties, obligations, or defenses, implied or otherwise, for any party, or bind the Agency.” Therefore, an employer would find it difficult to successfully hold the agency to the provisions of this policy in any form of legal action.
3.5 Critique
3.5.1 “Routine” Use
Since the policy has been issued, the regulated community has been concerned about OSHA’s commitment to refrain only from “routinely” requesting audit in- formation at the outset of an inspection.10 The policy is completely silent as to what the agency would consider a “nonroutine” situation, in which OSHA would ask to see a company’s audit report.11 Indeed, the agency asserts in the supple- mentary information to the policy that compliance officers must be given discre- tion in this regard. This leaves employers without guidance as to when the agency will or will not request to see company audit information.
3.5.2 Use of Audit Information to Supplement Other Evidence Already Found
The policy states that OSHA may seek company audit information in circum- stances in which the agency already has other evidence of a violation. Thus, there remain many situations in which the agency will still use company audits as fur- ther evidence to prove a violation or to establish the gravity of a violation—all the more reason companies must be diligent about timely correcting hazards identi- fied in audits.
3.5.3 Penalty Reduction
The 25% penalty reduction offered for good faith demonstrated by self-auditing is no more than the agency already offered prior to implementation of the policy. The policy simply publicizes the fact that voluntary audits may be used to find good faith. It would have been more effective in terms of encouraging auditing to have offered a greater penalty reduction than that already in place.
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10 See “OSHA Employer Audit Policy Applauded, but Some Questions Remain, ASSE Says,” Occupational Safety and Health (BNA) Vol. 30, No. 33 Aug. 17, 2000 at 757.
11 In the draft of the self-audit policy statement that OSHA published for comment in October, 1999, the agency provided examples of situations in which it might seek audit information. Proposed Policy Statement Concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Use of Voluntary Employer Safety and Health Self-Audits, 64 Fed. Reg. 54,358-54,361 (October 6, 1999). The examples provided were where the agency was investigating a fatal or catastrophic accident or where the agency has reason to believe a hazard- ous violation exists and is investigating the extent of the hazard.
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4.0 Privileges and Protections from Disclosure of Audit Information
4.1 Introduction
There are certainly many instances in which it is in the company’s interest to disclose safety and health audit information to OSHA and other third parties. As already dis- cussed, audit information may be used to establish good faith and thereby avoid a finding of a willful violation. Under OSHA’s self-audit policy, the fact the company has performed an audit and taken prompt and effective action to correct the hazards found may result in a 25% penalty reduction. Audit information may also be help- ful to the company in the civil and criminal litigation context in demonstrating that the company has a strong commitment to safety and health in the workplace.
Unfortunately, there are also many situations in which it is not in the com- pany’s best interest to be forced to disclose its audit information. For this reason, company counsel must be knowledgeable about the protections available, how to secure and preserve them, and what their limitations are. This section discusses three of these protections: the self-audit privilege, the attorney/client privilege, and the attorney work product doctrine.
4.2 The Self-Audit Privilege
The self-audit privilege, at least in its common law version, is seldom found by courts to be available to protect safety and health audits. As is explained in greater detail later in this section, this is partly because courts tend to regard the privilege as unnecessary to encouraging employers to conduct audits and because courts also tend to find that the public good is better served by requiring disclosure of au- dit information. The rare statutory version of this privilege (where such a statute exists) would presumably be a far more reliable protector of audit information. Whether a company has available to it a statutory audit privilege or must rely on the less dependable common law version, it is important for legal counsel to know what this privilege is and to be thoroughly familiar with its limitations.
4.2.1 The Common Law Audit Privilege
4.2.1.1 General Description
By common law audit privilege, we mean the privilege that is created by the courts, as opposed to the privilege that is created by the legislature. This is the form of the privilege that we look exclusively to the courts to define.12
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12 Since many of the significant cases concerning evidentiary privileges have arisen outside the safety and health context but are nevertheless applicable to safety and health audit privilege issues, this section cites cases that do not necessarily concern safety and health audits per se.
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Courts are very reluctant to create new privileges. This is because generally they do not want to stand in the way of full discovery in litigation.
In the federal courts, privileges are recognized pursuant to Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.13
Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that privileged infor- mation is protected from discovery.14 In other words, a court cannot require a party to reveal to another party privileged information. Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that evidentiary privileges shall be created and inter- preted in the common law, subject to exceptions such as where Congress has cre- ated a privilege through statute.
The purpose of the common law audit privilege is to encourage companies to audit their operations concerning subject areas in which there is a strong pub- lic interest that accurate and candid self-audits be conducted. In situations where the privilege is applicable, some or all of a company’s audit information will be protected from disclosure. In other words, the company will not be required to reveal privileged audit information to an opponent in discovery.
4.2.1.2 Factors Used in Determining Whether to Apply the Privilege
Unfortunately, the audit privilege has been inconsistently defined by the courts that do apply it, and many courts refuse to even recognize that such a privilege exists. Those courts that do recognize the privilege (often in contexts other than safety and health) will usually consider the following factors in determining whether the privilege will apply: (1) whether the information at issue was gener- ated in the course of a self-audit conducted by the company; (2) whether the company intentionally preserved the confidentiality of the information; (3) whether there is a strong public interest in encouraging audits of this type to be conducted; and (4) whether there is a strong likelihood that not applying the privilege in this context will discourage companies from conducting these types of audits.15
This first factor, whether the information at issue was generated in the course of a self-audit conducted by the company, may appear to be an easy one to sat- isfy, but often it is not. Some courts have found that audits of an investigatory
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13 The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s Rules of Procedure provide that the Commis- sion will apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, unless the Commission Rules have a specific provision covering a subject, and they provide that the Federal Rules of Evidence apply to Commission proceedings. 29 C.F.R. § 2200.2(b), 2200.71.
14 The analogous Review Commission Rule provides, “The information or response sought through discovery may concern any matter that is not privileged.” 29 C.F.R. § 2200.52(b).
15 See Peter A. Gish, “The Self-Critical Analysis Privilege and Environmental Audit Reports,” 25 Envtl. L. 73, 80-82 (Winter 1995); Donald P. Vandegrift Jr., “Legal Development: The Privilege of Self-Critical Analy- sis: A Survey of the Law,” 60 Alb. L. Ref. 171, 187 (1996).
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nature (as opposed to a pure compliance review audit) do not qualify for the priv- ilege because the courts find that the company would have conducted these au- dits regardless of whether a privilege was available.16 Some courts have refused to apply the privilege to protect self-critical information that was generated in the normal course of business of the company.17 Again, the courts reason that since the company finds it to be a good business practice to regularly audit its opera- tion, the company does not need a privilege to encourage auditing. Auditing is simply a necessity to running the business.
Confidentiality is a critical factor for securing the privilege. Like other evi- dentiary privileges, this privilege is considered waived if the information at issue has been disclosed to third parties.18 Therefore, it is imperative that the company restrict distribution of audit information to those who need that information to assist the company in achieving its objectives in conducting the audit. This may include outside consultants, but even within the company, distribution must be limited. A simple aid for preserving confidentiality and (should the need arise) demonstrating the company’s intent to keep the information confidential is to mark all audit documents “confidential.”
The third and fourth factors are related to the purpose of the privilege, which is to protect the public interest in having companies conduct such audits. As dis- cussed above, under these factors, courts will consider the nature of the audit and whether employers will refrain from conducting such audits in the absence of the privilege.19
4.2.1.3 Other Limitations in Application of the Audit Privilege
Even where this privilege is found to apply, it is generally limited to protection of opinions and subjective analysis, not facts.20 Therefore, the common law privilege would most likely not protect information showing that a hazard existed or that management personnel knew the hazard existed, but it may protect opinions of auditors about the scope of the hazard and recommendations for corrective action.
This is a qualified privilege. The privilege can be overcome by the opposing party showing that it has a compelling need for the information—for example, by showing that the information is critical evidence and that there is no other rea- sonably available means of independently obtaining such information.
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16 See Davidson v. Light, 79 F.R.D. 137, 139-40 (D. Colo. 1978). But see Dowling v. American Hawaii Cruises, Inc., 971 F.2d 423, 427 (9th Cir. 1992).
17 See Dowling, 971 F.2d at 426. But see Hickman v.Whirlpool Corp., 186 F.R.D. 362 (N.D. Ohio 1999). 18 See Peterson v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 112 F.R.D. 360, 363 (W.D. Mich. 1986). 19 See ASARCO v. NLRB, 805 F.2d 194 (6th Cir. 1986). 20 See Price v. County of San Diego, 165 F.R.D. 614, 619 (S.D. Cal. 1996).
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The audit privilege generally does not apply to protect against discovery by the government.21 This is obviously a severe limitation in the safety and health context. This limitation is based on the principal purpose of the common law privilege, which is to further a public interest. Unlike other privileges, this privi- lege does not serve to protect the owner of the information. Courts, therefore, generally conclude that it is not in the public interest to preclude access to such information by a government agency.
4.2.2 Statutory Audit Privilege
There is no federal statute that provides an audit privilege in the safety and health context. However, there have been multiple bills introduced in Congress in the last decade that, if enacted, would have created such a statutory privilege.22 At the state level, at the present time, at least one state has enacted a statute creating an audit privilege for safety and health audits.23
4.3 The Attorney/Client Privilege
Because the self-audit privilege is generally unavailable to protect company safety audits, companies must look to other protections for circumstances in which they seek to avoid having to provide audit information to third parties. The only two other protections likely to be available, however, require attorney involvement in the audit for the protections to apply. Therefore, if the company may want to rely on these other protections, it is necessary before the audit commences to secure the involvement of company counsel in the audit.
The purpose of the attorney/client privilege is to facilitate candid communi- cation between attorneys and their clients, unfettered by concerns that such com- munications can be subject to discovery. This goal is accomplished by the avail- ability of the attorney/client evidentiary privilege, which protects from required disclosure confidential communications to provide legal services between client and attorney.24
This privilege will apply to protect all such communications between the client and attorney, whether those communications consist of fact or opinion. It is important to note, however, that merely sending a document to counsel does
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21 See Reich v. Hercules, Inc., 857 F. Supp. 367, 371 (D.N.J. 1994). 22 See, e.g., Safety and Health Audit Promotion Act of 1999, H.R. 1438, 106th Cong. (1999); Safety and
Health Audit Promotion and Whistleblower Improvement Act of 1999, H.R. 1439, 106th Cong. (1999); Safety and Health Improvement and Regulatory Reform Act of 1995, H.R. 1834, 104th Cong. (1995).
23 See Environmental, Health, and Safety Audit Privilege Act, Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Art. 4447cc (2005). 24 See Upjohn v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389-90 (1981).
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not cloak that document with the privilege. The document must have been cre- ated for the purpose of assisting the attorney in providing legal advice. Thus, merely copying company counsel on the final audit report, without further in- volvement from counsel in the planning and conduct of the audit and in making recommendations based on that report, will not be sufficient to protect the re- port from disclosure.25
Counsel must be actively involved in the audit process for audit information to be protected by the attorney/client privilege.26 It is best if company counsel ac- tually leads the audit, at least by directing that the audit be performed, reviewing the audit findings and recommendations, and adding legal conclusions and ad- vice to the audit report. Since the privilege does not apply to lawyers providing business advice, it is critical that the lawyer’s role in the audit process be to pro- vide legal advice to the company.
This does not mean that counsel must participate in all aspects of the audit. The privilege will extend to communications with and between members of the audit team (even if outside consultants are used) as long as the ultimate purpose of those communications is to enable company counsel to provide legal advice to the company (presumably on compliance and legal liability issues).27 In this re- gard, it is best if company counsel is actively involved in the selection and direc- tion of audit team members.
As with the self-audit privilege, the attorney/client privilege will be consid- ered to have been waived if audit information is not kept strictly confidential. The same methods to preserve the confidentiality of audit information for pur- poses of the audit privilege apply to preserve the attorney/client privilege. Limit- ing distribution within the company may be as important as preventing disclo- sure outside the company.
Unlike the audit privilege, the attorney/client privilege is absolute. It cannot be overcome by a claim that the party seeking the information has a compelling need for that information.
4.4 Attorney Work Product Doctrine
The work product doctrine is more limited than the attorney/client privilege. It will protect confidential opinions and analyses of the attorney that appear in au- dit information only if such material was created in anticipation of litigation.28
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25 See Hercules, Inc., 857 F. Supp. 367, 372 (D.N.J. 1994). 26 Id. 27 See In re: Grand Jury Matter, 147 F.R.D. 82, 84–86 (E.D. Pa. 1992). 28 See Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 510–511 (1947); Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(3)
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This is a substantial limitation for safety and health audits because they often are not conducted in anticipation of litigation. The fact that they may be conducted with an eye to avoiding the remote possibility of litigation in the future has been found by some courts to not be enough to justify application of the work prod- uct doctrine.29
The work product doctrine generally does not protect factual information, only opinions and analysis of counsel.30 Therefore, the work product doctrine will not protect all of a company’s audit information.
Like the audit privilege, the protection from disclosure that the work prod- uct doctrine otherwise may provide can be overcome by a showing of substantial need on the part of the party seeking access to the information.31 If that party can show that it can obtain the information only through extraordinary means or that it cannot obtain the information from any other source and that the information is critical to its case, a court may find that the information must be handed over.
5.0 Conclusion
Given their reliance on workplace audits to improve safety and health and to monitor regulatory compliance, employers need to consider what protections may be available in the event they have a need to protect audit information from being used as adverse evidence in an agency enforcement action or in litigation. In most circumstances, safety and health audits will not be protected by a self- audit privilege. Other protections are also limited and usually necessitate sub- stantial involvement of counsel. These include the attorney/client privilege and the attorney work product doctrine.
In view of the foregoing, it is in the interest of every employer to treat all au- dit activities and reports with a view to their possibly becoming public or at least available to adverse parties in litigation. Therefore, it is critical that companies conducting audits follow through appropriately and ensure prompt correction of every deficiency found. In this way, companies will fully benefit from the audit- ing process, and the safety and health of their workplaces will be enhanced.
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29 See Martin v. Bally’s Park Place Hotel & Casino, 983 F.2d 1252, 1260–1261 (3rd Cir. 1993). 30 See Hickman, 329 U.S. at 511 (1947); Hercules, 857 F. Supp. at 373. But see Bally’s Park, 983 F.2d at
1261–1262. 31 See Bally’s Park, 983 F.2d at 1255.
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Chapter 10
Inspections and Investigations Eric J. Conn, Esq. McDermott Will & Emery LLP Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
The primary way in which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) attempts to make sure employers comply with the OSH Act and OSHA’s safety standards is by inspections of workplaces and investigations of accidents, ill- nesses and employee complaints. During the course of a workplace safety and health inspection, an OSHA compliance safety and health officer (compliance of- ficer) (1) holds an opening conference, during which the compliance officer states the purpose and intended scope of his inspection; (2) identifies and gathers evi- dence of violations of safety standards by conducting a physical walkthrough of the workplace, interviewing employees, reviewing company records, and photo- graphing and video recording work locations and activities; and (3) conducts a closing conference, during which the compliance officer states his general findings from the inspection.
This chapter (1) identifies the various types of inspections and investigations conducted by OSHA; (2) details OSHA’s rights relating to workplace inspections and investigations (including when and how OSHA may obtain warrants and subpoenas); (3) describes employers’ rights vis-à-vis OSHA during the course of inspections and investigations; and (4) summarizes the sequence and conduct of OSHA inspections and investigations. Included throughout this chapter are sev- eral helpful Practitioner’s Tips about issues that commonly arise during OSHA inspections and investigations.
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2.0 Types of Inspections and Investigations
OSHA inspections and investigations fit generally into four categories, which are addressed by OSHA in the following priority: (1) imminent danger inspections; (2) accident investigations (i.e., fatality and catastrophe investigations); (3) complaint/ referral investigations; and (4) programmed inspections (including routine/ scheduled inspections and regional and national emphasis program inspections).
2.1 Imminent Danger Inspections
Imminent danger inspections, which are typically triggered by an employee com- plaint under Section 8(f )(1) of the Act, are given the highest priority by OSHA. Section 13(a) of the Act defines imminent danger to mean a danger “which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such danger can be eliminated through the” Act’s typi- cal enforcement procedures.
2.2 Accident and Fatality Investigations
Accident and fatality investigations are conducted to determine whether the ac- cident or fatality resulted from some violation of the Act. Employers are required to report any fatality or incident that causes the hospitalization of three or more employees.1 These reports must be made orally within eight hours “by telephone or in person to the Area Office of [OSHA] that is nearest to the site of the inci- dent [or] use the OSHA toll-free central telephone number, 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742).”2 Reports of such incidents often result in OSHA investiga- tions, which lead to citations. A failure to report such an incident is itself a vio- lation of OSHA’s regulations.3
2.3 Complaint or Referral Investigations
Complaint or referral investigations arise out of Section 8(f )(1) of the Act, which requires OSHA to conduct an inspection if (1) an employee or employee repre- sentative (e.g., a union official) complains in writing that an employer has vio- lated a safety standard or that an imminent danger exists at the workplace, and (2) OSHA has reasonable grounds to believe that such a violation or imminent danger does in fact exist.4 Written complaints that comply with the formality re-
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1 29 C.F.R. § 1904.39(a). 2 Id. 3 Id. 4 29 C.F.R. § 1903.11.
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quirements of Section 8(f ) (i.e., the complaint is “reduced to writing, . . . set forth with reasonable particularity the grounds for the notice, and [is] signed by the employee”) are considered “formal” complaints and generally will trigger an in- vestigation. Complaints that do not comply with those requirements are called “informal” complaints and generally cause OSHA to send a letter to the em- ployer. If the employer does not respond to the letter or fails to correct the com- plained about condition, OSHA will then begin an inspection.
2.4 Routine, Scheduled, or Programmed Inspections
Routine or scheduled inspections have the lowest priority. OSHA focuses rou- tine inspections on industries with the highest accident rates. Workplaces within these industries are randomly selected for routine inspections. In addition to considering accident rates, OSHA may also inspect certain industries or em- ployers more frequently if they pose a special hazard. For example, certain OSHA offices may initiate a regional emphasis program addressing the hazards of high rise construction and will add to its programmed inspection list local building construction sites with levels higher than 10 floors. OSHA has also ini- tiated various national emphasis programs, in which compliance officers more frequently inspect workplaces where employees are exposed to specific hazards, such as asbestos.
Practitioner’s Tip: Field Inspection Reference Manual (FIRM)
A good resource to help understand OSHA inspections is OSHA’s Field In- spection Reference Manual (the FIRM). The FIRM is a guideline that OSHA compliance officers follow when selecting which employers to inspect, what procedures to follow during inspections, how to prepare citations, how to cal- culate penalty assessments, and other inspection related issues. The FIRM can be found on OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov/FIRM_osha_toc/Firm_toc_by_ sect.html.
3.0 OSHA’s Inspection and Investigation Rights
3.1 OSHA’s Right to Inspect
Section 8(a) of the OSH Act purports to grant OSHA, “upon presenting appro- priate credentials,” the right to “enter without delay and at reasonable times any . . . workplace . . . and . . . to inspect and investigate during regular working hours and at other reasonable times, and within such reasonable limits and in a reason- able manner, any such place of employment and all pertinent conditions . . . .” In 1978, however, the U.S. Supreme Court, in effect, held that OSHA’s right of
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warrantless entry apparently granted by this provision is unconstitutional.5 In Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc., the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution applies to OSHA inspections and requires OSHA to ob- tain a warrant or consent to enter a workplace for inspection.6
Though OSHA’s right to inspect described in Section 8(a) was essentially lost, the limits imposed on OSHA in that section still remain. Even with a war- rant or employer consent, OSHA inspections must still occur “at reasonable times,” which typically include normal working hours; “in a reasonable manner”; and “within [ ] reasonable limits.” In other words, the compliance officer does not get to rule the roost however he sees fit. For example, his inspection may not create an unreasonable distraction to the conduct of business unless he detects an imminent hazard during his inspection.7
3.2 No Advance Notice
OSHA has a right to conduct workplace safety inspections without providing ad- vance notice to employers. In fact, Section 17(f ) of the Act permits a court to im- pose a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months to anyone who “gives advance notice of any inspection to be conducted under [the] Act, without authority from the Secretary [of Labor] or his designees . . . .”8 There are some limited instances in which advance notice is permissible or even required. For example, OSHA provides advance notice if an imminent danger is suspected to exist at the workplace.9 Likewise, OSHA may provide advance notice if it will enhance the agency’s ability to conduct a useful inspection (e.g., to arrange for an inspection after normal business hours or when certain employer representatives or employees are available).10
3.3 Warrant Requirement
Though OSHA is not required to provide advance notice to employers before ini- tiating workplace inspections, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that, in the absence of (1) the premises owner’s consent; (2) an emer-
210 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
5 Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978) (“The businessman, like the occupant of a residence, has a constitutional right to go about his business free from unreasonable official entries upon his private com- mercial property”).
6 Id. at 312. 7 29 C.F.R. §1903.7(d) (“The conduct of inspections shall be such as to preclude unreasonable disruption of
the operations of the employer’s establishment”). 8 See also 29 C.F.R. §1903.6(c). 9 29 C.F.R. 1903.6(a)(1). 10 29 C.F.R. 1903.6(a)(2) and (3).
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gency (i.e., an imminent hazard); or (3) the observation of a safety violation in “plain view,” OSHA may not inspect any workplace without a valid judicial war- rant. The Fourth Amendment states:
The right of the people to be secure in their . . . houses, paper, and ef- fects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon reasonable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
That right, commonly understood to protect individuals in their homes from warrantless searches by the police, has been extended to business owners on their commercial premises.11
There is, however, one major difference between the warrant that permits po- lice searches of individuals’ homes and the warrant that permits OSHA inspec- tions of businesses: OSHA need not demonstrate the same level of “probable cause” that police authorities are required to demonstrate. Specifically, OSHA does not have to show probable cause that a violation of a safety law will be dis- covered during an inspection. Instead, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that OSHA need only satisfy a relaxed probable cause standard:
[The Secretary of Labor’s] entitlement to inspect will not depend on his demonstrating probable cause to believe that conditions in violation of OSHA exist on the premises. Probable cause in the criminal law sense is not required. For purposes of an administrative search such as this, prob- able cause justifying the issuance of a warrant may be based not only on specific evidence of an existing violation but also on a showing that “rea- sonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an . . . in- spection are satisfied with respect to a particular [establishment].”12
Accordingly, OSHA need only show that either (1) there is a “reasonable suspi- cion” of a violation13 or (2) the inspection is being sought under a neutral and reasonable legislative or administrative plan.14
The Seventh Circuit clarified what a “reasonable suspicion” is. “A mere allega- tion of danger from an employee without sufficient documentation or supporting
Inspections and Investigations ❖ 211
11 Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978). 12 Id. at 316 (quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 538 [1967]). 13 See Matter of Midwest Instruments Co., 900 F.2d 1150, 1153 (7th Cir. 1990). 14 See Irving v. United States, 162 F.3d 154, 168 (1st Cir. 1998) (“OSHA may legitimately devote its limited
enforcement resources to monitoring workplaces and working conditions that pose the most serious threats to worker health and safety. OSHA has done so in part, for example, by adopting inspection priorities and an administrative plan to govern programmed general inspections”).
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data is insufficient; in order to establish ‘administrative probable cause,’ the warrant application must ‘support[] a reasonable belief or lead[] to a reasonable suspicion that the OSH Act or its regulations have been violated.’”15 That being such a low burden for OSHA, warrants will routinely be granted, and considering the fact that OSHA may obtain warrants ex parte (i.e., without notice to or participation by the employer), most employers simply consent to OSHA inspections.
3.4 Exceptions to Warrant Requirement
As identified above, there are three exceptions to OSHA’s warrant requirement: (1) consent, (2) emergencies, and (3) plain view. The consent required to obviate the need for a warrant in an OSHA inspection is less stringent than one might think. Indeed, the consent need not even be expressly given by the employer.16
The OSHA compliance officer is not required to reveal that the employer has a right to object to a warrantless inspection,17 It is even possible for a third party to consent on behalf of the employer. For example, the owner of a building in which a contractor or subcontractor employer’s employees are working or the general construction contractor on a multi-employer construction site can waive another employer’s right to demand a warrant if the third party possesses common au- thority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises.18
For an emergency to rise to the level of obviating the warrant requirement, the emergency must be of a highly serious quality and imminent in nature.19 The OSH Act defines imminent dangers as “conditions or practices in any place of em- ployment which are such that a danger exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such danger can be eliminated through the enforcement procedures otherwise provided by this Act.”20 In other words, a real threat to an employee’s health and safety must be evident and imminent.
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15 Reich v. Kelly-Springfield Tire Company, 13 F.3d 1160, 1166 (7th Cir. 1994) (quoting Midwest Instruments, 900 F.2d at 1153).
16 See Lakeland Enterprises of Rhinelander, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 402 F.3d 739, 745, 21 BNA OSHC 1001 (7th Cir. 2005) (“The ALJ correctly concluded that any Fourth Amendment objection was waived because [the employer] did not object to [the compliance officer’s] inspection and request a warrant at the scene”).
17 See Parsons Co., 18 BNA OSHC 1462 (Rev. Comm’n 1997) (citing Secretary of Labor v. Sanders Lead Com- pany, 15 BNA OSHC 1640 [1992]) (“An inspecting officer is not generally obligated to inform the em- ployer of its rights to object and demand a warrant . . .”).
18 See LaForge & Budd Constr., 16 BNA OSHC 2002 (1994) (third party may consent to inspection even over objection of employer inspected).
19 See, for example, U.S. v. Holloway, 290 F.3d 1337 (11th Cir. 2002) (“emergency situations involving en- dangerment to life fall squarely within the exigent circumstances exception”). See also Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392 (1978) (“The most urgent emergency situation excusing . . . compliance with the warrant re- quirement is, of course, the need to protect or preserve life”).
20 29 U.S.C. §662(a). See also FIRM, ch. II, D.3.b.
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OSHA does not need a warrant to conduct an inspection in areas where the employer does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy; typically, this means areas that are accessible to the public.21 These areas usually include observations made in plain view or in open fields. For example, if an inspector has a right to be where he is without any warrant, and from that vantage point he observes in plain view a violation of a safety standard, he may cite the employer for that vio- lation without ever obtaining the employer’s consent or a warrant to inspect.22
This principle also permits the inspector to use sense-enhancing devices, such as binoculars or telephoto lenses.23 The open fields doctrine also permits OSHA to make what are technically trespasses onto private land, so long as the public is not excluded from it.24 It also permits a compliance officer, who is authorized by war- rant or consent to be in one part of a workplace, to rely on observations of con- ditions in areas where he is not authorized to be, so long as he observes the con- ditions from a place where does have a right to be.25
3.5 Interviews, Documents, and Subpoenas
OSHA has the right, under Section 8(a)(2) of the Act, to “question privately” any non-salaried employee (i.e., an individual who does not speak for the em- ployer).26 These interviews can take place during work breaks and lunch or even during production periods so long as the interviews do not “create a risk of in- jury or unduly disrupt production.”27 However, OSHA’s right to conduct private employee interviews does not wipe out employees’ rights to legal representation during OSHA interviews.28 OSHA may request to interview an employee pri- vately, but no employee can be compelled to submit to such an interview. Indeed, without a subpoena, any employee may refuse to be questioned at all.
However, if an employee refuses to speak to an OSHA compliance officer in a voluntary interview, privately or with representation, Section 8(b) of the Act empowers OSHA to issue investigative subpoenas to compel that testimony. In
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21 See, for example, Lakeland Enterprises, 402 F.3d at 745 (citing L.R. Wilson & Sons, Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), 134 F.3d 1235, 1238–1239 [4th Cir. 1998]) (“The excavation site in question was a public street, not [the employer’s] private property; there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in an open trench dug on a public roadway”).
22 See Ackermann Enterprises, Inc., 10 BNA OSHC 1709 (1982). See also Arthur G. Sapper, “OSHA’s Misuse of the Plain View Doctrine to Expand Inspections,” Occupational Hazards (June 1998).
23 See L.R. Wilson & Sons, Inc. v. OSHRC, 134 F.3d 1235 (4th Cir. 1998). 24 See Tri-State Steel Constr. Inc., 15 BNA OSHC 1093, 1910 (1992). 25 See Arthur G. Sapper, “OSHA’s Misuse of the Plain View Doctrine to Expand Inspections,” Occupational
Hazards (June 1998). 26 See also 29 C.F.R. §§ 1903.3(a), 1903.7(b). 27 Urick Foundry v. Donovan, 542 F. Supp. 82 (W.D. Pa. 1982). 28 Secretary of Labor v. Muth, 34 F.3d 240, 16 BNA OSHC 1984, 1985 (4th Cir. 1994).
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Sec. of Labor v. Muth, the Fourth Circuit ruled that “four elements are considered in determining whether an OSHA administrative subpoena is to be enforced: (1) the subpoena must be within OSHA’s authority; (2) it must satisfy due process; (3) the information sought must be relevant and material to an OSHA investi- gation; and (4) the subpoena must not be unduly burdensome.”
Section 8(b) also authorizes OSHA to issue a subpoena for documents and physical evidence.29 Generally speaking, “when seeking to enforce a . . . sub- poena, OSHA must only show that the documents at request are relevant to the purpose of an authorized investigation . . . .”30 In addition to Section 8(b), OSHA’s regulations authorize compliance officers to obtain and review “records which are directly related to the purpose of the inspection.”31 Finally, Section 8(c)(1) of the Act requires employers to “make available” certain records that em- ployers are obligated to maintain, such as OSHA 300 logs.
Practitioner’s Tip: Written Numbered Documents Requests
A good way to keep track of which document requests by the compliance officer have already been satisfied and which are still pending is to require the compli- ance officer to present his document requests individually numbered in writing (e.g., Request 1, Items 1–5). Written requests not only help organize responses and identify which requests are still pending, but also help crystallize precisely what the compliance officer is seeking. Also, it is a good idea to keep a duplicate copy of all documents produced to OSHA to help prepare for negotiations or hearings.
3.6 Audio and Video Recording
OSHA also has a right to use video and audio recording devices during in- spections.32 However, to the extent that any recording captures trade secret in- formation, protection of that information from public disclosure may be or- dered.33
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29 29 U.S.C. § 657(b). See also Timken Co., 20 BNA OSHC 2034, 2044 (Rev. Comm’n 2004) (“The Secre- tary cannot complain that the burden of developing evidence concerning the employer’s safety program is more than she can bear. She has powerful tools to use during her investigations. Section 8(b) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 657(b), empowers her to subpoena testimony and other evidence in making her inspections and investigations”).
30 Secretary of Labor v. Montana Sulphur & Chemical Co., 32 F.3d 440 (9th Cir. 1994). 31 29 C.F.R. § 1903.3. 32 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7 (authorizing OSHA to “take or obtain photographs related to the purpose of the in-
spection and employ other reasonable instigative techniques”); In re: Establishment Inspection of Kelly-Spring- field Tire Co.; 13 F.3d 110, 16 BNA OSHC 1561 (7th Cir. 1994).
33 Id.
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3.6 Monitoring Devices on Employees
OSHA has adopted a regulation at 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7(b) stating that it may place monitoring devices on employees. Often, OSHA inspection warrants will authorize OSHA to ask employees for permission to attach the device to their clothing. Employees have a right to refuse, but if an employer has used intimida- tion to cause employees to refuse the request, the employer could be found in contempt of court.34
4.0 Employers’ Constitutional and Statutory Rights
4.1 Challenging a Warrant
Just as OSHA has a right to obtain warrants to conduct inspections, employers have the right to challenge in federal district court or before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission warrants obtained by OSHA. When an OSHA compliance officer arrives at an employer’s workplace already armed with an inspection warrant, there are three ways the employer can attempt to challenge the warrant in federal court: (1) permit the inspection to proceed un- der protest and later move to suppress the evidence gathered during the in- spection, (2) refuse entry to the compliance officer and move to quash the war- rant, or (3) refuse entry to the compliance officer and wait to defend the Secretary of Labor’s motion for contempt. If an inspector first appears without a warrant, the employer might also refuse entry and go to federal court to pre- emptively challenge OSHA’s right to a warrant—in other words, beat OSHA to the courthouse.
May an employer, after an inspection, move in federal court to enjoin OSHA from using the evidence obtained during the inspection in an enforcement ac- tion? No, for the district courts will require the employer to first contest any ci- tations issued as a result of the inspection and then challenge the move to sup- press evidence before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.35
This course of action has several other drawbacks for employers including (1) some courts have held that evidence may be suppressed only with respect to the issue of penalties, not with respect to abatement requirements;36 (2) the Occupa- tional Safety and Health Review Commission will not suppress evidence if
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34 See Secretary of Labor v. Trinity Industries, Inc., 959 F.2d 45, 15 BNA OSHC 1577 (5th Cir. 1992). 35 Globe Contractors, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 132 F.3d 367, 370, 18 BNA OSHC 1109 (7th Cir. 1997) (cit-
ing In re: Establishment Inspection of Kohler Co., 935 F.2d 810, 15 BNA OSHC 1076 (7th Cir. 1991) (war- rant objections should be addressed first in proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission).
36 Trinity Industries Inc. v. OSHRC, 16 F.3d 1455 (6th Cir. 1994).
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OSHA obtained the warrant in good faith;37 and (3) employers may introduce evidence that the district court’s probable cause determination was wrong only if it first makes a showing that OSHA’s affidavit supporting the warrant contained deliberate or reckless falsehoods.38
Refusing entry to a compliance officer already armed with an inspection war- rant is riskier than post-inspection warrant challenges, because the employer risks finding himself in court facing a civil contempt order. This risk is present whether the employer moves to quash the inspection warrant at the district court or awaits the government’s action for contempt. The drawbacks to these two approaches include (1) the judge may refuse to review the warrant de novo, but rather only inquire whether OSHA presented a deliberately false picture of the facts to the judge who issued the warrant;39 (2) the judge may hold that the warrant is a court order and that the employer is in contempt of court for refusing to permit the in- spection;40 and (3) even if the employer acted in good faith in refusing entry to the compliance officer, a court may nevertheless find the employer to be in con- tempt of a court order.41
Hence, the most effective way for employers to challenge an OSHA inspec- tion warrant may be to beat OSHA to the courthouse. If an employer suspects that OSHA will seek a warrant (e.g., the employer refused to permit entry to a compliance officer without a warrant), he can file an action seeking a declaratory judgment or an injunction against the issuance of any warrant so that the em- ployer can be heard. The biggest drawback of this approach is that the court may believe that OSHA has a right to an ex parte hearing.
4.2 Right to Accompany Inspector
Section 8(e) of the Act requires OSHA to permit employers and employee repre- sentatives to be given the opportunity to accompany the OSHA inspector during any “physical inspection” of the work place. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, affirmed by the Fourth Circuit, has held that
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37 In re: Sturm Ruger & Co., 20 BNA OSHC 1720, 1726 (Rev. Comm’n 2004) (citing United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 918–928 [1984]; Sanders Lead Co., 15 BNA OSHC 1640, 1651 [applying Leon to OSHA warrants]) (“Evidence gathered pursuant to a warrant will not be suppressed if the warrant was executed in good faith — even if the warrant later is invalidated”).
38 Brock v. Brooks Woolen Co., 782 F.2d 1066 (1st Cir. 1986). 39 Brock v. Brooks Woolen Co., 782 F.2d 1066 (1st Cir. 1986). 40 See Secretary of Labor v. Transocean Offshore, Inc., 276 F.3d 725, 728, 19 BNA OSHC 1725 (5th Cir. 2002)
(“We also reject [the employer’s] argument that because it acted in good faith in refusing to [allow the in- spection] so that it could avail itself of judicial remedies, the district court erred in finding it in civil con- tempt. Good faith is not a defense to civil contempt; the question is whether the alleged contemnor com- plied with the court’s order”).
41 Id. See also OSHRC v. Trinity Industries, Inc., 14 BNA OSHC 1185 (6th Cir. 1989).
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observing or even videotaping employer conduct from a location away from a workplace (e.g., from across the street or from a nearby building) is not a “phys- ical inspection,” and therefore, OSHA is not required to first present credentials, obtain consent from the employer, or permit the employer to accompany the compliance officer.42
4.3 Employer and Employee Interview Rights
As is discussed above in the context of OSHA’s right to interview witnesses, in- terviews of employees (or employers) conducted without a subpoena are consid- ered “voluntary” interviews. An interviewee cannot be compelled to do anything during a voluntary interview. To begin with, he need not agree to be interviewed at all. He may refuse to answer certain questions. He may refuse to identify other employees’ names in response to a compliance officer’s questions. He may even refuse to participate in the interview unless he is permitted to bring someone with him (e.g., a coworker, a manager, or even a lawyer for the company).43
It follows then, with such significant personal control over a voluntary inter- view, that interviewees may refuse to be recorded by video or audio equipment. Similarly, interviewees may also refuse to write or sign an interview statement or acknowledge the accuracy of the compliance officer’s notes in writing or by sig- nature. However, as discussed above, the compliance officer may obtain a sub- poena to compel the interviewee to submit to an investigatory deposition, where the interviewee is placed under oath and his testimony is transcribed by a court reporter.
4.4 Challenging the Conduct of the Inspection
In addition to the right to challenge warrants, an employer also has a right to challenge the conduct of the inspection. Therefore, even if a warrant is valid or goes unchallenged by the employer, the employer may still challenge the manner in which the inspection was conducted by moving to suppress evidence on sev- eral grounds. First, employers may argue that the inspection exceeded the scope of the warrant or exceeded the scope of the employer’s consent.44 Second, the em- ployer may argue that the inspection violated Section 8(a) of the Act because the
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42 See L.R. Wilson & Sons, Inc., 17 BNA OSHC 2059 (No. 94-1546, 1997), aff ’d, 134 F.3d 1235, 18 OSHC (BNA) 1129 (4th Cir. 1998) (no credential-presentation violation). See also Regional Scaffolding & Hoisting Co., 17 BNA OSHC 2067 (No. 93-577, 1997) (no walkaround-accompaniment violation).
43 See Sec. of Labor v. Muth, 34 F.3d 240 (4th Cir. 1994). 44 In re: Inspection of the Workplace Located at 526 Catalan St., 741 F.2d 172, 177 (8th Cir. 1984); DeKalb
Forge Co., 13 BNA OSHC 1146 (1987); Pennsylvania Steel Foundry and Machine Co. v. Sec. of Labor, 831 F.2d 1211 (3rd Cir. 1987).
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inspection was not conducted in a reasonable manner.45 Finally, an employer can argue that the inspection violated Section 8(e) of the Act because the employer was denied the opportunity to accompany the inspector and that that denial harmed the employer’s ability to defend himself at the hearing.46
5.0 Stages of OSHA Inspections and Investigations
Generally speaking, there are three major stages to an OSHA inspection, regard- less of the type: (1) opening conference, (2) inspection tour or walk around, and (3) closing conference.
5.1 Presentation of Credentials
Before an “opening conference” is held, the OSHA compliance officer who has arrived at a workplace to initiate an inspection is required to present his creden- tials (i.e., flash his badge or identity card) to an “owner, operator, or agent in charge.”47 Employers have had little success excluding evidence gathered by a compliance officer before he presents his credentials.48 Some courts have held that a failure to present credentials does not “operate to exclude evidence ob- tained in that inspection when there is no showing that the employer was preju- diced in any way.”49
5.2 Opening Conference
After the compliance officer presents his credentials, OSHA’s regulations require the compliance officer to hold an “opening conference” with the employer and a representative of the employees (e.g., a union official).50 During an opening con- ference, the compliance officer will state the reason for the inspection (e.g., an employee complaint or regional emphasis program) and the scope of the inspec- tion.51 Generally, during the opening conference, the compliance officer will also identify (1) the records he would like to review during his inspection, (2) the physical locations he would like to inspect, and (3) what specifically he would like to do during the physical inspection (e.g., attach air monitors to employees’ work
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45 The National Coal Museum, 19 OSHC (BNA) 1748, 1752–1753 (Rev. Comm’n 2001); Hamilton Fixture, 16 BNA OSHC 1073, 1078–1782 (Rev. Comm’n 1993).
46 Frank Lill & Son, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 362 F.3d 840, 846, 20 BNA OSHC 1673 (D.C. Cir. 2004). 47 Section 8(a)(1) of the Act. See 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7; FIRM, Chapter II, A.2.b. 48 See,for example, Frank Lill & Son, Inc., 362 F.3d at 846. 49 Gem Indus. Inc., 17 OSH Cases 1184, 1187 (Rev. Comm’n 1995). 50 See 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7(a). 51 Id.
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clothes and/or conduct employee interviews). If the inspection is a complaint or referral inspection under Section 8(f )(1) of the Act, the compliance officer will show the complaint (sans any language identifying the source of the complaint) to the employer during the opening conference.52
5.3 Walk Around Inspection
After the opening conference, the compliance officer will begin an inspection tour or walk around. Section 8(e) of the Act provides employers and an employee representative the absolute right to accompany the compliance officer on his in- spection tour. Employers may waive this right and decline not to participate in the walk around (though this is always unwise). During this phase of the inspec- tion, the compliance officer collects the majority of the evidence OSHA will use to support citations it issues. For example, during inspection tours, the compli- ance officer can take photographic and video evidence of violative conditions, in- terview employees, affix air monitors to employees’ work clothes, and perform any other reasonable inspection activities.53
Practitioner’s Tip: Collect Your Own Evidence
The evidence collected by compliance officers during walk arounds will be used by OSHA to prove alleged citations. Employers should collect duplicate evidence during the walk around to share with the company’s attorney and/or to prepare to challenge citations issued by OSHA. The employer representative accompany- ing the compliance officer should take side-by-side photographs of anything the compliance officer photographs. If the compliance officer records data from in- strumentation or takes air monitoring readings, the employer representative should record the same data.
5.4 Closing Conference
After the compliance officer has completed his on-site inspection activities, he will discuss with his superiors whether OSHA should issue citations to the employer. The compliance officer will then conduct a closing conference with the employer and employee representative.54 The purpose of the closing conference is for the com- pliance officer to discuss his findings with the employer and employee representa- tive and summarize the citations OSHA expects to issue. For each violation the compliance officer believes he has observed during his inspection, he will discuss (1)
Inspections and Investigations ❖ 219
52 29 U.S.C. § 657(f )(1). 53 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7. 54 29 C.F.R. § 1903.7(e); FIRM, ch. II, B.4.e.
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the nature of the violation, (2) possible or recommended abatement measures the employer could take to correct the observed violative condition, and (3) possible abatement dates OSHA may ask the employer to meet. As with other inspection re- quirements, the failure of a compliance officer to conduct a closing conference will not result in a dismissal of citations unless the employer can show that he was prej- udiced by not having the benefit of a closing conference.55
The closing conference also gives the employer an opportunity to confer with the compliance officer before the citations are actually issued, share information the compliance officer may have missed or misunderstood, and identify abate- ment steps the employer will take or has already taken.
Practitioner’s Tip: Pre-Citation Settlements
Following a closing conference but before OSHA has actually issued citations, OSHA may be willing to entertain a “pre-citation settlement.” This can be a fa- vorable way to resolve an enforcement action, because the employer can negotiate with OSHA, at the outset, the characterization and grouping of the citations, the actual citation language, abatement requirements and dates, and penalty amounts. However, the agency considers such settlements only in large, well-publicized cases.
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55 See Townsend Tree Services Corp., 2005 OSAHRC LEXIS 66, *5-6 (Rev. Comm’n 2005) (citing Kast Metals Corp., 5 OSH Cases 1861 [Rev. Comm’n 1977]).
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Chapter 11
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations Lauren Handel McDermott Will & Emery LLP New York, N.Y.
1.0 Overview
Most Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations are not contested, often because the proposed penalties are relatively low. Employers of- ten feel that it is not worthwhile to contest an OSHA citation given the low amount of the penalty and the perceived risk of damaging the relationship with the agency. In many cases, however, there are good reasons to contest citations. Furthermore, favorable results often can be achieved without having to undergo the expense and effort of a full-blown administrative trial.
This chapter discusses the reasons why an employer might want to contest an OSHA citation. It also summarizes the elements of an OSHA citation and ex- plains the deadlines and process for contesting a citation, from the notice of con- test to informal settlements, to administrative review and appeals.
2.0 Why Should an Employer Contest a Citation?
An employer who is cited for OSHA violations may wonder why it should bother contesting the citations. Employers often feel that it is best to just pay the penalty, which is likely a relatively low amount, and be done with it. In many cases, this may be a wise course of action. However, in evaluating whether to accept or con- test an OSHA citation, it is important to consider the hidden and long-term po- tential costs, liabilities, and responsibilities.
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2.1 Abatement Costs Can Be Significant and Long Term
Although the penalty amounts from an OSHA citation may be modest as com- pared to other types of administrative fines, such as environmental penalties, the costs of abating the alleged violations may be high. Abating alleged violations may require substantial changes to manufacturing equipment or processes and may be indirectly extended to a company’s other facilities, even if those facilities were not subject to the inspection giving rise to the citations. These costs include not only initial costs of purchasing and installing new equipment or making modifications to existing equipment or procedures, but also potential long-term costs of ongoing maintenance. These costs may be unavoidable if the law truly re- quires them or may be worthwhile if the abatement measures OSHA seeks are truly necessary to promote employee safety and health. However, there are often circumstances where OSHA seeks abatement measures that are not clearly re- quired by the law and that have no real safety or health benefit but would impose significant costs—enough to create a competitive disadvantage as compared to other employers in the same industry who have not received similar citations.
2.2 Uncontested Citations Can Result in “Repeated” Violations Later
Another factor to consider in deciding whether to contest a citation is the effect the citation may have on future OSHA enforcement actions. Although the penalty for an initial violation of an OSHA standard may be modest, if an em- ployer is cited again for the same violation, at any of its workplaces, that violation can be characterized as “repeated,” with maximum penalties up to ten times higher than penalties for “serious” or “other-than-serious” violations. Repeated vi- olations are also more likely to be characterized as “willful.” Employers with high gravity willful or repeat violations may become targets of OSHA’s Enhanced En- forcement Policy.1 Under this policy, OSHA identifies employers for increased at- tention, including follow-up and more frequent programmed inspections at any of its workplaces. The Enhanced Enforcement Policy also provides for OSHA to seek more aggressive terms in any settlement with the employer, such as applying the settlement on a company-wide basis and requiring the employer to consent to a court-imposed enforcement order.
2.3 Citations Can Be Used Against an Employer in Tort Litigation
In addition, an employer should consider the effect an OSHA citation may have on civil tort liability, particularly if the citation is related to an accident that has
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1 Memorandum dated September 30, 2003 from Deputy Assistant Secretary R. Davis Layne to Regional Ad- ministrators, “Interim Implementation of OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP).”
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resulted in a serious injury, fatality, or damage to neighboring property. Depend- ing on state law, OSHA citations may be used in a variety of ways in civil law- suits, such as a wrongful death or personal injury actions. For example, in some states, violations of safety standards can be introduced to prove that the employer was negligent per se—as a matter of law.2 In many states, violations may be used as evidence of the employer’s negligence.3 Those who are not an employer’s own employees (such as a contractor’s employees) are not restrained by the exclusivity of the workers’ compensation system in the claims they may assert. In contrast, the workers’ compensation system generally provides the exclusive means for an injured employee to recover from his employer. However, in many states, an em- ployee can recover damages from an employer whose “intentional” conduct caused the employee’s injury or fatality.4 OSHA citations characterized as “will- ful” related to employees’ injuries are often used effectively by plaintiffs’ attorneys to help come within this exception. In addition, uncontested OSHA citations can be used as evidence against an employer in a criminal action brought by state au- thorities for negligent homicide or manslaughter or by the federal government in a criminal prosecution under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act or the Act).
2.4 Citations Can Interfere with Business Opportunities and Damage Reputations
Another important consideration for some employers is the effect an OSHA ci- tation may have on the ability to obtain government and other contracts. This is- sue is particularly important in the construction industry. A history of OSHA vi- olations may disqualify an employer from obtaining contracts or put it at a disadvantage in competing for contracts against other employers with clean OSHA records.
A final consideration that employers may overlook is the substantial effect on a company’s reputation and good will from OSHA citations, particularly when citations are related to accidents that have resulted in serious injuries or deaths. In such cases, the press typically reports that OSHA has found an employer liable
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 223
2 Vickers v. Hanover Constr. Co., 125 Idaho 832, 835 (1994); Kelley v. Howard S. Wright Construction Co., 582 P.2d 500 (Wash. 1978); Koll v. Manatt’s Transportation Co., 253 N.W.2d 265, 270 (Iowa 1977).
3 E.g., Toll Bros. v. Considine, 706 A.2d 493, 498 (Del. 1998); Cowan v. Laughridge Const. Co., 291 S.E.2d 287, 290 (N.C. App. 1982); Wendland v. Ridgefield Constr. Servs., Inc., 184 Conn. 173, 181 (1981).
4 E.g., Tex. Lab. Code Ann. 408.001(b) (providing that workers’ compensation does not preclude a surviving spouse from recovering damages when an employee’s “death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer or by the employer’s gross negligence”); Woodson v. Rowland, 407 S.E.2d 222 (N.C. 1991) (exception to exclusivity rule when “employer intentionally engages in misconduct knowing it is substan- tially certain to cause serious injury or death to employees” and that misconduct caused the employee’s in- jury or death).
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for “willful” or “serious” violations of the OSH Act that caused or contributed to an employee injury or death. An employer’s decision not to contest such citations can be construed by the outside world as an admission of guilt.
3.0 Procedural Requirements for Issuance of a Citation
In issuing a citation, OSHA must comply with certain procedural requirements. Its failure to do so can be grounds for invalidating a citation.
3.1 OSHA’s Time to Issue a Citation Is Limited
The OSH Act provides that OSHA may not issue a citation “after the expiration of six months following the occurrence of any violation.”5 This limitations period is tolled if an employer fails to report a fatality or if OSHA could not reasonably have discovered the violation due to some act by the employer to conceal it.6
In addition to setting a six-month limitations period, the Act also requires that citations be issued with “reasonable promptness.”7 A citation will not be va- cated under this provision unless the delay adversely affected the employer’s abil- ity to defend against the citation.8 A citation is not necessarily issued with “rea- sonable promptness” just because it has been issued within the six-month limitations period.9
3.2 OSHA Must Adequately Describe the Violation
The Act requires that a citation “describe with particularity the nature of the vi- olation,” and that it refer to the provision of the Act, standard, or regulation al- leged to have been violated.10 This procedural requirement is meant to ensure that the employer is appropriately put on notice of the alleged violation so that it can take corrective action and decide whether to contest the citation.11 A citation
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5 29 U.S.C. § 658(c). 6 Johnson Controls Inc., 15 BNA OSHC 2132 (Rev. Comm’n 1993); Kaspar Wire Works, Inc., 13 BNA OSHC
1261 (Rev. Comm’n 1987); Sun Ship, Inc., 13 BNA OSHC 1185 (Rev. Comm’n 1985); Yelvington Weld- ing Service, 6 BNA OSHC 2013 (Rev. Comm’n 1978).
7 29 U.S.C. § 658(a). 8 Stephenson Enterprises, Inc. v. Marshall, 578 F.2d 1021, 1023 (5th Cir. 1978); Coughlan Const. Co., 3 BNA
OSHC 1636 (Rev. Comm’n 1975). 9 See Southwire Co., 9 BNA OSHC 2034 (Rev. Comm’n 1981) (one month delay prejudicial where rented
equipment returned to lessor could not be examined). 10 28 U.S.C. § 658(a). 11 Del Monte Corp., 4 BNA OSHC 2035 (Rev. Comm’n 1977).
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may be vacated under this provision if the lack of particularity prejudiced the em- ployer’s ability to defend.12
4.0 The Elements of OSHA Citations: What Can Be Contested?
An OSHA citation includes three basic elements: (1) an alleged violation, (2) an abatement date, and (3) a proposed penalty. The employer to whom a citation is issued can challenge any of these elements. Employees and their authorized rep- resentatives (i.e., unions) can challenge only the abatement date.
4.1 The Alleged Violation
An OSHA citation alleges that an employer has violated either the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act or an OSHA standard or regulation. The allegation in- cludes a brief description of the facts that OSHA believes constitute a violation. The citation also includes OSHA’s characterization of the alleged violation—i.e., its allegation that the violation was (1) “willful,” (2) “repeated,” (3) “serious,” or (4) “other-than-serious.” As discussed below, the characterization of a citation af- fects the penalty amount that OSHA may impose.
A contest of the allegation of violation may involve a dispute over the facts (i.e., that OSHA’s understanding of the facts on which the citation is based is in- correct), a legal defense (such as preemption of the cited standard by a more spe- cific standard), or a challenge to the characterization of the alleged violation as, for example, willful.
The most direct effect of a violation characterization is that it determines whether a penalty must be assessed and the amount that may be assessed. However, as discussed above, there may be indirect, practical effects of the characterization on an employer’s legal liabilities and business. For example, a “willful” violation may help an injured employee or his family avoid the ex- clusivity of the workers’ compensation system and recover damages from his or her employer through a civil lawsuit. In addition, a “willful” citation may encourage criminal prosecution. Furthermore, a “willful” or “serious” violation is likely more damaging to an employer’s reputation than an “other-than-seri- ous” violation.
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 225
12 Ringland-Johnson, Inc. v. Dunlop, 551 F.2d 117, 1118 (8th Cir. 1977); Louisiana-Pacific Corp., 5 BNA OSHC 1994 (Rev. Comm’n 1977).
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4.1.1 “Willful” Violations
Although the Act does not define the term willful, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (Review Commission or the Commission) has. A vi- olation is “willful” if it is “committed with intentional, knowing, or voluntary disregard for the requirements of the Act or ‘with plain indifference to employee safety.’”13 A “willful” violation is distinguished from a “serious” or “other” viola- tion by “a heightened awareness—of the illegality of the conduct or conditions— and by a state of mind—conscious disregard or plain indifference.”14 An em- ployer who commits an OSHA violation through negligence—that is, because he didn’t know of the violation but he should have—has not committed a “willful” violation.15
4.1.2 “Repeated” Violations
A “repeated” violation is one that is “substantially similar” to a previous violation, by the same employer, that has resulted in a final order of the Commission.16 If OSHA shows that an employer has violated the same standard as the previous vi- olation, the later violation is presumed to be substantially similar to the earlier vi- olation. An employer may rebut this presumption by showing that the circum- stances of the violations were different.17 OSHA’s policy is to characterize violations of the same standard as “repeated” only if they occur within three years of the previous violation.18
Significantly, a violation is “repeated” if committed more than once by the same employer, even if the later violation occurs at a different worksite. OSHA maintains an electronic database of inspection and citation data, which it uses to determine if an employer has previously been cited for a similar violation. Although OSHA will not necessarily look for previous violations, its policy is to do so when
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13 Williams Enterprises, Inc., 13 BNA OSHC 1249, 1256 (Rev. Comm’n 1987) (citations omitted); see also Daniel v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 295 F.3d 1232, 1240 (11th Cir. 2002); Active Oil Serv. Inc., 21 BNA OSCH 1184 (Rev. Comm’n 2005).
14 Williams Enterprises, Inc. at 1256–1257. 15 Am. Wrecking Corp. v. Sec’y of Labor, 351 F.3d 1254, 1264–1265 (D.C. Cir. 2003). 16 Potlatch Corp., 7 BNA OSHC 1061 (Rev. Comm’n 1979); see also Caterpillar, Inc. v. Herman, 154 F.3d 400,
402 (7th Cir. 1998); J.L. Foti Constr. Co. v. OSHRC, 687 F.2d 853, 857 (6th Cir. 1982); Dun-Par Engi- neered Form Co. v. Marshall, 676 F.2d 1333, 1337 (10th Cir. 1982); Bunge Corp. v. Sec’y of Labor, 638 F.2d 831, 837 (5th Cir. 1981); Buffets, Inc., d/b/a Old Country Buffet, 21 BNA OSHC 1065 (Rev. Comm’n 2005).
17 Potlatch Corp.; see also Manganas Painting Co. v. Sec’y of Labor, 273 F.3d 1131, 1135 (D.C. Cir. 2001); but see Bunge Corp. v. Secretary of Labor, 638 F.2d 831, 838 (5th Cir. 1981) (holding that Secretary must show substantial similarity even if same standard).
18 OSHA Field Information Reference Manual, CPL 2.103 (FIRM) Chapter III (C)(2)(f )(3).
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it finds “high gravity” serious violations.19 In general, OSHA will limit its search for prior violations to establishments that have the same Standard Industrial Classifi- cation (SIC) code as the establishment where the present violation occurred.20
4.1.3 “Serious” Violations
OSHA must assess a penalty when a violation is characterized as “serious.”21 A “serious” violation is one for which “there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition which exists” in the work- place.22 It is not necessary for OSHA to show that there is a substantial proba- bility that an accident or injury will occur. Rather, OSHA must show that, if an accident did occur, it would be substantially likely to result in serious physical harm.23 Likewise, a serious violation exists if the standard violated was intended to protect against a life-threatening illness, even if it is not likely than an em- ployee will become ill as a result of the conditions at the workplace.24
4.1.4 “Other-than-Serious” Violations
An “other-than-serious” violation is simply one that is not “serious.” In other words, it is a violation for which there does not exist a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from the cited condition. This char- acterization is often used for violations of recordkeeping requirements. There is no required minimum penalty for an “other-than–serious” violation. In general, OSHA does not propose penalties higher than $1,000 per violation characterized as “other-than-serious.”
4.1.5 “De Minimis” Violations
A violation can also be characterized as “de minimis,” meaning that it has “no di- rect or immediate relationship to safety or health.”25 For a “de minimis” violation,
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 227
19 FIRM Chapter III, (C)(2)(f )(4). 20 Id; Memorandum from P. Clark to Regional Administrators, “Penalties in Failure to Abate Cases; Applica-
tion of Repeated Policy” (July 11, 1991). 21 29 U.S.C. § 666(b); Wheaton Injection Molding, 10 BNA OSHC 1589 (Rev. Comm’n 1982) (Cleary dis-
senting) (collecting authorities); Logan County Farm Enterprise, Inc., 7 BNA OSHC 1275 (Rev. Comm’n 1979). Although the Act specifically requires employer knowledge for a serious violation, knowledge is re- quired for all violations. See Continental Elec. Co., 13 BNA OSHC 2153, 2154 n.4 (Rev. Comm’n 1989).
22 29 U.S.C. § 666(k). 23 East Texas Motor Freight, Inc. v. OSHRC, 671 F.2d 845, 849 (5th Cir. 1982); Kent Nowlin Contr. Co. v.
OSHRC, 648 F.2d 1278, 1282 (10th Cir. 1981); California Stevedore & Ballast Co. v. OSHRC, 517 F.2d 986 (9th Cir. 1975).
24 Phelps Dodge Corp., 11 BNA OSHC 1441 (Rev. Comm’n 1983). 25 29 U.S.C. § 658(a).
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abatement is not required and no penalty is assessed. OSHA does not issue cita- tions for “de minimis” violations but may send a letter to an employer regarding a condition it believes to be a “de minimis” violation.
4.2 The Penalty Amount and Characterization of Violation
The penalty amount for a violation depends on how OSHA characterizes the vi- olation. Thus, an employer can challenge a proposed penalty on two grounds: (1) that the violation was characterized inappropriately; and (2) that, based on the factors provided in the Act for penalty assessment, the proposed penalty is too high.
The Act sets the following ranges of permissible penalties for violations char- acterized as “willful,” “repeated,” “serious,” or “other-than-serious.”26
Type of Violation Minimum Penalty Maximum Penalty
Willful $5,00027 $70,000
Repeated $0 $70,000
Serious $128 $7,000
Other-than-serious $0 $7,000
In addition, penalties for failure to abate can be up to $7,000 per day.
Thus, the Act sets the outer limits of penalties based on how violations are characterized. Within those limits, penalties are assessed on the basis of factors, including the gravity of the violation, the size of the employer’s business, the em- ployer’s good-faith efforts to comply with the Act, and the employer’s compliance history.
4.2.1 Factors Considered by OSHA in Calculating Proposed Penalties
The penalty amount included in an OSHA citation is the agency’s proposal; it is not binding on the Review Commission.29 The Commission assesses penalties and, in so doing, is not bound by OSHA’s internal policies for calculating its pro- posed penalties. Under the OSH Act, penalties are assessed on the basis of four
228 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
26 28 U.S.C. § 666. 27 Willful violations may be settled for less than $5,000. 28 OSHA’s policy is to propose a penalty of at least $100 for a violation characterized as serious. FIRM Chap-
ter IV (C)(2)(b)(4). 29 29 U.S.C. § 659(a) authorizes the Secretary to propose civil penalties. The Commission may assess a lower
or higher penalty than proposed by the Secretary. 29 U.S.C. § 659(c), 666(j).
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factors: (1) gravity of the violation, (2) size of the business, (3) the employer’s good faith, and (4) the employer’s history of violations. OSHA uses these factors in its calculation of proposed penalties.30
4.2.1.1 Gravity of the Violation
Gravity is the most important factor in the assessment of a penalty. Gravity in- cludes the severity of the injury or illness that could result from a violation and the probability that such an injury or illness will occur, including the number of employees potentially exposed to harm. In calculating a proposed penalty, OSHA first determines the “gravity-based penalty,” which it may then reduce, by as much as 95%, based on the other three factors.
4.2.1.2 Size of the Business
For small businesses, OSHA may reduce the proposed penalty up to 60 percent.31
The size of the business is determined by the number of employees controlled by the employer in all of its workplaces over a 12-month period.32 OSHA will not reduce a proposed penalty for employers with more than 250 employees.33
4.2.1.3 Good Faith
In considering an employer’s good faith, OSHA looks at the employer’s overall safety and health program.34 If an employer has a written safety and health pro- gram, covering all of the OSHA-required programs (e.g., hazard communication, lockout-tagout), and has “effectively implemented” that program, OSHA may re- duce the proposed penalty by 25percent.35 If an employer has a documented safety program with only “incidental deficiencies,” it may receive a 15 percent re- duction in the proposed penalty.
4.2.1.4 Violation History
OSHA may reduce a proposed penalty by 10 percent for an employer who has had no serious, willful, or repeated violations in the last three years.36
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 229
30 See FIRM, Chapter IV (C). 31 FIRM, Chapter IV (C)(2)(i)(5)(a). 32 Id. 33 Id. 34 FIRM, Chapter IV (C)(2)(i)(5)(b). 35 OSHA’s voluntary “Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines,” 54 Fed. Reg. 3904 (1989), pro-
vides a model of the kind of program OSHA expects to reduce a proposed penalty by 25 percent. 36 FIRM, Chapter IV (C)(2)(i)(5)(c).
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4.2.2 Multiplied Penalties for “Egregious” Violations
OSHA ordinarily proposes one penalty for each standard violated, even though multiple employees may be exposed to the violation and even though an em- ployer may have multiple instances of the same violation. For example, an em- ployer’s failure to install safety guards on 10 identical machines is ordinarily cited and penalized as one violation, not 10. Furthermore, OSHA normally would propose one penalty for a machine guarding violation, whether one employee or 10 employees used the machine. However, under a policy OSHA developed for “egregious” violations, the agency may treat each instance of a violation as a sep- arate violation, thus multiplying the potential penalty amount.37
Under federal court and Review Commission precedent, OSHA may not propose separate penalties for each employee exposed to one violative condi- tion.38 Although penalties may not be assessed on a per-employee basis, in some circumstances, a violative condition may exist for just a single employee. For ex- ample, OSHA can cite an employer once for exposing three employees to the same tripping hazard; but it may cite the employer three times for failing to pro- vide individualized training to each of three employees.39
Under OSHA’s policy for “violation-by-violation” penalties, the agency will propose separate penalties for each instance of a willful violation when any of the following six criteria also exists:
1. Worker fatalities, a worksite catastrophe, or a large number of serious in- juries or illnesses occur;
2. A violation results in a persistently high rate of worker injuries or illnesses;
3. The employer has an extensive history of prior violations;
4. The employer has intentionally disregarded workplace safety and health responsibilities;
5. The employer’s conduct amounts to clear bad faith in the performance of its duties under the Act; or
230 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
37 The “egregious” penalty policy formulated in 1986 is now called the “violation-by-violation” policy. OSHA instruction CPL 2.80, “Handling of Cases to Be Proposed for Violation-by-Violation Penalties.”
38 Reich v. Arcadian Corp., 110 F.3d 1192 (5th Cir. 1997) (General Duty Clause violations may not be cited on a per-employee basis); Hartford Roofing Co., 17 BNA OSHC 1361 (Rev. Comm’n 1995) (violations of OSHA standards may not be cited on a per-employee basis).
39 See e.g., Sanders Lead Co., 17 BNA OSHC 1197, 1199-2000 (Rev. Comm’n 1995) (failure to remove 15 employees with elevated blood levels from high lead area).
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6. The number of violations at a worksite significantly undermines the ef- fectiveness of any existing safety and health program.
The Review Commission has assessed penalties on a per-instance basis even when the violations were not willful.40 In doing so, the Commission signaled that OSHA could similarly propose per-instance penalties for nonwillful violations. However, to date, OSHA does not appear to have done so.
4.3 The Abatement Requirements
An employer or employee may challenge a citation’s abatement date, as with the other aspects of a citation, through a notice of contest. Alternatively, an em- ployer can seek an extension of an abatement period through a petition for modification of the abatement period under Section 10(c) of the Act.41 Unlike a contest, in which the burden is on OSHA to prove that the abatement period is reasonable, a petition for modification of abatement date requires the em- ployer to prove that more time is necessary because of factors beyond his rea- sonable control.42 Such a petition may be filed after the citation has become a final order.
5.0 Contesting OSHA Citations: From Notice of Contest to Judicial Review
An employer formally challenges an OSHA citation by filing a notice of contest with the agency. This notice begins the administrative adjudication process in which the citation is reviewed by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Review Commission is an independent agency and is not part of OSHA or the Department of Labor. A citation is first reviewed by an Admin- istrative Law Judge (ALJ) who conducts a hearing using trial-type procedures, in- cluding pleadings, discovery, and formal rules of evidence. ALJ decisions are sub- ject to appellate-type review by the three commissioners of the Review Commission, who are appointed by the president of the United States and con- firmed by the Senate. Final orders of the Review Commission are subject to ju- dicial review in United States Courts of Appeals.43
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 231
40 Caterpillar, Inc., 15 BNA OSHC 2153, 2177-78 (Rev. Comm’n 1993) (individual penalties assessed for each instance of nonwillful, other-than-serious recordkeeping violation).
41 29 U.S.C. § 659(c). 42 Commission Rule 37(d)(3); 29 C.F.R. § 2200.37(d)(3). 43 29 U.S.C. § 660.
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5.1 The Notice of Contest
5.1.1 Fifteen Working Day Contest Period
Timing is critical in challenging an OSHA citation. With few exceptions, a cita- tion not timely contested becomes a final order of the Review Commission, which may not be reviewed by any court or agency.44 Thus, if not timely con- tested, the employer loses any opportunity to directly challenge the citation and must pay the penalty and abate the cited condition in the time proscribed in the citation.45
An employer must notify OSHA of its intent to contest a citation by mail- ing a written notice to the agency within 15 working days after receiving the ci- tation.46 Oral notice is not sufficient.47 The written notice must only be mailed, not received by OSHA, within the 15-working day period.48 The fact that an em- ployer is engaged in settlement discussions with OSHA does not stop the clock on the contest period.
There are a few limited exceptions to the rule that a citation not contested within the 15-working day period becomes a final order. The lateness of a no- tice of contest may be excused under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b).49
Rule 60(b) allows a party to obtain relief from a final order on the following grounds: (1) a “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, fraud, mis- representation, or other misconduct of an adverse party has occurred”; (2) it is no longer equitable that the order should have prospective application; or (3) there is not any other reason justifying relief. Unfamiliarity with OSHA proce- dures does not constitute a “mistake” or excusable neglect warranting relief from a final order under this rule.50 However, an employer’s lateness in filing its no- tice of contest may be excused if the delay was due to some misconduct by OSHA.51
232 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
44 29 U.S.C. § 659(a). 45 See, e.g., Brennan v. Winters Battery Manf ’g Co., 531 F.2d 317 (6th Cir. 1975); Monarch Water Sys. Inc., 12
BNA OSHC 1897, 1900 (Rev. Comm’n 1986). 46 29 U.S.C. § 659(a). 47 29 C.F.R. § 1903.17(a); Martin v. Pav-Saver Mfg Co., 933 F.2d 528 (7th Cir. 1991); Acrom Const. Serv.,
Inc., 15 BNA OSHC 1123 (Rev. Comm’n 1991). 48 Elec. Contractors. Assoc., Inc., 2 BNA OSHC 1627 (Rev. Comm’n 1975); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1903.17(a). 49 J.I. Hass Co. v. OSHRC, 648 F.2d 190 (3d Cir. 1981); Missouri Gas Energy, 21 BNA OSHC 1071 (Rev.
Comm’n 2005); Branciforte Builders, Inc., 9 BNA OSHC 2113 (Rev. Comm’n 1981); but see Chao v. Rus- sell P. Le Frois Builder, Inc., 291 F.3d 219, 229 (2nd Cir. 2002) (holding that Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) does not apply to allow the Review Commission to excuse certain late filings).
50 Martin v. Pav-Saver Mf ’g Co., 933 F.2d 528 (7th Cir. 1991); Acrom Const. Serv., Inc., 15 BNA OSHC 1123 (Rev. Comm’n 1991).
51 Atlantic Marine, Inc. v. OSHRC, 524 F.2d 476, 478 (5th Cir. 1975).
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5.1.2 Essential Contents of the Notice of Contest
In drafting a notice of contest, an employer must be careful to explicitly challenge all aspects of the citation that it wishes to contest (i.e., the alleged violation, the characterization of the violation, the penalty, and/or the abatement date). A notice of contest that mentions only the penalty is a valid contest only to the proposed penalty, not the underlying alleged violation or the abatement date.52 An employer can avoid this harsh rule only if it can show that, during the 15-working day con- test period, it intended to file a broader contest.53 An employer whose notice men- tions only the abatement date not only fails to contest other aspects of the citation, but actually fails to contest anything, for such a notice is considered to be only a petition for modification of the abatement period.54
5.2 Review by an Administrative Law Judge of the Review Commission
5.2.1 Rules of Procedure and Evidence
Proceedings before the Review Commission are governed by the Commission’s Rules of Procedure, which provide for the conduct of pre-trial, trial, and post- trial matters.55 To the extent that the Commission’s rules do not address a partic- ular procedural issue, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply.56 For example, because the Commission’s rules do not address the filing of motions to dismiss or for summary judgment, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 56 apply in Commission proceedings.
Similarly, the Commission does not have its own rules of evidence, and in all cases follows the Federal Rules of Evidence.57 Likewise, ALJs and the Commis- sion apply the same privilege rules as would be followed in federal court.
5.2.2 Pre-Hearing Procedures
After the OSHA area director transmits the notice of contest to the Review Com- mission,58 an ALJ is assigned to the case. The ALJ’s role is to conduct prehearing
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 233
52 Florida East Coast Props., Inc., 1 BNA OSHC 1532 (Rev. Comm’n 1974). 53 Turnbull Millwork Co., 3 BNA OSHC 1781 (Rev. Comm’n 1975); see also Monarch Water Sys. Inc., 12 BNA
OSHC 1897, 1900 (Rev. Comm’n 1986); Gil Haugan, 5 BNA OSHC 1956 (Rev. Comm’n 1977). 54 Maxwell Wirebound Box Co., 8 BNA OSHC 1995, 1997 (Rev. Comm’n 1980); Gilbert Manf ’g Co., 7 BNA
OSHC 1611 (Rev. Comm’n 1979). 55 29 C.F.R. Part 2200. 56 Commission Rule 2(b), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.2(b). 57 Commission Rule 71, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.71. 58 Commission Rule 33, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.33 (transmittal of notice of contest must be done by the area di-
rector within 15 working days).
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conferences, hold settlement conferences, rule on discovery disputes and mo- tions, hold hearings, and issue an initial decision.59 No later than 20 days fol- lowing OSHA’s receipt of the notice of contest, the Secretary must file a com- plaint stating the circumstances of each alleged violation in dispute.60 Within 20 days of service of the Secretary’s complaint, the employer must file its answer, which must include any affirmative defenses the employer wishes to assert.61 The complaint and the answer may be amended before the hearing unless allowing such amendments would prejudice the opposing party.62
Before the hearing begins, parties may engage in discovery similar to discov- ery in federal court, including requests for admission, interrogatories, requests for the production of documents, and depositions.63 However, the Commission’s dis- covery rules are more restrictive than the federal rules. For example, a party’s re- quests for admission and interrogatories are limited to 25 each, including sub- parts,64 and depositions may not be taken unless the parties agree or the ALJ so orders.65 Typically, the Secretary and the employer agree to make witnesses avail- able for depositions. The parties may also obtain a subpoena to compel the testi- mony of witnesses at the hearing and the production of documents or other evi- dence in the witnesses’ possession.66 Discovery may be limited using the same tools as in federal court, such as protective orders and privileges. The Commis- sion’s rules provide for the issuance of protective orders where necessary to pro- tect trade secret or otherwise confidential information.67
The ALJ will schedule a place and time for the hearing, which is required to involve “as little inconvenience and expense to the parties as is practicable.”68 The parties have a right to at least 30 days advance notice of the first hearing.69
5.2.3 Hearing Procedures
Hearings before ALJs follow trial-type procedures similar to those used in federal court. However, there is no right to a jury; in all cases, the ALJ is the finder of fact and decides all questions of law. Each party and intervener may appear
234 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
59 Commission Rule 67, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.67. 60 Commission Rule 34(a), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.34(a). 61 Commission Rule 34(b), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.34(b). 62 See General Motors Corp., 10 BNA OSHC 1293 (Rev. Comm’n 1982). 63 Commission Rules 52–56, 29 C.F.R. §§ 2200.52-2200.56. 64 Commission Rules 54 and 55, 29 C.F.R. §§ 2200.54, 2200.55. 65 Commission Rule 56, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.56. 66 Commission Rule 57, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.57. 67 Commission Rule 52(e), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.52(e). 68 Commission Rule 60, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.60. 69 Id.
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through an attorney or a representative who is not an attorney.70 The Secretary is represented by attorneys from the Solicitor’s Office in the Department of Labor.
The parties present evidence through fact and expert witnesses, documents, and physical evidence and have the right to cross-examine witnesses offered by the opposing side. Commission Rule 70 governs the use of exhibits by the par- ties at hearings. The Secretary has the burden of proving each element of the vi- olation by a preponderance of the evidence.71 The employer has the burden of proving every element of an affirmative defense by the preponderance of the ev- idence.72 The preponderance of evidence is “the quantum of evidence that is suf- ficient to convince the trier of fact that the facts asserted by a proponent are more probably true than false.”73
5.2.4 Post-Hearing Procedures
Upon request to the ALJ, parties may file post-hearing briefs, which are usually filed simultaneously on a date selected by the ALJ.74 Following the close of all ev- idence and the submission of post-hearing briefs, the ALJ will issue a written de- cision. The ALJ’s decision must be “in writing and shall include findings of fact, conclusions of law and the reasons or bases for them, on all material issues of fact, law or discretion presented on the record.”75 The decision becomes a final order of the Review Commission 30 days after it is docketed unless a Commissioner di- rects that the ALJ’s decision be reviewed.76
5.2.5 Simplified Proceedings
The Commission has instituted a procedure to resolve certain cases quickly and inexpensively outside of the customary hearing procedures. These procedures are used for cases that involve fairly uncomplicated issues, relatively few citation items, and penalty amounts no higher than $30,000.77 Cases involving fatalities are not eligible for simplified proceedings.78 Any party may request in writing to
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 235
70 Commission Rule 22(a), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.22(a). 71 Olin Construction Co. v. OSHRC, 525 F.2d 464, 467 (2d Cir. 1975); see also Ed Taylor Constr. Co. v. OSHRC,
938 F.2d 1265, 1270 (11th Cir. 1991). 72 Manganas Painting Co., 19 BNA OSHC 1102 (Rev. Comm’n 2000); Rockwell International Corp., 17 BNA
OSHC 1801 (Rev. Comm’n 1996); Mississippi Valley Erection, Co., 1 BNA OSHC 1527, 1529 (Rev. Com- m’n 1973).
73 Ultimate Distrib. Sys., Inc., 10 BNA OSHC 1568 (Rev. Comm’n 1982). 74 Commission Rule 74, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.74. 75 Commission Rule 90, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.90. 76 29 U.S.C. § 661(j). 77 Commission Rule 202, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.202. 78 Id.
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use the simplified proceedings, and the opposing party has only a limited right to object to the use of the simplified proceedings rules.79 Under the simplified pro- ceedings, the parties are required to meet and attempt to resolve their differ- ences.80 If the matter cannot be resolved among the parties, a hearing will be held before an administrative law judge.
Simplified hearings differ from the conventional proceedings in four signifi- cant ways: (1) there are no formal pleadings or motions—rather, the citation and notice of contest serve in their place;81 (2) discovery is even more restricted and is only permitted by order of the ALJ;82 (3) interlocutory appeals are prohibited;83
and (4) the Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply.84
5.3 Review by the Commission
5.3.1 Interlocutory Review
A party may seek interlocutory review of an ALJ’s ruling (an appeal of an ALJ’s intermediate ruling before his final decision) by filing a petition with the Review Commission within five days of the ruling.85 The Review Commission has dis- cretion to grant or deny interlocutory review, and grants such review only for im- portant questions of law or policy and when necessary to prevent disclosure of privileged information.86 Denial of interlocutory review does not preclude a party from raising the issue again at a later time (e.g., in a petition for discretionary re- view after the completion of the ALJ hearing).
5.3.2 Appellate-Type Review
A party that loses before an ALJ has no guaranteed right to appellate-type review by the Commission. Rather, the Commission has complete discretion whether to order review of an ALJ decision.87 Any commissioner may order review of an ALJ decision on his own motion or upon request of a party.88
236 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
79 Commission Rule 203(b), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.203(b). 80 Commission Rule 207, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.207. 81 Commission Rule 205, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.205. 82 Commission Rule 208, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.208. 83 Commission Rule 211, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.211. 84 Id. 85 Commission Rule 73, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.73. 86 Id. 87 Commission Rule 91(a), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91(a). 88 Commission Rule 92(b), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.92(b).
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A party who is adversely affected by an ALJ decision may file a petition for discretionary review (PDR) within 20 days following entry of the ALJ’s deci- sion.89 A PDR should explain exactly what portions of the ALJ decision are chal- lenged and why the Commission should grant review.90 In general, a party loses the right to seek judicial review of the Commission’s final order if it does not file a PDR.91 If the Commission directs review, it usually requests that the parties file briefs.92 It may also hold oral arguments, upon motion of the parties or its own order, but rarely does so.93
Although the Commission has authority to review an entire case, the Com- mission will ordinarily decline to review issues not specifically raised in the PDR or upon which the ALJ did not have the opportunity to rule.94 Review by the Commission is de novo, meaning that the Commission looks at all questions of fact and law anew and is not bound by the ALJ’s conclusions of fact or law.95 The Commission does, however, defer to the ALJ’s determinations about the credibil- ity of witnesses.96
5.4 Judicial Review
Within 60 days following the issuance of a final order of the Commission— whether reached as a result of the Commission’s refusal to review an ALJ decision or as a result of the Commission’s review—an aggrieved party may petition for judicial review in a United States Court of Appeals.97 Private parties who lose be- fore the Commission may obtain judicial review in the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit either in which the violation is alleged to have occurred, where the employer has its principal office, or in the United States Court of Ap- peals for the District of Columbia Circuit.98 The Secretary may appeal only to the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the violation is alleged to have occurred or where the employer has its principal office, not to the D.C. Cir- cuit.99 As with all cases decided by the U.S. Courts of Appeals, decisions of the
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 237
89 Commission Rule 91(b), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91(b). 90 Commission Rule 91(d), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91(d). 91 29 U.S.C. § 660(a); Commission Rule 91(f ), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91(f ); Keystone Roofing Co. v. OSHRC, 539
F.2d 960 (3d Cir. 1976). 92 Commission Rule 93, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.93. 93 Commission Rule 95, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.95. 94 Commission Rule 92, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.92. 95 Accu Namics, Inc. v. OSHRC, 515 F.2d 828, 834 (5th Cir. 1975) (“The statutory scheme contemplates that
the Commission is the finder of fact,”); Am. Wrecking Corp., 19 BNA OSHC 1703 (Rev. Comm’n 2001). 96 Wiley Organics, Inc. D/B/A Organic Techs., 17 BNA OSHC 1586 (Rev. Comm’n 1996); Okland Construc-
tion Company, 3 BNA OSHC 2023, 2024 (Rev. Comm’n 1976). 97 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 98 Id. 99 29 U.S.C. § 660(b).
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appellate court may be reviewed only by the U.S. Supreme Court on petition for writ of certiorari.
The Court of Appeals must affirm the Commission’s findings of fact if sup- ported by “substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.”100 In accor- dance with this standard of review for findings of fact, the court defers to the Com- mission’s determinations on whether the burden of proof has been met.101 The court also gives great deference to the Commission’s assessment of witness credibility.102
In contrast to the substantial evidence standard for review of factual findings, the Commission’s penalty assessment is reviewed under an “arbitrary and capri- cious” or “abuse of discretion” standard.103 This form of review is limited and pre- sumes that the Commission’s decision is correct.104 Thus, it is rare that courts will overturn the Commission’s penalty assessments.
The United States Supreme Court has held that courts must defer to the Sec- retary’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous OSHA standard, rather than the Commission’s reasonable but conflicting interpretation.105 OSHA’s interpre- tation of a standard is not entitled to deference if it is “unreasonable or contrary to the regulation’s plain language.”106
5.5 Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs
Under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a private party who wins in an OSHA pro- ceeding may be awarded attorneys fees, expert witness fees, and other costs unless the Commission or court finds that the agency’s prosecution of the action was sub- stantially justified.107 A party seeking an award of fees must apply to the Commis- sion or court within 30 days of the final disposition of the case (i.e., a final order of the Commission not appealed to the court or a final decision of the court).108 Fees may be recovered only for the portion of time during which OSHA’s action was not substantially justified.109
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100 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 101 Usery v. Hermitage Concrete Pipe Co., 584 F.2d 127, 134 (6th Cir. 1978). 102 Int’l Harvester Co. v. OSHRC, 628 F.2d 982, 986–987 (7th Cir. 1980); Olin Construction Co. v. OSHRC,
525 F.2d 464, 467 (2d Cir. 1975). 103 Brennan v. OSHRC (Interstate Glass Co.), 487 F.2d 438, 442 (8th Cir. 1973); Hern Iron Works Inc., 16 BNA
OSHC 1619 (Rev. Comm’n 1994); see also 5 U.S.C. § 706(1)(A). 104 Bowman Transportation, Inc. v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys., Inc., 419 U.S. 281, 285-286 (1974); Ethyl Corp.
v. EPA, 541 F.2d 1, 34 (D.C.Cir. 1976). 105 Martin v. OSHRC (CF&I Steel Corp.), 499 U.S. 144 (1991). 106 Albermarle Corp. v. Herman, 221 F.3d 782, 785 (5th Cir. 2000). 107 5 U.S.C. § 504; 29 C.F.R. § 2204.106; S & H Riggers & Erectors, Inc. v. OSHRC, 672 F.2d 426, 429-30
(5th Cir. 1982). 108 29 C.F.R. § 2204.302(a). 109 Contour Erection & Siding Sys., Inc., 18 BNA OSHC 1714 (Rev. Comm’n 1999).
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6.0 Resolving Citations through Settlement with OSHA
The vast majority of OSHA citations are not adjudicated. They are either not contested or resolved through settlement. Commission Rule 100 encourages set- tlement. In settlement negotiations, employers can frequently obtain favorable re- sults. For example, through settlement, an employer may obtain a reduced penalty, amended characterization of violation, amended description of the vio- lation, amended abatement dates, agreement as to what will constitute abate- ment, and recognition that violations have already been abated. In addition, a set- tlement agreement may include exculpatory language stating that the employer does not admit to having committed any violation of law. In exchange for these terms favorable to the employer, OSHA gets a commitment from the employer not to contest the citation and, frequently, a commitment from the employer to undertake extra measures to ensure employee safety, such as hiring a health and safety consultant.
There are three categories of settlement: pre-citation, informal, and formal.
6.1 Pre-Citation Settlements
A pre-citation settlement is an agreement between OSHA and an employer to re- solve alleged violations before a citation is issued. The employer agrees not to contest the citation in exchange for some concession by OSHA, such as propos- ing a lower penalty or changing the characterization of violations. OSHA does not favor pre-citation settlements and is rarely willing to enter into them.
6.2 Informal Settlements
After a citation is issued but before it is contested, an employer may reach an in- formal settlement with OSHA. OSHA does not involve its lawyers in these ne- gotiations and is generally less willing to negotiate over the form of the settle- ment. The informal settlement takes the form of an amendment to the citation. It is not submitted to the Commission for approval.
An informal settlement must be concluded during the notice of contest period—that is, within the fifteen working days after the citation is received. An employer’s request for an informal settlement conference and settlement discus- sions with OSHA does not extend the period for filing a notice of contest.
6.3 Formal Settlements
A settlement entered after the filing of a notice of contest is formal. OSHA’s at- torneys typically negotiate formal settlements. In addition, the settlement must
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be filed with the Commission for approval, which is freely given unless an em- ployee or union challenges an extension of an abatement period. The Commis- sion also reviews the settlement to ensure that effected employees and unions have been served with the proposed settlement.110
7.0 Employee Participation in Challenges to Citations
The Act, Commission rules, legal precedent, and OSHA regulations give affected employees and unions various rights to participate in OSHA and Review Com- mission proceedings, including ALJ hearings. These rights include:
1. Requiring employers to post citations for review by employees;111
2. Permitting employees and unions to contest the abatement period of a ci- tation on the ground that it is too long;112
3. Permitting employees and unions to participate in litigation resulting from their employer’s contest of a citation or filing of a petition for mod- ification of abatement;113
4. Participating in hearings on variances (conducted by OSHA);114
5. Conducting discovery, presenting and cross-examining witnesses, and submitting briefs on all issues raised in a case;115
6. Appealing a Review Commission decision holding that no violation oc- curred (so long as OSHA does not object);116
7. Requiring the Secretary to inform employees or unions, if they have elected party status, of any settlement negotiations between the employer and the Secretary as to any issue, and to have an opportunity to “offer in-
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110 Commission Rule 100, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.100. 111 29 U.S.C. §§ 658(b) and 666(i); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1903.16. 112 29 U.S.C. § 659(c); see also Local 588, United Automobile Workers, 4 BNA OSHC 1243 (Rev. Comm’n
1976). 113 29 U.S.C. § 659(c). 114 29 U.S.C. § 655(d). 115 See Donovan v. OSHRC, 713 F.2d 918, 927 n.13 (2d Cir. 1983); 51 Fed. Reg. 32,002, 32,004 (1986) (ex-
plaining employee rights under Commission rules); Commission Rule 20, 29 C.F.R. § 2200.20. 116 See Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers v. OSHRC, 671 F.2d 643 (D.C. Cir. 1982).
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put” concerning the proposed settlement before it is presented to the judge for approval;117 and
8. Receiving a copy of any settlement agreement and having 10 days to ob- ject to the reasonableness of the abatement dates provided in it.118
However, unions and employees lack the right to object to OSHA’s withdrawal of a citation119 or to object to a settlement of a citation on grounds other than the reasonableness of the abatement date.120
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ❖ 241
117 General Electric Co., 14 BNA OSHC 1763 (Rev. Comm’n 1990); , 14 BNA OSHC 1993 (Rev. Comm’n 1991).
118 Commission Rule 100(c), 29 C.F.R. § 2200.100(c). 119 Cuyahoga Valley Railway v. United Transportation Union, 474 U.S. 3 (1985). 120 General Electric Co., 12 BNA OSHC 1597 (Rev. Comm’n 1985) (collecting cases).
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Chapter 12
Criminal Enforcement of Violations Marshall Lee Miller, Esq.1
Baise and Miller, P.C. Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
It is well known that employers who are charged with violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) laws and regulations can face sub- stantial civil penalties. Less well known is that prosecution may also be subject to criminal sanctions.
For other environmental laws, criminal penalties are threatened for a wide va- riety of offenses. For federal OSHA, the applicability of criminal charges is re- stricted to certain narrow circumstances: (1) if an employer’s willful violation of an OSHA standard results in the death of an employee,2 (2) if an individual gives advanced notice of an inspection,3 or (3) if an individual or employer knowingly makes any false statement, representation, or certification under the OSH Act.4
Unsurprisingly, the most stringent measures occur when violations result in the death of an employee. That means, however, that if a willful violation “only” causes paralysis, brain damage, or a comatose state without leading to death,5 the OSH Act treats them as less serious and authorizes only civil penalties.
1 Mr. Miller is a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Baise & Miller, P.C., available at www.miller@ baisemiller.com. A former firm associate, Michael Formica, was helpful in the preparation of this chapter.
2 29 U.S.C. § 666(e). 3 29 U.S.C. § 666(f ). 4 29 U.S.C. § 666(g). 5 All of these, of course, are situations that many victims might consider worse than death.
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Moreover, unlike civil complaints, which OSHA prosecutes with its own staff, criminal charges are only prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), following referral by OSHA. The DOJ prosecutions, however, have been fairly limited. As a result, in an ironic reversal of roles, pressure has built on the states to reassert their authority to regulate workplace conditions and increase criminal enforcement for workplace safety violations.
While these attempts were originally successful in state courts, some argue that the OSH Act preempts any state efforts to regulate the workplace through criminal enforcement actions. The Supreme Court apparently agrees, finding in Gade v. National Solid Waste Management Association6 that a state’s ability to reg- ulate occupational safety and health standards is preempted by the OSH Act, un- less approved by OSHA.7
These legal constraints, and the requirement of death prior to criminal pros- ecution, have led to increased pressure on OSHA’s sister agency, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prosecute for workplace violations under the various environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. This has also led to re- peated attempts to persuade Congress to strengthen criminal enforcement provi- sions under the OSH Act.
2.0 Federal Prosecution
OSHA does not handle criminal enforcement under the OSH Act. Instead, OSHA simply refers potential cases to the DOJ for review. The actual process of referral, however, can be quite drawn out and complicated.8 In most situations, the OSHA area director refers any potential actions to the appropriate regional administrator. He will then hand the case to an OSHA solicitor, either regional or national,9 who makes a final decision to refer the case for DOJ prosecution. Following DOJ acceptance and assignment of a U.S. attorney, a grand jury is convened to set forth an indictment. As complex as the referral process is, OSHA spent 20 years devising an internal system to effectively keep track of re- ferrals.10
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6 505 US 88 (1992). 7 About half of the states currently have OSHA-approved state plans. 8 Of course, the process may always be shortened or expedited if the facts are such that media coverage and
political pressure make swift prosecution necessary. 9 The “OSHA Solicitor’s Office” is actually not a part of the OSHA organization; rather, it is a separate, as-
sistant secretary–level position, in the Department of Labor. 10 OSHA Interpretation Memo, Leo Carey to Regional Administrators, “Procedures For Tracking Criminal
Referrals,” May 31, 1990.
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2.1 Definition of “Employee”
In this age of temporary workers, independent contractors, and subcontracting, debate over who is an employee under the OSH Act has grown. Traditionally, an employee is someone directly under control of the employer. Under the common law of agency, independent contractors are not necessarily agents and therefore not necessarily considered employees. Neither are the employees of a subcon- tractor or temporary agency, especially in relation to many mandated employee benefits.
However, under the Multi-Employer Doctrine (MED), any employer who creates a safety hazard and willfully violates OSHA standards on a multi- employer work site may be criminally liable for the death of a worker, whether their own or that of another employer.11 In Pitt-Des Moines, an accident resulting from a deviation from industry standards and inadequate training caused a struc- ture to collapse, killing both a Pitt-Des Moines employee and a subcontractor’s employee. Pitt-Des Moines was found guilty of a willful violation due to their failure to follow standard industry procedures in securing steel beams and fined $1 million. On appeal, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld application of the MED principle.
The doctrine, however, is not without controversy. In addition to complaints concerning this drift away from the usual law of agency, in the case of IPB, Inc. v. Herman, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has criticized its broad ex- pansion of liability outside the express language of the OSH Act.12
2.2 Willful Violations Causing Death to Employee
The most serious penalties follow from the willful violation of an OSHA stan- dard or rule when that violation results in death to an employee. While for first- time offenders the penalty is identical to that for making false statements— $10,000 and six months imprisonment, maximum penalties—for a repeat offender these penalties double to $20,000 and one year in prison.13
A “willful violation” is a knowing violation.14 An employer must know, prior to the fatal accident, the essential facts and legal requirements.15 However, to be
Criminal Enforcement of Violations ❖ 245
11 US v. Pitt-Des Moines, Inc, 168 F.3d 976, (7th Cir. 1999). 12 IPB, Inc. v. Herman, 144 F.3d 861 (D.C. Cir. 1998). 13 As discussed below, penalties are commonly increased by tying OSH Act prosecutions to additional prose-
cutions under existing environmental laws or raising more common criminal violations, such as conspiracy, at the same time.
14 US v. Ladish Malting, 135 F.3d 484 (7th Cir. 1998). 15 Id
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prosecuted for a willful violation, the employer needs not to have exhibited “in- tentional disregard,” but just “plain indifference,” towards the safety require- ments promulgated under the OSH Act.
The 1998 conviction of Roy G. Stoops is an example. Mr. Stoops, the owner of C&S Erectors of Nolesville, Indiana, allegedly failed to correct safety hazards and provide fall protection at a job site, even after receiving complaints from con- tractors. Following the fatal fall of an employee, an Indiana court found that Mr. Stoops’ failure to act and listen to concerns amounted to a willful act. Taken to- gether with C&S’s substantial history of OSHA violations, the court decided to sentence Mr. Stoops to four months in prison.16
Knowing has also been interpreted as “know or should have known.” In other words, a person cannot insulate himself from liability by either willful blindness or negligent conduct. As a strict liability statute, the normal criminal elements of malice or specific intent are removed.17 While an omission or failure to act may be willful if voluntary or intentional,18 the exact nature and extent of the em- ployers’ knowledge and understanding is an issue to be factored and examined by a jury considering criminal penalties.19
2.3 False Statements and Advance Notice
Perjury, or lying under oath, as well as false statements to federal officers are ille- gal under federal criminal law.20 In making official filings required under the OSH Act, the signatory is affirming, under oath, the truth of any statements and documents. Knowing violation of this oath is a crime punishable by up to six months in prison and/or a $10,000 fine. In other words, since perjury is already a crime, with more substantial punishment under U.S. criminal statutes, there is nothing exceptional in specifying that this law also applies to workplace situa- tions. In addition, the OSH Act also makes the unauthorized disclosure of forth- coming inspections punishable by a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months.21
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16 “Construction Worker’s Death Results in Jail Time for Indiana Employer,” OSHA National News Release, USDL 98-421, October 15, 1998.
17 Ensign-Bockford Corporation v. OSHRC, 717 F.2d 1419 (D.C. Cir. 1983). 18 Daniel Intern Corporation v. Donovan, 705 F.2d 382 (10th Cir. 1983). 19 U.S. v. Ladish Malting, supra. 20 18 U.S.C. § 1621 permits a fine and/or imprisonment of not more than five years for knowingly making
any false material declaration or using any other information, including any book, paper, document, record, recording, or other material, knowing the same to contain any false material declaration, in a proceeding before or ancillary to any court or grand jury of the United States.
21 29 U.S.C. § 666(f ).
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3.0 State Enforcement
Because of the restricted criminal deterrence under the OSH Act, states were in- creasingly bringing their own actions against employers whose conduct resulted in death or serious injury to employees. For the most part, these efforts were ini- tially successful. Starting with People v. Chicago Magnet Wire Corp.,22 several state supreme courts have found that OSHA did not preempt criminal prosecution of corporate officials. In Chicago Wire, an Illinois manufacturer was indicted for reckless endangerment by failing to provide adequate safety precautions to pre- vent exposure to the chemicals used in manufacturing wire. Likewise, in the lead- ing case People v. Pymm Thermometer, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed a decision that criminal prosecution for reckless endangerment associated with em- ployee exposure to mercury was not preempted by the federal OSH Act.23
The state courts, looking at the OSH Act’s definition of standards, have gen- erally found that criminal laws are not standards. Instead, they find that criminal laws serve a general purpose separate from regulation of the workplace. In Pymm, the court held that unlike the OSH Act, which established standards to prevent death or injury from occurring, New York’s criminal laws were reactive, designed for punishment of acts already committed, and this serves a purpose separate from regulation of the workplace.
In Gade, however, the U.S. Supreme Court looked at whether OSHA pre- empted an Illinois licensing standard applicable to hazardous waste workers. The Court held that where a federal standard is in effect, the unauthorized state reg- ulation of occupational, safety, and health issues is in conflict with the purposes and objectives of the OSH Act and is therefore impliedly preempted.24 Justice O’Conner, writing for the Court, found the statement in § 18(b), that a state “shall” submit a plan if it wishes to “assume responsibility” for development of standards, indicating Congress’ intent to preempt state law. As a result, a state may not enforce its own standards without federal approval.25
The Court found that those dual-impact regulations, which embody several purposes in addition to regulation of occupational, safety, and health, cannot avoid preemption.26 However, the Court acknowledged that general applicabil- ity statutes, such as fire and traffic safety laws, that do not conflict with OSHA regulations and regulate the conduct of workers and nonworkers alike, are not
Criminal Enforcement of Violations ❖ 247
22 People v. Chicago Magnet Wire Corp., 534 NE.2d 962 (Ill. 1989). 23 People v. Pymm Thermometer Company, 561 NYS.2d 687 (NY 1991). 24 Gade at 98. 25 Id. 26 Id. at 107.
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generally preempted.27 To the extent that state prosecution is carried out under already existing general criminal and safety provisions, they should be allowed.
4.0 Prosecution under Environmental Statutes
Because of the limitations on criminal prosecution under OSHA and the con- comitant problems under state and common law doctrines, some prosecutors have sought to deal with workplace situations by finding violations under the more flexible environmental laws.
At the federal level, the EPA is not constrained by the fatality requirement of the OSH Act. It has therefore been able to apply criminal laws in a wide range of circumstances, including some that touch on occupational situations. The major environmental statutes provide a host of criminal violations and penalties, and al- most every environmental law provides some criminal liability. In most cases, vi- olations can exist for both “knowing” and “negligent” conduct. It is not uncom- mon to find penalties of over $25,000 a day per violation and prison terms in excess of 15 years.
In light of this, EPA and OSHA have entered into Memorandums of Un- derstanding (MOUs) whereby the two agencies work together to enforce both en- vironmental and health and safety regulations in the workplace. These MOUs provide for joint inspections by EPA and OSHA investigators, a system for re- ferrals of violations between the agencies, exchanges of data and other evidence uncovered during investigations, and cross-training.
For example, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provides “cradle to grave” controls and requirements on generators and transporters, and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities of hazardous wastes. RCRA imposes criminal penalties of up to $50,000 and two years imprisonment for knowing vi- olations of the act. It also has put in place a system of heightened criminal liabil- ity for knowingly placing persons in danger of imminent death or serious bodily injury. Fines can run as high as $250,000 for an individual and $1,000,000 for a corporation, in addition to prison terms of up to 15 years.
The application of this approach is shown most clearly in the case of the McWane Company, a heavy industry company with foundries and factories un- der various names nation-wide. Over the past half-dozen years, the company has been featured unfavorably on TV programs such as “Sixty Minutes” and in fea- tures in the New York Times for the many deaths and serious injuries in its oper- ation. The stories were also all critical of OSHA, which, despite the deaths, seemed unable to take decisive action under its criminal powers. However, crim-
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27 Id.
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inal prosecutions and convictions were obtained under the environmental laws, most notably the Clean Air Act but also the Clean Water Act and RCRA.28
5.0 Recent Legislation
In light of the inability of the OSH Act to provide criminal penalties for viola- tions causing serious bodily harm, in addition to a belief by some that the crim- inal penalties provided are inadequate to serve a deterrence effect, calls have been made to toughen the OSH Act by expanding the range of activities that result in criminal liability as well as increase the penalties provided under the Act.
So far, these demands have been on the political periphery. Consumer activist Ralph Nader made criminal enforcement of workers deaths a major point in his third party campaign for the presidency of the United States back in 1992, and the late liberal Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) introduced legislation in 1999 that expanded the coverage of the OSH Act to federal employees;29 significantly increased the penalties for willful violations causing death to an employee by pro- viding prison terms up to 10 years for initial violation and 20 years for subse- quent violations, while at the same time removing the limits on the amount of fi- nancial penalty imposed;30 and strengthened the whistleblower protections.31
Although Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), an original sponsor of Senator Well- stone’s bills, subsequently became chairman of the influential Senate Labor Com- mittee, this and similar legislation went nowhere.
When Republicans captured both House and Senate, all impetus for this leg- islation faded away. Over the past several years Wyoming Republican senator Mike Enzi has prepared several OSHA reform bills, one of which would have in- creased the penalties for a fatal, willful violation of OSHA standards to 18 months in prison. However, this provision is missing from the legislation he has proposed in the past couple of years.32
Criminal Enforcement of Violations ❖ 249
28 U.S. v. Union Foundry Co. (N.D. Ala. No. 2.05-cr-00299, plea entered 6 September 2005), fine of $3.5 mil- lion and $0.75 million community service for RCRA violations, also OSHA willful violation; U.S. v. McWane, Inc. (N.D. Ala. No. CR-04-PR-199-S, 5 December 2005), jury found the company and three em- ployees guilty of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally discharging industrial waste water through storm drains, making false statements, and so on; U.S. v. Tyler Pipe (E.D. Tex. No. 6:05-cr-00029, 22 March 2005), guilty pleas on felony violations of Clean Air Act, with fines of $4.5 million and mandatory $12 mil- lion in emission control equipment; U.S. v. McWane, Inc. (D.Utah, No. 05-00811), indictment filed No- vember 2005 for falsifying data and other violations of Clean Air Act.
29 Federal Employee Safety Act S. 650 106th Congress-1st Session. 30 Wrongful Death Accountability Act S. 651 106th Congress-1st Session. 31 Safety and Health Whistleblower Protection Act S. 652 106th Congress-1st Session. 32 See S. 2065, 2066, and 2067 of 2005.
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It seems that neither the AFL-CIO nor the Democratic leadership have shown much enthusiasm for remedying this legal hole in OSHA’s enforcement, nor for expanding the scope of criminal penalties under the OSH Act. That will probably come, if it ever does, only after some highly publicized accident.
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Chapter 13
Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions John B. O’Loughlin, Jr., Esq. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP Washington, D.C.
1.0 Overview
The primary adjudicative function under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act)1 is vested in the Labor Department’s administrative law judges (ALJs) and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). The role of the federal courts is therefore limited to three circumstances. First, fi- nal Commission orders in enforcement cases can be appealed to the federal cir- cuit courts of appeal.2 Second, the federal circuit courts also provide pre-enforce- ment judicial review of health and safety standards promulgated under the OSH Act if an adversely affected party petitions for judicial review within 60 days af- ter the standard is promulgated.3 Finally, jurisdiction of the federal district courts is limited to ancillary procedural matters.4
The OSH Act does not create a private federal cause of action for private parties to seek judicial enforcement for violations of health and safety standards.5
1 29 U.S.C. § 660. See chapter 1 for a comprehensive summary of the OSH Act. 2 For purposes of this chapter, a final order of the “Commission” can refer to (1) decisions of the Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) or (2) unappealed decisions of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who conduct full evidentiary hearings on behalf of the Commission. Decisions of ALJs be- come final orders of the Commission if the employer or the Secretary of Labor does not seek review or if OSHRC declines a petition for discretionary review. For a fuller discussion, see chapter 11.
3 29 U.S.C. § 655(f ). For a fuller discussion, see chapter 2. 4 The jurisdiction of the federal district courts in matters under the OSH Act is limited to (1) actions by the
Secretary of Labor to enforce administrative subpoenas, 29 U.S.C. § 657(b); (2) actions by the Secretary to enforce the antidiscrimination provisions of the OSH Act, § 660(c)(2); (3) actions by the Secretary to re- strain imminent dangers, § 660(c)(2); and (4) actions on behalf of the United States to recover civil penal- ties, § 662(a), (d).
5 See Cuyahoga Valley Ry. Co. v. United Transp. Union, 474 U.S. 3, 6 (1985).
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Although employees may not seek direct enforcement against employers in the federal courts, they may participate in judicial appeals of final Commission orders.
Parties seeking review of final Commission orders may not bring actions in the federal circuit courts of appeal without first exhausting their administrative remedies. Review by a circuit court panel is generally restricted to the issues pre- served for appeal and is decided on the basis of the written record of the pro- ceedings below, the briefs submitted by the parties, and oral argument.6 As with a review of any final action of an administrative agency, the circuit courts gener- ally give a high level of deference to decisions of the Commission. Orders will only be overturned if the Commission’s factual findings are not supported by sub- stantial evidence in the record or if the Commission’s legal conclusions are arbi- trary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. A decision of a circuit court is final unless the court remands the case back to the Commission for further proceedings or the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a discretionary appeal of the case.7
2.0 Jurisdiction
2.1 Parties Who Have Standing to Bring an Appeal
Under section 11(a) of the OSH Act, “any person adversely affected or aggrieved by an order of the Commission . . . may obtain a review of such order.”8 This pro- vision provides direct access for employers to seek judicial review of an adverse Commission decision. Section 11(b) of the Act also authorizes the Secretary of Labor to seek judicial review of a final Commission order.9 Other parties have the right to seek judicial review as well. For example, employees or their representa- tives (including unions) may file a notice with the Department of Labor seeking to become a party to a case and may file a Notice of Contest (NOC) to challenge as unreasonable the period set for an employer to abate a violation.10 Any em- ployee (or employee representative) who elected party status before the Commis- sion and who is adversely affected by the Commission’s final decision may seek judicial review of the decision.11
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6 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 7 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 8 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 9 29 U.S.C. § 660(b). 10 29 C.F.R. § 659(c); 29 C.F.R. §§ 2200.20–2200.22. 11 29 U.S.C. § 660(a).
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Most courts do not interpret section 11(b) as granting the Commission standing to defend its actions in federal court.12 The basis for the majority view that the Commission has no standing to appeal is that Congress intended the Commission to act like a court. The parties to the dispute are the Secretary of La- bor (the plaintiff ) and the employer charged with the violation (the defendant). Accordingly, the Commission is an adjudicative entity with no stake in the out- come of the litigation.13 The Fourth and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal, however, have concluded that the Commission may participate in judicial proceedings on grounds that it serves an administrative function as well as an adjudicative one.14
In that respect, the Commission’s functions are similar to that of the National La- bor Relations Board or the Federal Trade Commission.
The courts have also concluded that manufacturers do not have standing to appeal a Commission decision on an Occupational Safety and Health Adminis- tration (OSHA) violation involving the manufacturer’s machinery. In R.T. Van- derbilt Co. v. OSHRC,15 for example, although the Commission had allowed an equipment manufacturer to intervene in the administrative proceeding against the employer, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the manufacturer did not have standing to seek judicial review of the Commission’s decision because the manufacturer was not in the “zone of interest” covered by the Act.
To bring an appeal, a party must establish that it has been injured by a Com- mission order. In reality, this is a fairly easy standard to meet because any employer ordered to pay a civil penalty or take action to abate a violation has been ag- grieved.16 Similarly, employees and their unions may petition for judicial review of a final Commission order that affects them.17 A court may dismiss the petition as moot, however, if OSHA announces that it will not pursue further enforcement against the employer irrespective of the circuit court of appeals’ decision.18
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12 See Oil, Chem. & Atomic Workers v. OSHRC, 671 F.2d 643, 651 (D.C. Cir. 1982); General Electric Co. v. OSHRC, 583 F.2d 61, 63 n.3 (2nd Cir. 1978); Marshall v. Sun Petroleum Prods., 622 F.2d 1176 (3rd Cir. 1980); Marshall v. OSHRC, 635 F.2d 544, 547 (6th Cir. 1980); Dale Madden Constr., Inc. v. Hodgson, 502 F.2d 278, 280–281 (9th Cir. 1974); Brennan v. OSHRC, 505 F.2d 869, 871 (10th Cir. 1974).
13 See Oil, Chem. & Atomic Workers v. OSHRC, 671 F.2d 643, 652 (D.C. Cir. 1982). 14 See Brennan v. Gilles & Cotting, Inc., 504 F.2d 1255, 1267 (4th Cir. 1974) (holding that the Commission
may appear in federal court to defend its enforcement policies); Diamond Roofing Co. v. OSHRC, 528 F.2d 645, 648 n.8 (5th Cir. 1976) (holding that the Commission, as any administrative agency, is a proper party in suits brought by the Secretary of Labor or a third party seeking review of its decisions).
15 728 F.2d 815 (6th Cir. 1984). 16 See RSR Corp. v. Donovan, 733 F.2d 1142, 1145–1146 (5th Cir. 1984) (remanding case to administrative
law judge for further findings, but holding that employer had established standing because OSHA had im- posed a civil penalty). On the other hand, decisions on procedural issues are not reviewable. CH2M Hill Central, Inc. v. OSHRC, 131 F.3d 1244 (7th Cir. 1997).
17 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 18 See Oil, Chem. & Atomic Workers v. OSHRC, 671 F.2d 643 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 905 (1982).
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2.2 Courts That Have Jurisdiction over Appeals
Section 11 of the OSH Act states that final Commission orders may be appealed in the U.S. circuit courts of appeal. In particular, an employer may bring an ap- peal in the circuit where the violation is alleged to have occurred, in the circuit where the employer has its principal office, or in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.19 The Secretary of Labor also may appeal a fi- nal order in the circuit where the violation is alleged to have occurred or in the circuit where the employer has its principal office.20 The jurisdiction of the U.S. circuit courts of appeal to review decisions of the Commission is exclusive, and the judgment of a circuit court is final unless the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to a discretionary review.21
3.0 Timing
3.1 Final Commission Orders
Any party with standing, including the Secretary of Labor, may appeal a final Commission order by filing a petition within 60 days of the final order with an appropriate U.S. circuit court of appeals. Under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, appellants must adhere strictly to this deadline or the court may dis- miss the petition for lack of jurisdiction.22 An employer seeking an appeal may also submit a petition for a stay of a final Commission order because an appeal, by itself, does not delay enforcement of the order, and the Secretary of Labor may seek penalties or cite the employer for failure to abate a violation during the pen- dency of the appeal.23 If no timely petition for appeal is received by the clerk of the court, the Commission’s findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order are deemed conclusive. Because Commission orders are not self-enforcing (see chap- ter 11), the Secretary of Labor must petition the court to enforce an order if the employer does not comply.24
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19 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 20 29 U.S.C. § 660(b). 21 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 22 29 U.S.C. § 660(a); Fed. Reg. App. P. 15. See Consolidated Andy, Inc. v. Donovan, 642 F.2d 778, 779 (5th
Cir. 1981). 23 See 29 C.F.R. § 2200.94; 29 U.S.C. § 660(a); Fed. Reg. App. P. 18. The Court of Appeals has the power to
grant temporary relief or an injunction during the pendency of an appeal. Brennan v. Winters Battery Mfg. Co., 531 F.2d 317 (6th Cir. 1976). In addition, the Commission itself has the discretion to stay its own or- ders pending an appeal. Lance Roofing v. Hodgson, 343 F. Supp. 685 (N.D. Ga.), aff ’d, 409 U.S. 1070 (1972).
24 29 U.S.C. § 660(b).
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3.2 Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies
A prerequisite to obtaining judicial review of a Commission order is that the or- der must be final. This means that the party (typically an employer) must have first exhausted all available remedies. As discussed in chapter 11, the employer must file a Notice of Contest (NOC) of the citation or penalty with the Secre- tary of Labor within 15 working days after receiving notice. If the party does not contest the citation or penalty, the citation will become a final Commission or- der that is not subject to judicial review.25 The NOC must indicate whether the employer is contesting all or part of the citation, the civil penalty, or the abate- ment. If the employer contests only part of the order, the uncontested part of the order becomes binding upon the employer upon the expiration of the contest pe- riod.26 Upon the filing of a timely NOC, an employer’s challenge is subject to a full evidentiary proceeding before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). At the conclusion of the trial, an employer that is not satisfied with the ALJ’s decision may file a Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR) of the ALJ’s decision with the Review Commission.27 (See chapter 11 for a complete discussion of the proce- dures for trials before ALJs and appeals before the Review Commission.) If the Commission declines to review the ALJ’s decision, or if the employer is not sat- isfied with the Commission’s decision after review, the employer may seek judi- cial review in an appropriate U.S. circuit court of appeal.28
An employer may not seek judicial review if it has not followed the required administrative procedures. In particular, an employer may not seek judicial re- view of a citation if it did not first submit an NOC. Similarly, it may not seek ju- dicial review of an ALJ’s decision if it did not first submit a PDR to the Com- mission, irrespective of whether the Commission agreed to review the case.29
Furthermore, an employer may not raise issues before the court that were not identified in the PDR.30 For example, in P. Gioioso & Sons Inc., v. OSHRC,31 the employer attempted to raise issues on appeal that were argued before the ALJ but not expressly included in the PDR submitted to the Commission. The court held
Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions ❖ 255
25 29 U.S.C. § 659(a). 26 Penn-Dixie Steel Corp. v. OSHRC, 533 F.2d 1078, 1079–1081 (7th Cir. 1977). 27 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91. 28 29 U.S.C. § 660. 29 29 C.F.R. § 2200.91(f ). See, for example, Keystone Roofing Co. v. OSHRC, 539 F.2d 960, 962 (3rd Cir. 1976)
(order to employer which sought direct judicial review of ALJ decision was a final Commission order, but was unreviewable by the court of appeals because employer had failed to petition the Commission for dis- cretionary review).
30 Globe Contractors, Inc. v. Herman, 132 F.3d 367 (7th Cir. 1997) (issues not reviewable if not included in PDR).
31 115 F.3d 100, 107 (1st Cir. 1997).
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that it lacked jurisdiction over the issues because the petitioner had failed to pre- serve them for appeal.32 In addition, in the event the Commission seeks on its own initiative to review an ALJ decision that was not appealed by the employer,33
the employer must follow the Commission’s review procedures to completion be- fore seeking a judicial challenge. Finally, a decision of the Commission must be a final agency action in order to be reviewable in court.34 Thus, a Commission order remanding a case back to an ALJ for final disposition is not reviewable, and intermediate decisions of the Commission on procedural questions (e.g., evi- dence, discovery, or procedure) are not directly reviewable.35
Section 6(f ) of the OSH Act provides that any party adversely affected by an OSHA standard may seek pre-enforcement judicial review by filing a petition with the circuit court of appeals prior to 60 days after promulgation of the final rule.36 The Act is silent, however, on the question of whether a safety standard upon which a violation is based can be challenged during judicial review of the enforcement order under section 11(a).37 The courts are in agreement that sub- stantive challenges to the validity of a standard may be raised either during pre- enforcement review or during an enforcement review. The courts are not in agreement, however, on whether a party may challenge the procedural aspects of a rule during an enforcement review. For example, in Deering Milliken, Inc. v. OSHRC,38 the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the pre-enforce- ment review provision in section 6(f ) of the Act did not bar a procedural attack on the validity of the underlying standard during a proceeding challenging an enforcement order. On the other hand, in National Industrial Contractors, Inc. v. OSHRC,39 the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the procedural validity of OSHA standards may be challenged only during pre-enforcement re- view pursuant to section 6(f ). The Eighth Circuit distinguished between proce- dural challenges, which it said were restricted to pre-enforcement review under section 6(f ), and substantive challenges, which could be brought either during pre-enforcement review or during a challenge to an enforcement order under section 11(a). Other circuits, however, have declined to draw the distinction be-
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32 Similarly, the Commission will ordinarily not review issues not first raised before the ALJ. 29 C.F.R. § 2200.92(c).
33 29 C.F.R. § 2200.92(b). 34 See, for example, Northeast Erectors Ass’n v. Secretary of Labor, 62 F.3d 37, 40 (1st Cir. 1995)(change in OSHA
enforcement policy concerning an OSHA standard was not subject to challenge by trade association until such time as an employer is cited for violation of the standard).
35 CH2M Hill Central, Inc. v. OSHRC, 131 F.3d 1244, 1246–1247 (7th Cir. 1997). 36 29 U.S.C. § 655(f ). 37 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). 38 630 F.2d 1094 (5th Cir. 1980). 39 583 F.2d 1048 (8th Cir. 1978).
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tween procedural and substantive challenges.40 In addition, the burden of proof in a legal challenge to a final OSHA rule during an enforcement action is dif- ferent from what is required during pre-enforcement review of a final OSHA rule. In a proceeding under section 6(f ), the Secretary of Labor has an affirma- tive obligation to demonstrate that the rule as adopted is “reasonable and con- sistent” with its purpose. In a challenge to an enforcement action under section 11(a), however, the petitioner must produce evidence showing why the stan- dard, as applied to the petitioner, is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or con- trary to law.41
3.3 Constitutional Challenges
A court of appeals has jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality of the OSH Act during an appeal of a final Commission order.42 Although the Commission is not empowered to rule on challenges to the constitutionality of a particular ac- tion,43 most courts have concluded that such fundamental issues should be raised at the administrative level in order to preserve the matter for judicial appeal.44 In a few reported cases, courts have allowed fundamental challenges to Commission decisions that were not raised below to proceed on grounds that they are “ex- traordinary conditions” within the meaning of section 11(a) of the OSH Act.45
As a general matter, however, the cautious approach for any practitioner would be to raise formally all issues at the administrative review level.
4.0 Scope of Judicial Review
4.1 Procedural Matters
The operating procedures for enforcement hearings before an ALJ incorporate the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which prescribe practice in the federal district
Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions ❖ 257
40 Deering Milliken, Inc., Unity Plant v. OSHRC, 630 F.2d 1094 (5th Cir. 1980) (discussing the difference be- tween challenges to OSHA’s compliance with procedural requirements in promulgating a rule and substan- tive attacks on the rule itself, but declining to adopt a restriction on post-enforcement review of either type of challenge). See also Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc. v. OSHRC, 534 F.2d 541 (3rd Cir. 1976); Noblecraft Indus., Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 614 F.2d 199 (9th Cir. 1980).
41 Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc. v. OSHRC, 534 F.2d 541 (3rd Cir. 1976). 42 Mohawk Excavating, Inc. v. OSHRC, 549 F.2d 859 (2nd Cir. 1977). 43 See Buckeye Indus., Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 587 F.2d 231, 235 (5th Cir. 1979). 44 See, for example, In re: Establishment Inspection of Kohler Co., 935 F.2d 810 (7th Cir. 1991) (holding that
Fourth Amendment challenge to inspection warrant should have been raised below). 45 “No objection that has not been urged before the Commission shall be considered by the court, unless the
failure or neglect to urge such objection shall be excused because of extraordinary circumstances.” 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). See, for example, McGowan v. Marshall, 604 F.2d 885, 892 (5th Cir. 1979) (holding that consti- tutional challenge of OSH Act before Commission would be “fruitless”).
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courts.46 An ALJ will rule on evidentiary matters in accordance with the Federal Rules of Evidence.47 A comprehensive discussion of the Commission’s rules of pro- cedure and evidence is provided in chapter 11. When a Commission decision is appealed to a circuit court, the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure apply. In par- ticular, Rules 15–20 set forth the rules governing review and enforcement of deci- sions of administrative agencies and commissions.48 In addition, each circuit court has local rules that supplement the federal rules. The rules are quite detailed in es- tablishing deadlines for the submission of transcripts and briefs, page limits on the length of briefs, the number of copies that must be filed and in what format, and the manner in which papers must be served. Because the rules can vary between jurisdictions, practitioners must pay close attention to the details of the circuit in which the appeal is filed.49
There is no evidentiary hearing on an appeal to the circuit court. Normally, a three-judge panel decides the appeal on the basis of the written record, the briefs filed by the parties, and the oral argument before the circuit court panel. Oral argument is usually limited to 15 minutes per side. The appeal is narrow in scope and, as discussed above, the issues are limited to those raised before the Commission in the PDR. In rare cases, a petitioner may seek permission from the circuit court to submit additional evidence and, upon reviewing such additional evidence, the Commission may revise its decision.50
4.2 Standard of Review for Conclusions of Law
The OSH Act does not include standards for judicial review of conclusions of law. Accordingly, the generic provisions in section 10(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) apply.51 Under the APA, courts will not set aside an agency decision unless it is:
• Arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accor- dance with law;
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46 29 C.F.R. § 2200.2. 47 29 C.F.R. § 2200.71. 48 Fed. Reg. App. P. 15–20. 49 For example, the Seventh Circuit requires litigants to file 15 copies of briefs with the court along with a disk
copy, and sets explicit limits on type size, page counts, and even the color of brief covers. The Seventh Cir- cuit also imposes requirements for the content of briefs, such as the jurisdictional statement and appendices. See Circuit Rules of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Dec. 2005) and Practitioner’s Handbook for Appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2003 Edition).
50 “If any party shall apply to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence and shall show to the satisfac- tion of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in the hearing before the Commission, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Commission and to be made a part of the record.” 29 U.S.C. § 660(a).
51 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).
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• Contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity;
• In excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations;
• Short of statutory right;
• Without observation of procedure required by law;
• Unsupported by substantial evidence; and
• Unwarranted by the facts to the extent that the facts are subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court.52
As a practical matter, this level of review is highly deferential to the Commis- sion. For example, in Reich v. Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.,53 the court held that the Commission’s legal conclusions must not be disturbed unless they are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
Courts give the Commission significant latitude in interpreting the OSH Act and OSHA safety standards unless a decision is arbitrary and capricious or an abuse of discretion. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that OSHA’s construction of its own regulations is entitled to substantial deference “because applying regu- lations to complex or changing circumstances calls upon the agency’s unique ex- pertise and policymaking prerogatives.”54 In some cases, the Commission’s inter- pretation of a safety standard may differ from that of OSHA. The Supreme Court has held that, in such cases, the Commission must defer to OSHA’s reasonable interpretation of a safety standard because OSHA, and not the Commission, is vested with promulgating and enforcing safety standards and is, therefore, in a better position to interpret such standards.55
4.3 Standard of Review for Findings of Fact
The Commission’s factual findings, and the inferences derived from them, must be supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.56 The
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52 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). Under the Administrative Procedure Act, in addition to the “abuse of discretion” and “arbitrary and capricious” standards of review, a court can also overturn a decision on grounds that it is “oth- erwise not in accordance with law.” Where, as here, the agency’s statute does not provide a specific standard of review for legal conclusions, any of these overlapping standards of the APA can be grounds for overturn- ing a decision of the Commission.
53 3 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 1993). 54 Martin v. OSHRC, 499 U.S. 144, 150–151 (1991) (internal citations omitted). 55 Id. at 152–153. 56 29 U.S.C. § 660(a). See Reich v. Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. 3 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 1993) (Commission’s
findings of fact must be based on substantial evidence in the record).
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term “substantial evidence” has been defined by courts as that which a reasonable person would accept as supporting a conclusion.57 Although this standard ap- pears to be somewhat stricter than the abuse of discretion standard applied to questions of law, as discussed above, courts nevertheless accord substantial defer- ence to the determinations of an ALJ concerning evidentiary and factual matters because the ALJ has had the opportunity to observe witnesses first hand, whereas the Commission and the courts have had no such opportunity. So long as the Commission sets forth a rational argument connecting the facts of the case with its decision, therefore, courts are unlikely to overturn a decision based on the facts.58
Not all courts apply the substantial evidence standard in the same manner. For example, in Austin Road Co. v. OSHRC,59 the court overturned a Commis- sion decision on grounds that the decision was speculative and not supported by substantial evidence in the record. The court held that the Secretary failed to prove that the defendant’s activities “affected interstate commerce,” an essential prerequisite to establishing OSHA’s jurisdiction.60 As a result, OSHA failed to demonstrate that the defendant was an “employer” within the meaning of the OSH Act, and the court declined to enforce the citation.
In other cases, courts have remanded Commission orders where the record was insufficient to provide a “substantial basis” for the Commission’s decision. For example, in Builders Steel Co. v. Marshall,61 the Eighth Circuit Court of Ap- peals held that the Commission did not provide an adequate factual foundation for the court to find that the Commission’s order was reasonable. In Builders Steel, the employer was cited for failing to provide adequate fall protection for welders working approximately 29 feet above a concrete floor. The Commission con- cluded that the warehouse on which the employees were working was a single- story building subject to the regulation found at 29 C.F.R. § 1926.105(a), which required fall protection for workers operating higher than 25 feet. The employer contended that the building was a multitiered structure subject to a different reg- ulation found at § 1926.750(b)(2)(i), which required fall protection for workers operating at heights of greater than 30 feet. After finding that there was insuffi- cient evidence in the record to support the Commission’s conclusion that the building was a single-story structure subject to section 105(a), the court vacated
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57 Martin Painting & Coating Co. v. Marshall, 629 F.2d 437, 438 (6th Cir. 1980). 58 Brennan v. OSHRC, 501 F.2d 1196 (7th Cir. 1974). 59 683 F.2d 905 (5th Cir. 1982). 60 Id. at 907. Under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the authority of Congress to regulate
commerce is limited to interstate commerce. A long series of cases has included within that power com- mercial activities that merely “affect” interstate commerce even if they are conducted entirely intrastate. See, for example, Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942).
61 575 F.2d 663 (8th Cir. 1987).
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the order and remanded the case for the Commission to supplement the record to show which standard applied to the building.62
Penalty assessments are evaluated by a court using the highly deferential “abuse of discretion” standard. So long as a penalty is within OSHA’s statutory authority and is based on some findings set forth in the record, a court is unlikely to vacate a penalty approved by the Commission.63
4.4 Precedential Effect of Judicial Decisions
The Commission is not bound by decisions of federal circuit courts even if they are in conflict with the Commission’s interpretation of the OSH Act or OSHA standards. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court overturns one of its decisions,64 the Commission acts in accordance with its own precedent. One circuit court has concluded that the Commission must respect the decisions of a circuit court at least with respect to cases arising in that circuit.65 Moreover, when a case is re- manded to the Commission by a circuit court, the Commission is bound to fol- low the instructions of the appellate court.66 In addition, the Commission may not depart arbitrarily from its own precedent without a reasoned explanation in the record.67
5.0 Conclusion
The U.S. circuit courts of appeal have exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals of fi- nal orders of the Commission.68 Prior to obtaining judicial review, parties must first exhaust their administrative remedies or the Commission must decline to hear a discretionary appeal. Judicial review is not a full evidentiary hearing and is restricted to the issues preserved for appeal. Courts generally give a high level of deference to decisions of the Commission, and decisions will only be overturned if the Commission’s factual findings are not supported by substantial evidence in
Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions ❖ 261
62 Id. at 667. 63 See, for example, D&S Grading Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 899 F.2d 1145 (11th Cir. 1990). 64 A petition for review of Circuit Court decisions concerning OSHA enforcement can be submitted to the
Supreme Court in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1254. 29 U.S.C. 660(a). 65 See Smith Steel Casting Co. v. Donovan, 725 F.2d 1032 (5th Cir. 1984) (stating that holding by court of ap-
peal on legal question is binding on Review Commission in all cases arising within that circuit until and unless court of appeals or Supreme Court overturns that holding).
66 Butler Lime & Cement Co. v. OSHRC, 658 F.2d 544 (7th Cir. 1981) (holding that failure to follow Circuit Court’s instruction was reversible error).
67 See Graphic Communications International Union v. Salem Gravure Division of World Color Press, Inc., 843 F.2d 1490 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (holding that Commission’s unsupported departure from its own precedent was arbitrary and capricious).
68 The role of federal district courts is limited to ancillary procedural matters.
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the record or if the Commission’s legal conclusions are arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. A decision of a circuit court is final unless the court remands the case back to the Commission for further proceedings or the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a discretionary appeal of the case.
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Chapter 14
Imminent Danger Inspections Frank D. Davis, Esq. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Dallas, Texas
1.0 Overview
• Worker’s arm crushed in unguarded conveyor belt, causing amputation of her right arm below the elbow.
• Worker’s leg crushed by falling steel beams forcing amputation when over- loaded two-ton-rated crane broke and dropped almost three tons of steel less than three feet onto worker’s leg.
• Worker loses hand to paper slicer because employer had disabled safety switch to increase production.
• Father and son carpenter team killed when they fell from mobile scaffold- ing because employer provided neither safety harnesses nor guardrails.
• All skin and muscle of worker torn from bone when worker tried to clean the rollers of a coating machine while they still rotated, which was consis- tent with plant procedures, instead of shutting down and de-energizing the machine first.
Each of these accounts represents a hazardous condition in the workplace that led to serious bodily injury or death. If the hazardous condition had been identified in advance, could these tragic consequences been avoided? The U.S. Congress thought so and passed legislation designed to identify and correct such hazards, or “imminent dangers,” expeditiously and before tragic workplace in- juries could result.
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2.0 Imminent Danger Defined
Section 13(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) defines imminent danger as “… any conditions or practices in any place of employment which are such that a danger exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such dan- ger can be eliminated through the enforcement procedures otherwise provided by this Act.”1 It is the duty of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA or the Administration) to administer the OSH Act and enforce provi- sions such as the imminent danger provision.
OSHA’s front-line officer responsible for insuring employer compliance with the OSH Act is the compliance safety and health officer (CSHO). The primary responsibility of the CSHO is to carry out the Administration’s general mandate “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions . . . .”2 The CSHO’s primary means of identifying workplace hazards is through on-site inspections of the employer’s business. Dur- ing these inspections, CSHOs evaluate an employer’s compliance with the OSH Act’s standards by interviewing employees, walking through the employer’s facil- ity, and reviewing employer safety records, training, and safety policies.3
3.0 Nuts and Bolts of an Inspection
OSHA utilizes various inspections or investigations to enforce the OSH Act. Im- minent danger inspections are unprogrammed inspections that the Administra- tion schedules in response to alleged hazardous working conditions identified at a specific worksite.4 OHSA usually learns of conditions leading to imminent dan- ger inspections through employee reports, but sometimes a CSHO may notice and address an imminent danger situation during programmed inspection.5 Re- ports of imminent dangers in the workplace are subject to unprogrammed in- spections. In either event, unprogrammed inspections involving imminent dan- gers receive top priority.6 As described further below, the CSHO will require an employer to abate an imminent danger hazard and remove endangered employ-
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1 29 U.S.C. § 663(a). 2 OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual (Ref. Man.) § 2.103, Ch. I(A)(4). 3 Id. 4 Id. at Ch. I(B). 5 29 U.S.C. §657(f )(1); “Any employees or representatives of employees who believe that a violation of a
safety or health hazard exists that threatens physical harm, or that an imminent danger exists, may request an inspection by giving notice . . . of such violation or danger.” OSHA Inspections, U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA 2098 (2000), p. 3.
6 Id.
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ees from exposure voluntarily and immediately.7 If the employer fails to comply with the CSHO’s request, the Administration may apply to the local federal dis- trict court for an injunction prohibiting further work during the period in which the unsafe condition exists.8
When OSHA receives a complaint containing an allegation of imminent danger, the area director in charge of the OSHA area office evaluates whether there is a reasonable basis to support the allegation.9 To constitute an imminent danger that requires immediate inspection, the alleged hazard must satisfy two criteria:
1. It must be reasonably likely that a serious accident will occur immediately or if not immediately, before abatement would otherwise be required; and
2. The threatened harm must be death or serious physical injury. For a health hazard, exposure to the toxic substance or other health hazard must be so severe as to shorten life or cause substantial reduction in physical or mental efficiency, even if the resulting harm may not manifest itself im- mediately.10
OSHA carefully evaluates all relevant information before ordering an immi- nent danger inspection. For instance, OSHA conducts imminent danger inspec- tions even during strikes or other labor disputes.11 The area director for the OSHA office that receives the complaint evaluates the reliability of any complaint prior to scheduling such inspections during a strike or labor dispute “to insure as far as pos- sible that the complaint reflects a good faith belief that a true hazard exists.”12
Unprogrammed inspections, like imminent danger inspections, can be com- prehensive or partial. A comprehensive inspection entails a complete inspection of the high-hazard areas of an employer’s establishment. A partial inspection is one in which the focus is limited to certain, identified hazardous areas, operations, conditions, or practices. Usually, an imminent danger inspection will be limited to the specific hazard that originated the complaint, but a CSHO may expand a par- tial inspection based on information gathered during the course of the inspection, including violations of the OSH Act he witnesses during the inspection.13
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 265
7 OSHA Inspections, U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA 2098 (2000), p. 3. 8 Id. 9 Ref. Man. at 2.103, Ch. I(C)(5). 10 Id. 11 Ref. Man. at Ch. II(A)(2). 12 Id. 13 Ref. Man. at 2.103, Ch. II(A).
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4.0 The On-Site Visit
Upon receipt of an imminent danger complaint, OSHA will assign a CSHO and attempt to schedule an inspection of the facility within 24 hours of the com- plaint. While a copy of the complaint must be given to the employer no later than the time the CSHO begins his or her inspection of the employer’s premises, the names of the employees referenced in the complaint and the name of the complainant him or herself may not be disclosed to the employer without per- mission of the complainant.14 Moreover, no information shall be given to em- ployers that would allow them to identify the complainant.15
Generally, CSHOs conduct investigations without advance notice. In fact, alerting an employer without proper authorization in advance of an OSHA in- spection can bring a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a six-month jail term. This stan- dard applies to both state and federal compliance officers.16 Typically, OSHA does not give employer notice because it does not want employers to correct or change practices before a CSHO inspects the operation. In the case of an immi- nent danger inspection, however, OSHA may provide an employer advance no- tice up to twenty-four hours before the beginning of the inspection. OSHA does this hoping the employer will correct/address the hazardous condition immedi- ately so as to allay employee exposure to imminent dangers in the workplace. Em- ployers receiving advance notice of an inspection must inform the representative of their employees or arrange for OSHA to do so to ensure employee involvement in the investigation and resolution of the alleged hazard.17
When the CSHO arrives to conduct the inspection, the CSHO must pres- ent official credentials.18 Prior to allowing the CSHO to conduct an inspection, an employer should always ask to see the compliance officer’s credentials.19 If the employer questions the credentials, the employer can verify the credentials of fed- eral and state compliance officers by calling the local federal or state office. As a point of practice, compliance officers can never collect a penalty at the time of in- spection or promote the sale of a product or service.20
A CSHO is authorized by the OSH Act “to enter without delay and at rea- sonable times any factory, plant, establishment, construction site, or other area,
266 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
14 Id. 15 Id. 16 OSHA 2098 at p. 1. 17 Id. at pp. 1–2; Ref. Man. at 2.103, Ch. I(E) (“Section 17(F) of the Act and 29 C.F.R. § 1903.6 contain a
general prohibition against the giving of advance notice of inspections, except as authorized by the Secre- tary or the Secretary’s designee”).
18 29 U.S.C. § 657(a). 19 OSHA 2098 at p. 5. 20 Id.
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workplace or environment where work is performed by an employee of an em- ployer and to inspect and investigate during regular working hours and at other reasonable times, and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, any such place of employment and all pertinent conditions, structures, machines, ap- paratus, devices, equipment, and materials therein, and to question privately any such employer, owner, operator, agent, or employee.”21 Even though this language seems to give OSHA very broad inspection and entrance authority, a CSHO can- not enter an employer’s premises without a search warrant unless the employer al- lows the CSHO access. Specifically, in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the OSH Act violated the constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches insofar as it purported to authorize warrantless, nonconsensual searches of com- mercial workplaces.22 As a result, OSHA inspections generally must be conducted pursuant to a warrant if the employer does not agree to the inspection.
In most cases, an employer allows a CSHO access to inspect the employer’s facility. In some instances, an employer may choose to deny the CSHO access to the plant because of trade secrets, labor relation problems, or other any other rea- son.23 In such instances, OSHA is authorized to seek a search warrant from the federal courts.24 Thus, unless an employer is working on a military base or some other government facility or in a closely-regulated business or industry, the em- ployer generally may refuse the CSHO access and require OSHA to seek a war- rant before entering.
An employer may not precondition a CSHO’s entry upon signing any form or release or any type of waiver.25 This standard applies to any employer forms controlling the release of trade secret information equally. If the employer insists that the CSHO sign a waiver before allowing entrance, OSHA will treat that sit- uation as an employer’s refusal to allow the CSHO entrance and will seek a search warrant. Notwithstanding the CSHO’s right to enter a workplace without sign- ing a waiver, a CSHO still may sign a visitor register or other registration book indicating his or her visit to the plant.26
In any event, in order to secure a warrant in an imminent danger inspection, the Administration must set forth the following:
• The proposed scope of the inspection;
• A description of the alleged imminent danger situation;
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21 29 U.S.C. § 657(a). 22 Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978). 23 Id. 24 Ref. Man. at 2.103 (A)(2)(c). 25 Ref. Man. at 2.103 (A)(2)(e). 26 Id.
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• The date received and the source of the information;
• The original formal complaint, including an explanation for the reason- able expectation of death or serious physical harm and the immediacy of danger; and
• Whether all current imminent danger processes and procedures have been strictly followed.27
The warrant usually is narrowly construed, seeking to inspect only the con- dition at the employer’s facility reported as an imminent danger.28 This is espe- cially true when the search of the workplace is triggered by an employee com- plaint only. For instance, federal circuit courts have held that search warrants covering an employer’s entire facility are unreasonable and invalid when the breadth of the warrant exceeded the scope of the employee complaint that origi- nated the inspection.29
Once the Administration secures a warrant, the inspection generally begins within twenty-four hours.30
In addition to a search warrant, the Administration may issue administrative subpoenas when a reasonable need for records, documents, testimony, or other supporting evidence exists and when the employer is unwilling to voluntarily dis- close the information.31
Unlike search warrants, administrative subpoenas of employer safety records and policies may be broader than merely the area containing the reported hazard. To be enforceable, an OSHA subpoena for documents must be “reasonably rele- vant to the authorized inquiry.”32 Courts, however, have held the authorized in- quiry to be reasonably broad. In one such case, an employer operated a three- location facility. At one location, an employee submitted a complaint to OSHA regarding specific conditions in his workplace, which was limited to one of the employer’s three locations. OSHA inspected the employee’s workplace pursuant to a warrant narrowly tailored to suit the complaint and conducted an inspection of the area of concern. Pursuant to its authority to ascertain whether other loca-
268 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
27 Id. at Ch. II(A)(2)(c)(iv)(c). 28 See, for example, Donovan v. Sarasota Concrete Co., 693 F.2d 1061 (11th Cir. 1982); Marshall v. North Amer-
ican Car Co., 626 F.2d 320 (3rd Cir. 1980); Marshall v. Central Mine Equipment Co., 608 F.2d 719 (8th Cir. 1979).
29 Id. 30 Id. at Ch. II(A)(2)(c)(vi). 31 Id. at Ch. II(A)(2)(c)(vi). 32 See U.S. v. Morton Salt Co., 338 U.S. 632 (1950); U.S. v. Westinghouse Electric Co., 638 F.2d 570 (3rd Cir.
1980).
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tions experienced significant employee injuries and required inspection, OSHA subpoenaed the employer’s safety and health records for all three locations. The employer objected, arguing that the subpoena exceeded the scope of the em- ployee complaint and refused to produce the subpoenaed records. The federal court concluded OSHA had authority to subpoena records from all three loca- tions because the records were reasonably relevant to OSHA’s authority to review health and safety records to ascertain whether a broader inspection of the em- ployer’s operation was necessary.33
5.0 Employee Representatives
An employee representative is entitled to participate in the inspection of the em- ployer’s premises.34 An employee representative “refers to (1) a representative of the certified or recognized bargaining agent, or, if none exists, (2) an employee member of a safety and health committee who has been chosen by the employ- ees (employee committee members or employees at large) as their OSHA repre- sentative, or (3) an individual employee who has been selected as a walkaround representative by the employees of the establishment.”35 If an employer refuses to let an employee representative participate in the inspection, the CSHO will treat the situation as an employer’s refusal to allow the inspection, and the Adminis- tration likely will seek a warrant, if it already had not done so, to pursue the im- minent danger inspection.36
6.0 Opening Conference
Prior to walking the premises, the CSHO will convene an opening conference to explain how the employer was selected and to describe the expected scope of the inspection.37 During the conference, the CSHO also will explain the specific pur- pose of the visit, the scope of the inspection, and the standards that apply.38 In conducting this opening conference, OSHA “encourages employers and employ- ees to meet together in the spirit of open communication.”39 If either the em- ployer or the employee objects to engaging in a joint opening conference, the
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 269
33 Dole v. Trinity Indus. Inc., 904 F.2d 867 (1990) (citing Endicott Johnson Corp. v. Perkins, 317 U.S. 501 [1943] [where an OSHA subpoena “was not plainly incompetent or irrelevant to any lawful purpose of [OSHA] . . . , it was the duty of the district court to order its production.”]).
34 29 C.F.R. § 1903.8. 35 Id. at Ch. II(A)(2)(h). 36 Id. 37 Id. at Ch. II(A)(3); the Act 2098 at p. 5. 38 Id. 39 Ref. Man. at Ch. II(A)(3)(a).
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CSHO will conduct separate opening conferences with each party.40 Following the opening conference, the CSHO will ask the employer to select an employer representative to accompany the CSHO during the walk around portion of the inspection.41
The OSH Act also provides that an authorized employee representative will accompany the CSHO during the inspection. If an employee representative is unavailable to attend the opening conference and to accompany the CSHO on the plant inspection, the CSHO will interview employees during the course of his inspection of facility.42 CSHO interviews with employees are private; how- ever, an employee may request that an employee representative participate in the interview as well.43
At establishments where more than one employer is present or in situations where groups of employees have different representatives, the CSHO may allow a different employer or employee representative for different phases of the in- spection. More than one employer and/or employee representative may accom- pany the CSHO throughout or during any phase of an inspection if the CSHO determines such additional representatives will aid, and not interfere with, the in- spection.44
7.0 The Walk Around
With employer and employee representatives selected, the CSHO begins the in- spection of the relevant work areas for safety and health hazards. The CSHO will determine the course and scope of the walkaround inspection, but an imminent danger inspection should be limited to the specific hazard identified in the com- plaint. During the course of the walkaround inspection, the CSHO is authorized to observe safety and health conditions and practices in the facility; consult with employees privately; take photographs and instrument readings; examine records; collect air samples; measure noise levels; survey existing engineering controls; and monitor employee exposure to toxic fumes, gases, and dusts.45 During the course of the inspection, the CSHO may ask the employer to abate any hazard identi- fied as an imminent danger and to remove employees from the area of a hazard identified as an imminent danger. Notwithstanding any hazard abated during the walk around inspection, as soon as reasonably practicable after the conclusion of
270 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
40 Id. 41 OSHA 2098 at p. 6. 42 Id. 43 Id. 44 29 C.F.R. § 1903.8(A). 45 OSHA 2098 at p. 7.
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the walk around, OSHA will contact the employer and ask it to abate any haz- ardous situation identified as an imminent danger. OSHA also will ask the em- ployer to remove employees from the area identified as an imminent danger un- til the identified hazard is abated.46 The Administration encourages the employer to do whatever is possible to eliminate the identified hazard promptly and on a voluntary basis. When the employer voluntarily and permanently eliminates the imminent danger as soon as the Administration or CSHO identifies it to the em- ployer, an appropriate citation notification of penalty shall be issued but no fur- ther abatement will be necessary. If an employer fails or refuses to correct an im- minent danger, OSHA will issue a citation and initiate imminent danger proceedings, including the posting of a Notice of Alleged Imminent Danger at the workplace.47
8.0 Notices of Imminent Danger and Temporary Restraining Orders
In a case where the employer cannot or does not eliminate the hazard or remove employees from exposure to an imminent danger, the Administration takes swift and definite steps. Specifically, the CSHO will post a Notice of Imminent Dan- ger and call the area director, who will decide whether to obtain a temporary re- straining order (TRO) from a federal court. The purpose of the TRO is to force an employer to immediately abate the imminent danger and/or to remove em- ployees from the hazardous area. The CSHO, however, has no authority to order the closing of the operation or to direct employees to leave the area of the immi- nent danger or the workplace.48 Rather, the CSHO shall notify employees and employee representatives of the posting of the Notice of Imminent Danger and shall advise them of their rights to report any other perceived violation without fear of discrimination or retaliation from the employer.49 If an employee agrees that the workplace poses an imminent danger, he may refuse to enter the area or perform the task that is the subject of the notice until the hazard is abated.50
In many cases, the CSHO may conclude no imminent danger exists at the time of the plant inspection. Further evaluation of the file, employer documents, and additional evidence may be required before OSHA can determine whether an imminent danger exists. In appropriate cases, a Notice of Imminent Danger
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 271
46 Id. 47 Id. at p. 8. 48 This authority is significantly different than that of a mines inspector, which is discussed below. 49 Id. at 2.103 Ch. II(B)(3)(c)(ii); 29 U.S.C. § 662. 50 See, for example, Whirlpool.
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may be posted at the time the citations are delivered or even after the employer contests the citations.51
9.0 Closing Conference
At the conclusion of an inspection, the CSHO conducts a closing conference with the employer and employee representatives, jointly or separately, as circum- stances dictate. The CSHO may conduct the closing conference either on-site or by telephone.52 In the event the employer declines to have a joint closing confer- ence with the employee representative, the CSHO normally holds the conference with the employee representative first, unless the employee representative requests otherwise, in order to ensure that worker input, if any, is received and that any needed changes are made before the employer is informed of violations and pro- posed citations.53
During the closing conference, the CSHO will describe to the employer and employee representative all unsafe or unhealthful conditions observed during the inspection. At the same time, the CSHO will describe all apparent violations for which a citation and proposed penalty may be recommended. Because the CSHO may not have all pertinent information at the time of the closing confer- ence, a second closing conference may be held by telephone or in person to in- form the employer and employee representative whether any additional concerns exist or whether additional citations may be issued or recommended.54
10.0 Citations and Penalties
Even if the CSHO posts a notice and/or OSHA seeks a TRO, the Administra- tion still will issue citations to the employer of the imminent danger. The em- ployer must post a copy of each citation at or near the place where the violation occurred for three days or until the violation is abated, whichever is longer.55
The ranges of penalties are extreme. For other-than-serious violations, the penalty can be as little at $0. In the case of a criminal willful violation, however, the penalty can be as much as $500,000. Accordingly, the classes of penalties at- tached to each alleged violation of OSHA standards is a significant aspect of the citation.
272 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
51 Id. at 2.103 Ch. II(B)(4). 52 Ref. Man. Ch. II(A)(5); Act 2098 at p. 8. 53 Ref. Man. at 2.103, Ch. II(A)(5). 54 Id.; Act 2098 at pp. 8–9. 55 OSHA 2098 at p. 10.
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Other-than-serious violations are those that have a direct relationship to job safety and health, but which are unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm. Penalties for other-than-serious violations range from $0 to $7,000 for each vio- lation assessed and may be adjusted downward by as much a 95%, depending on the employer’s good faith, such as the employer’s demonstrated efforts to comply with the OSH Act, history of previous violations, and business size.56
A serious violation exists when a there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result from the employer’s violation of OSHA standards. Penalties for serious violations range from $1,500 up to $7,000, de- pending on the gravity of the violation. Like an other-than-serious violation, the penalty for a serious violation may be adjusted downward based on the em- ployer’s good faith, history of previous violations, and size of business.57
If OSHA determines that the employer intentionally and knowingly violated an OSHA standard, it will issue a willful violation. In this case, OSHA must have concluded that (1) a hazardous condition exists; (2) the employer knew the con- dition violated a standard or other obligation of the OSH Act; and (3) the em- ployer made no reasonable effort to eliminate it. Penalties for willful violations range from $5,000 to $70,000.
If an employer commits a willful violation that results in the death of an em- ployee, the stakes are significantly raised. “An employer who is convicted in a criminal proceeding of a willful violation of a standard that has resulted in the death of an employee may be fined up to $250,000 (or $500,000 if the employer is a corporation)” and/or imprisoned up to six months.58 A second conviction doubles the possible term of imprisonment.59
11.0 Abatement
Notwithstanding issuance of a TRO or a citation, OSHA also will direct the em- ployer to abate any perceived violations of safety and health standards.60 Abate- ment periods to correct deviations from standard requirements generally are short, less than thirty days. When the employer abates an identified hazard dur- ing the inspection, however, the abatement period listed on the citation shall note, “Corrected During Inspection.”61
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 273
56 Id. 57 Id. 58 Id. at p. 11. 59 Id. 60 Ref. Man. at 2.102, Ch. IV(A). 61 Id.
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OSHA instructs its field offices that the abatement period for safety viola- tions should be no more than thirty days. At the same time, the Administration recognizes that certain situations may arise, such as for health violations, where extensive structural changes or new parts and equipment cannot be effected or obtained within thirty calendar days. When an identified imminent danger exists in the workplace, OSHA expects immediate abatement or that the employer will remove workers from the hazardous area.
In a situation where an employer contests either the period set for abate- ment or the citation itself, the abatement period usually will not begin until the employer and the Administration reach a settlement agreement or the matter is litigated and a decision is issued by the Review Commission. If the employer and the Administration reach a settlement agreement, the employer must abate any hazards within the period of that agreement. Alternatively, under the OSH Act, the abatement period begins when the review commission issues a final or- der regarding any challenge by the employer as to the abatement period or the citation, and the abatement period established by the review commission is not tolled while either the employer or the Administration appeals the decision, un- less the employer was granted a stay. In situations where there is an employee contest of the abatement date, the abatement requirements of the citation re- main unchanged. Also, where an employer contests only the proposed penalty, the abatement period established in the citation is unaffected by the employer’s contest.62
The foregoing is the process for addressing abatement of all types of citations and also may be the process with regard to hazards and violations identified as part of an imminent danger in the workplace. If, however, the Administration es- tablished a short abatement period in an effort to immediately correct an immi- nent danger, the Administration may initiate appropriate imminent danger pro- ceedings immediately and without regard for the employer’s notice of contest.63
12.0 MSHA Imminent Danger Inspections
Few federal agencies are given such extensive power over an employer’s operation as that bestowed upon the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Under Section 107(a) of the Mine Safety and Health Act (the Mine Act), a mine inspector can shut down an entire mining operation if he identifies a hazardous condition that constitutes an imminent danger in a mine. Called a Section 107(a) Order or an Imminent Danger Order, a mine inspector can force an em- ployer to cease all mining operations and withdraw all employees from the af-
274 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
62 Id. 63 Id.
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fected area or mine. The order may be given orally or in writing. When spoken, the mine inspector will memorialize the oral imminent danger order, noting to whom he issued the order as well as the time, date, location, and reason for the order.
Like OSHA imminent danger inspections, MSHA learns of hazardous con- ditions that may trigger an imminent danger inspection in a variety ways. For in- stance, MSHA maintains a hotline and a Web site wherein employees may call in or file written complaints of hazardous conditions in the workplace.64 As in the case of a report of an imminent danger to OSHA, MSHA will attempt to inspect the reported mine within 24 hours. Unlike OSHA, however, MSHA need not seek a search warrant to enter an employer’s facility because the Mine Act is drafted narrowly so as to ensure entry without invading an employer’s constitu- tional right against unlawful searches.65 MSHA delays its inspection only if the complaint on its face, assuming all allegations were true, would not support the finding of an imminent danger.
MSHA also may discover hazardous conditions that constitute an imminent danger during one of multiple inspections conducted of mines during each cal- endar year. Specifically, the Mine Act requires MSHA to inspect underground mines four times per year. These inspections are not summary or short inspec- tions. Rather, even a nominally sized mine may take several days to inspect. As such, mine inspectors may spend weeks and months inspecting one mine. If dur- ing that time the inspector finds any condition that warrants an imminent dan- ger withdrawal order, the inspector has authority to shut down machinery, close mines, and order the withdrawal of personnel.66
MSHA can cite and fine mine operators in much the same way OSHA cites and fines employers. Of significance, however, is that the Mine Act gives MSHA authority to levy citations and penalties against individuals, not just employers. That is, under sections 110(c) and (d) of the Mine Act, MSHA is authorized to propose civil penalties against directors, officers, or agents of a corporation if the individual knowingly ordered, authorized, or carried out a violation of a manda- tory safety or health standard. Likewise, MSHA may bring criminal charges against an operator or a corporate director, officer, or agent who willfully violates a provision of the Mine Act. Unlike the OSH Act, such penalties and criminal proceedings do not originate only from employee deaths caused by an employer’s willful violation of a safety or health standard. Rather, MSHA may consider bringing such actions anytime it issues a section 107(a) imminent danger order of withdrawal. MSHA usually will recommend such proceedings within 240 days
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 275
64 http://www.msha.gov/codeaphone/codeaphonenew.htm. 65 30 U.S.C. §813. 66 Id.
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from the issuance of a citation or withdrawal order; however, the administration may take as long as 365 days to make such a determination.67
13.0 Employee Rights and Labor Unions
Mindful of the dire consequences associated with hazardous job assignments, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in 1980 that employees could refuse to perform some work if the employee reasonably believed the work would result in death or serious injury or illness. In that decision, a unanimous Court reversed precedent in two other circuits and found an employer could not discharge or otherwise take disciplinary action against any employee who refused to perform a job that was inherently unsafe—that is, constituted an imminent danger.68
The Whirlpool case involved two workers whom the employer directed to ven- ture out onto a screen that was suspended 20 feet above a concrete floor to clean debris. The identical assignment had recently resulted in the death of another em- ployee who had fallen through the screen to the floor below and died only weeks earlier. While the employer had reinforced certain portions of the screen and rep- resented that they were safe, it could not represent that the entire screen was safe. Nevertheless, when the employees refused to clean the screen, the employer sent the workers home and withheld a day’s pay. Upon review, the Court ruled the em- ployees had the right to refuse the dangerous assignment based on provisions of the OSH Act, and it warned that an employer may not discriminate against an employee for exercising this right. The Court, however, declined to conclude that an employer had to pay any employee for any period in which the employee re- fused to work, even in the face of a perceived imminent danger.69
While the Supreme Court elected to remain mute as to wages of employees involved in imminent danger scenarios, the Mine Act does not. Specifically, the Mine Act provides pay for employees when a mine is forced to close under a sec- tion 107(a) imminent danger withdrawal order. Section 111 of the Mine Act pro- vides a statutory remedy for miners when their mine is idled or closed due to an MSHA order. In order to stake a claim to relief under this section, miners and/or their representatives must file a claim with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
Likewise, labor unions may seek through collective bargaining agreements to ensure their members receive pay for a scheduled shift even if the employee re- fuses to perform dangerous work. Regardless of their interest in remuneration,
276 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
67 Interpretation and Guidelines on Enforcement or the 1977 Act, Dept. of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Vol. I (1996).
68 Whirlpool Corp. v. Marshall, 445 U.S. 1 (1980). 69 Id.
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however, labor unions frequently inform their members of their rights under the OSH Act and Whirlpool through various publications. Such publications fre- quently outline the facts and findings of Whirlpool and provide recommended re- sponses to hazardous work conditions. Some even advise as to how and when to report perceived imminent dangers and any discriminatory conduct by an em- ployer to OSHA, the National Labor Relations Board, and the member’s union.70
The OSH Act also provides relief for employees if the government does not act in the face of an alleged imminent danger. As discussed above, OSHA may petition a federal district court for a TRO to restrain an employer from engaging in operations that pose an imminent danger. The OSH Act does not give inde- pendent employees or their representatives this authority. Accordingly, in the event OSHA does not act, labor unions and employees have the right to seek a court order, called a writ of mandamus, that directs OSHA to seek a TRO and to stop an employer to correct a hazard in the workplace.71
14.0 Summary
In sum, Congress expanded the OSH Act and the Mine Act to include imminent danger inspections in an effort to avert workplace injuries that could be easily avoided by early identification and correction of workplace hazards. In accor- dance with this goal, Congress also afforded OSHA and MSHA broad authority to enter and inspect an employer’s operation. In addition to OSHA and MSHA’s authority to issue citations when imminent dangers are identified, both adminis- trative agencies also have the authority to close an employer’s operation until the hazardous condition is corrected.
An employer may avoid these actions, however, by accompanying the com- pliance officer on his or her inspection of the employer’s facility and correcting any hazardous condition identified by the compliance officer during inspection. If an imminent danger cannot be corrected immediately, an employer may avoid a TRO or other consequences by voluntarily removing affected workers from the hazardous environment until the danger is corrected. In working with OSHA and MSHA cooperatively, an employer can ensure a safe work environment for its employees while also avoiding expensive and damaging conflicts with the ad- ministrative agencies.
Imminent Danger Inspections ❖ 277
70 See, for example, Right to Refuse Unsafe Work, Communications Workers of America, Local 1101 (2000); Un- derstanding the Facts About Imminent Danger, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Work- ers (2005).
71 29 USC 662(d).
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Chapter 15
OSHA-Approved State Plans Rachel Schaffer
1.0 Overview
Although the federal government has overall responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“the OSH Act” or “the Act”), Section 18 of the Act allows states to develop and operate their own enforcement plans, which must be approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). To be approved, a state’s safety and health stan- dards must be “at least as effective as” comparable federal standards, the plan must provide for adequate inspections, and the plan must cover both state and local employers as well as private employers. Although the Act requires minimum ac- ceptable safety standards, it does not require that the state plans be identical to OSHA’s; states with OSHA-approved state plans may adopt standards that ex- ceed OSHA’s standards and may adopt standards that address hazards not cov- ered by federal standards.
Currently, 22 states and jurisdictions operate state plans that cover both pri- vate and public sector employers, and four states and jurisdictions have state plans that only cover public sector employers. OSHA is responsible for approv- ing all proposed state plans and for monitoring the plans once they are approved.
This chapter discusses how states may establish OSHA-approved state plans as well as when the Act preempts state laws in states without OSHA-approved state plans. It also provides an overview of the various state plans.
2.0 Establishing State Plans
2.1 Developmental Phase
To establish a state plan, a state must designate an agency to develop and admin- ister it. The agency must be sure (1) the plan provides for the development and
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enforcement of safety and health standards that are “at least as effective as” fed- eral OSHA standards; and (2) that within three years the state will have in place all the structural elements necessary for an occupational safety and health pro- gram. These structural elements include legislation, regulations and procedures for standards setting, enforcement, and appeal of citations and penalties; and a sufficient number of qualified enforcement personnel.1
While OSHA generally retains jurisdiction over private employers in the state during this developmental phase, OSHA has the discretion to enter into an “operational status agreement,” which suspends OSHA’s exercise of discretionary federal enforcement for activities covered by the state.
At the end of three years and after the state has met all developmental re- quirements, OSHA certifies in the Federal Register that the state has the legal, ad- ministrative, and enforcement means necessary to operate effectively. Certifica- tion marks the commencement of the state plan implementation.2
2.2 Probationary Phase
For at least one year following certification, OSHA’ monitors the state’s plan to determine whether it is “at least as effective as” the federal program.3 OSHA’s evaluation is, in theory, relatively straightforward. Where the state has adopted federal standards, the state’s interpretation and application of these standards must conform with the applicable federal interpretation and application. Where the state has developed and promulgated its own standards, such stan- dards must be interpreted and applied in a manner that makes them “at least as effective as” comparable federal standards. Along the same lines, the state must propose penalties in a manner that is “at least as effective as” those of the federal program.4 The state must also participate in OSHA’s computerized data system.
After one year of certification, the state can seek OSHA’s final approval.5 Un- der Section 18(e) of the Act, final approval means that OSHA relinquishes its au- thority to cover occupational safety and health matters to the state.6
280 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
1 29 C.F.R. § 1953.4 (2005). 2 For additional information regarding the criteria for developing a state plan, please refer to 29 C.F.R. §§
1902.3–1902.6 (2005). 3 29 C.F.R. § 1902.36 (2005). 4 29 C.F.R. § 1902.37 (2005). 5 29 C.F.R. § 1902.39 (2005). 6 For additional information regarding final approval of a state plan, please refer to 29 C.F.R. §§
1902.34–1902.46 (2005)
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2.3 Rejection and Withdrawal
OSHA may reject or withdraw its approval of a state plan if the plan’s structural elements or its implementation fails to achieve enforcement “at least as effective as” federal law.7 Such rejections and withdrawals of approval must follow a for- mal hearing.8 A state may voluntarily withdraw its state plan. The procedures for rejection and withdrawal of state plans are in 29 C.F.R. Part 1955.
3.0 Preemption Issues
If a state has an OSHA-approved state plan, it may legislate freely on the subject of occupational safety and health so long as state standards applicable to products do not unduly burden interstate commerce.9 If a state lacks an OSHA-approved state plan, it may legislate on occupational safety and health issues only if they are not addressed by a federal standard.10 If a state without a state plan adopts a dual- purpose requirement—that is, it regulates both an occupational safety or health is- sue addressed by an OSHA standard and a public safety issue, it is preempted by Section 18.11
In Gade, OSHA and Illinois (which lacked a state plan) had substantially dif- ferent training requirements for workers who handle hazardous wastes; OSHA re- quired three days of on-site training, while the state required 500 days. The Court held that the Illinois requirement was preempted even though it was adopted out of concern for public, as well as worker, safety. The Court also held that a state law re- quirement that ‘‘directly, substantially, and specifically regulates occupational safety and health is an occupational safety and health standard within the meaning of the Act,’’ and is thus preempted, even if it exceeds OSHA standards.12 The Gade Court concluded that ‘‘if the State wishes to enact a dual impact law that regulates an oc- cupational safety and health issue for which a federal standard is in effect, Section 18 of the Act requires that the State submit a plan for the approval of the Secretary.’’13
OSHA-Approved State Plans ❖ 281
7 29 C.F.R. § 1902.46 (2005). 8 29 C.F.R. § 1902.52 (2005). 9 29 U.S.C. § 667(c)(2) (2002); 29 C.F.R. § 1902.3(c)(2) (2006). 10 Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88 (1992); Ben Robinson Co. v. Texas Workers’
Comp. Comm’n, 934 S.W.2d 149 (Tex.App. 1996) (OSH Act preempted state hazardous employer program, which required state safety consultants to inspect workplaces).
11 Gade, 505 U.S. 88 (OSH Act preempts state laws regulating issues covered by federal safety standards even though state laws have dual impact or purpose of protecting employees and members of the public).
12 Gade, 505 U.S. at 107; see also Industrial Truck Ass’n v. Henry, 125 F.3d 1305 (9th Cir. 1997); Skilled Craftsman of Texas, Inc. v. Texas Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 158 S.W.3d 89, 96 (Tex.App. 2005) (state law “essentially regulates occupational safety and health issues addressed by federal law” because it “effectively obligates private employers, under penalty of being publicly labeled as hazardous, to take action to reduce workplace injuries”).
13 Gade, 505 U.S. at 108.
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Sometimes states without state plans have pointed to Section 4(b)(4) of the OSH Act to prevent preemption. Section 4(b)(4) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(4), provides:
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede or in any manner af- fect any workmen’s compensation law as to enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner the common law or statutory rights, duties, or lia- bilities of employers and employees under any law with respect to in- juries, diseases, or death of employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment.
Courts have held that this provision prevents preemption of workers’ compensa- tion statutes, and other state laws providing compensation for occupational in- jury or disease, such as tort laws.14 This is true even if the compensation has been awarded for injurious violations of scaffold safety regulations.15 The courts also have held that Section 4(b)(4) prevents preemption by Section 18 of state crimi- nal laws.16
4.0 Approved State Plans
Of the 26 current state plans, 22 cover both private and public (state and local government) employers, and four (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Vir- gin Islands) cover only public employers.
286 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook
14 See, for example, Pedraza v. Shell Oil, 942 F.2d 48, 53 (1st Cir. 1991) (“Section 4(b)(4) operates to save state tort rules from preemption.”); United Steelworkers of America v. Marshall, 647 F.2d 1189, 1235 (D.C. Cir. 1980), cert denied, 453 U.S. 913 (1981).
15 See Davis v. States Drywall and Painting, 268 Ill. App. 3d 704, 709 (1994). 16 People v. Chicago Magnet Wire Corp., 534 N.E.2d 962, 968 (Ill. 1989).
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Appendix
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290 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 291
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292 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 293
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294 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 295
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296 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 297
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298 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 299
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300 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 301
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302 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 303
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304 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 305
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306 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 307
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308 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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Appendix ❖ 309
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310 ❖ Occupational Safety and Health Handbook
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A Access to Employee and Medical Records, 134 Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, 146 administrative law judge (ALJ), 145, 231, 251 Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 12, 50,
258–59 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(ANPRM), 187–88, 189 Advisory Committee on Construction Safety
and Health (ACCOSH), 52 Age Discrimination in Employment Act
(ADEA), 163 American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienists, 43, 173 American Federation of Labor-Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), 250
American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 174, 177
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 163 American Textile Manufacturers Institute, Inc. v.
Donovan (1981) Annual Report on Carcinogens (NTP), 43 arbitration, 161, 162, 163
deferral, 163 Arcadian Corporation, 92, 96, 98 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
187 Austin Road Co. v. OSHRC (1982), 260 Australia, 180
B Barnes, James, 6n12 BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc. (2002), 153 Beverly Industries, 92 Builders Steel Co. v. Marshall (1987), 260 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 103
C carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), 46 Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 39 Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board (CSB), 40 Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams (2001), 163 Clean Air Act, 4, 244, 249
Federal Water Pollution Control Act of, 37
Clean Indoor Air Act, 62 Clean Water Act, 244, 249 Clinton, William, 48 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 66 collective bargaining, 150, 155, 161–62, 276 Congress:
hazardous workplaces, and imminent dangers, 263
Connecticut, 286 Consolidated Freightways Corp. (1991), 94 Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), 37 Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards
Act, 52 Control of Hazardous Energy, 130 Coordinating Group on the Harmonization of
Chemical Classification Systems, 183 Cormier Well Serv., 91 court of appeals, 237, 238, 253, 254, 256,
257, 261
D Daniels, Dominick V., 89 Deering Milliken, Inc., v. OSHRC (1980), 256 Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare (HEW), 39 Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), 39 Department of Justice (DOJ), 244 Department of Labor (DOL), 2, 20 Department of Transportation (DOT), 36 Deukmejian, George, 34 discrimination:
arbitration, 163; protection from, 150
Donovan v. Castle & Cooke Foods and OSHRC (1982), 18, 19
Dry Color Mfrs. Assoc. v. Department of Labor (1973), 56
Dun-Par Engineered Form, 75, 76
E economic feasibility, 19 EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc. (2002), 163 Emergency Planning and Community Right-
to-Know Act (EPCRA), 30
Index
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Empire State Rest. & Tavern Assn. v. New York (2005), 62
employees: common law, 165 definition of, 245 imminent danger, 276 labor unions, 276, 277 protection of, 156, 164–65 rights, 276, 277
employer-employee relationships: employment at will, doctrine of, 155
employment at will: erosion of, 155
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 1, 53, 244
criminal violations, 248 Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), 30 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs),
248 OSHA, comparisons of, 2, 6n12 OSHA, overlapping with, 37, 248
Enzi, Mike, 249 Equal Access to Justice Act, 238 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC), 163 ergonomics, 45–47 European Union, 180
F Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 163, 164 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 36 federal courts, 251 Federal Mine Safety and Health Review
Commission, 276 Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), 36 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 232, 233
administrative law judge (ALJ), 257–58 Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, 254, 258 Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 253 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
(FWPCA), 37 Field Inspection Reference Manual (OSHA),
97, 209 Fifth Amendment:
Due Process Clause, 73, 79 Final Policy Concerning the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration’s Treatment of Voluntary Employer Safety and Health Self- Audits (OSHA), 196
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 37 Foulke, Edwin G. Jr., 2, 38 Fourth Amendment, 26, 29
inspections, 210 warrants, 144, 210–11
Friedman, Thomas L., 170
G Gade v. National Sold Waste Management
Association (1992), 45, 244, 247, 281 General Duty Clause, 83, 84, 85 globalization, 170 Globally Harmonized System of Classification
and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), 183–84, 188;
costs, 188, 189; harmonization, as defined, 188; hazard communication standard (HCS), 184; labeling, 184–85; mixtures, 187; Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), 184,
185 Granite City Terminals Corp. (1986), 74 grant recipients, 329
H hazard communication, 40–45
evaluation, 42 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), 29,
41, 42 toxic chemical labeling, 29, 40, 42 trade secrets, 43–44 warning signs, 29 worker right-to-know rule, 40, 41
hazard communication standard (HCS), 148, 153
preemption controversy, 45 hazardous chemicals, 169, 189 Health and Human Services (HHS), 13 Henshaw, John L., 2 Herman, Alexis, 7
I imminent danger:
as defined, 264 imminent danger inspections, 263 Industrial Union Department, AFL v. Hodgson
(1974), 17 Interagency Regulatory Liaison Group (IRLG),
37
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International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 43
International Union of United Automobile, Aerospace & Agriculture Implement Workers of America (UAW), 51
International Union, UAW v. General Dynamics Land System Division (1988), 16n31
Interorganization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals, 183
inspections, 144, 145, 151 Intergovernmental Forum for Chemical Safety
(IFCS), 187 IPB, Inc. v. Herman (1998), 245
J Japan, 180
K Kepone, 32 Kelly Springfield Tire Co. v. Donovan (1984),
89 Kennedy, Edward M., 249 Kilpatrick, James J., 27
L labeling, 44 Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA),
159 Log and Summary of Recordable
Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 27
M Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc. (1978), 26–27, 210 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), 40, 41,
42, 148, 153, 170; accuracy of, 179, 180, 181 Globally Harmonized System (GHS), 184,
185 Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), 185, 186
McWane Company, 248 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs),
248 Mexico, 180 Meyers Indus. Inc., 160 mine inspections, 274 Mine Safety and Health Act, 274, 275, 276,
277 Mine Safety and Health Administration
(MSHA), 274 criminal proceedings, 275
imminent danger order, 274–75 penalties, 275
Multi-Employer Doctrine (MED), 245 musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), 47
N Nader, Ralph, 249 National Advisory Committee on
Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), 34, 52
National Association of Manufacturers, 6 National Industrial Contractors, Inc. v. OSHRC
(1978), 256 National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH), 4, 13, 13n26, 28, 36, 39–40, 51, 53, 58, 63, 140, 321–24
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 149–50, 153, 156, 160
refusal to work, 159 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), 159,
253, 277 deferral, 163 OSHA, cooperation between, 161
National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA), 40
National Realty (1970), 84–85, 89, 95 National Toxicology Program (NTP), 43 New Directions Training and Education
Program, 36 New Jersey, 44, 286 New Mexico, 167 New York, 286 NLRB v. Washington Aluminum (1962), 159,
160 Notice of Contest (NOC), 255 Notice of Intent to Appear (NIA), 146 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR), 54
O Occupational Health and Safety Review
Commission (OHSRC), 4, 16, 19, 65, 71, 72, 75, 77, 78, 215, 216, 251, 259, 262, 307–9
abatement methods, 96 administrative law judge, 233, 237 appeal process, 37, 258 civil and criminal penalties, 311––12 civil litigation, representation in, 310 contesting, 231, 233–38 employers
Index ❖ 333
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administrative law judge (ALJ), 255 Notice of Contest (NOC), filing of, 255 Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR),
255 exemptions, 310 exposure rule, 67, 68 federal agencies, programs of, 314–15 federal courts, 251–52, 261
appeals, 252–54 jurisdiction, 252 Notice of Contest (NOC), 255 timing, 254
general duty clause, 83, 94 hazards, determining of, 88, 90, 91 injunction proceedings, 309–1- limitations of, 38 Notice of Contest (NOC), 145, 146 research and related activities, 315–17 Rules of Procedure, 233 standard of review, 259–60 state jurisdiction and plans, 312–14 trade secrets, 310 training and employee education, 317–21. See also Occupational Safety and Health
(OSH) Act; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, 1, 8, 10, 48, 65, 102, 156, 166, 209, 244, 250, 277
abatement, 274 adjudicative function, 251 administration, 300–2 Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 146,
258 citations, 224, 225, 304 Clean Indoor Air Act, 62 court of appeals, 257 coverage, 4–5 criminal enforcement, 243, 244, 246, 247,
248, 249, 250 definitions, 290–91 employee:
definition of under, 245 enactment, 3, 49 enforcement procedures, 305–6 exemptions from, 5–6 field structure, 20 General Duty Clause, 83–85 geographic applicability, 291–93
imminent danger, 277 defined, 212, 264
inspections, investigations, and recordkeeping, 207, 208, 209, 213, 302–4
role of, 20 judicial review, 251, 252, 254, 256, 257,
258, 306–7 penalties, 228, 243 purpose, 3–4, 289–90 rights:
employees, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152 refusal to work, 156
employers, 143, 147, 153 rulemaking, 50
advisory committees, 52 oral hearings, 54 standards, promulgating of, 50
rules, 49 occupational health and safety standards,
49 regulations, 49
standards, 50, 293–300 consensus standards, 9, 11–12
no-effect levels, 11 state plans, 62–63, 279, 286 toughening of, 249 variance:
permanent, 61 See also Occupational Health and Safety
Review Commission (OHSRC); Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 1, 10, 48, 65, 166, 169–70, 209
Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records standard, 138–40
Access to Employee and Medical Records, 102
accident reports, 27–28 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(ANPRM), 187–88 advisory committees of, 52 alliances, 36 arbitration, 161, 162–63
deferral, 163–64 Bloodborne Pathogens, 67n11, 137–38 citations, 23–24
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abatement, 222 contesting of, 221, 231–38
administrative law judge, role of, 233–35, 236
petition for discretionary review (PDR), 237
attorney fees, recovery of, 238 employee participation in, 240–41 hearing procedures, 234–35 notice of, 232, 233 post-hearing procedures, 235 prehearing procedures, 233–34 reviews of, 236–38
appellate-type, 236–37 judicial, 237–38 interlocutory, 236
elements of, 225–31 abatement requirements, 231 alleged violation, 225 de minimis violations, 227–28 other-than-serious violations, 227 penalties, 228–31 repeated violations, 226 serious violations, 227
willful violations, 226 procedural requirements, 224 repeat violations, 222 reputation, damage of, 223 settlement of, 239–40
formal settlements, 239–40 informal settlements, 239 pre-citation settlements, 239
tort litigation, 222–23 collective bargaining, 161–62 company rules, enforcing of, 25–26 compliance safety and health officer
(CSHO), 264, 265 duties of, 266–67, 269, 270, 271, 272
consultation, 35 coverage of, 4–5 creation of, 3 criticism of, 1, 40 customer approval, 1n1 discrimination, 156, 158 duty to comply, 67–72
construction contractors, 70–71 exposure rule, 67–68 liability rules, 69–70, 71–72 nonconstruction applications, 71–72
economic feasibility, 19 education, 35–36 employees,
common law, 165 discrimination, 158
remedies, 159 exposure rule, 67–70 protection of, 159–60, 164–65, 167 refusal to work, 156 state statues, 164–65
employer defenses, 74–81 de minimis violations, 80–81 greater hazard, 77–78 infeasibility, 74–77
alternative measures, 76–77 standard, invalidity of, 79 supervisory misconduct, 78–79 unpreventable employee misconduct,
78–79 employers
actual or constructive knowledge, 73 burden shifting analysis, 158 citations, contesting of, 221 as defined, 4 exposure rule, 67–70 hazardous chemicals, obligations toward,
174–75 multiemployer worksite liability rules,
69–70, 71–72 warrants, challenging of, 215–18
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comparisons of, 2, 6n12; overlapping with, 248
ergonomics, 45–47, 48 action trigger, 47 initial actions, 47
exemptions from, 5–6 feasibility and balancing, 16–19 federal employees, 32–33 field structure, 20–21 final rule, 55–56 general construction contractors, 70 General Duty Clause, 73, 77, 83, 84, 85
enforcement of, limitations of, 98 as practical, 97–99 preventable hazards, 95
hazards, existence of, 87–89 accidents, 94
Index ❖ 335
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correction of, 95–97 employer recognition, 91–92 feasibility, and abatement, 95–97 industry recognition, 90–91 as obvious, 93 as preventable, 95 recognition, 89–90, 93 serious violations, 93–94
protection, 86–87 hazard communication regulations, 40
reason for, 40–41 worker right-to-know rule, 40, 41
hazard communication standard (HCS), 29, 40–45, 170, 171–78
change, impetus for, 179–82 evaluation, 42 global harmonization, 179, 180, 182,
183–89 changes, 184–86
globalization, 170, 171 hazardous chemical, as defined, 172 information training, 173, 177–78 labeling, 42, 172, 173, 174–75, 182 Material Safety Data Sheets, 172, 173,
175–77 accuracy of, concern of, 179, 180,
181, 182 program, 178 purpose, 171 requirements, 173 trade secrets, 43–44 worker right-to-know rule, 40, 41
health standards of, 14 hearings, 54–55 imminent danger, 264
citations, 272 notices of, 271 penalties, 272–73 temporary restraining orders, 271
imminent danger inspections, 264–65 abatement, 273–74 closing conference, 272 employee representatives, 269 Notice of Imminent Danger, 271 opening conference, 269–70 on-site visit, 266–69 temporary restrainingorder (TRO), 271,
272 walk around, 270–71 warrants, 267, 268
Information Collection Request (ICR), 57 injuries
Bloodborne Pathogens, 122–23 death, 115 hearing losses, 121 home, 112 job transfer, 117–18 loss of consciousness, 120 medical removal, 123–24 medical treatment, and first aid, 118–20 needlestick, 122 new cases, 112–14 preexisting conditions, 107–8 recording of, 104 restricted work, 117–18 traveling, 111–12 tuberculosis, 124–25 work, away from, 115–16 work-related, defining of, 105–7 work-relatedness, 108
exceptions to, 108–11 inspections, 207, 209
audio and video recordings, 214 citations, 22 correct, failure to, 22 criminal, 23 de minimis, 22 egregious, 23 interviews, 213–14, 217 nonserious, 22 repeated, 23 right to, 209–10 role of, 21–22 serious, 22 stages, 218
closing conference, 218, 219–20 inspection tour, 218, 219 opening conference, 218
types of, 208 accident and fatality, 208 complaint/referral, 208–9 imminent danger, 208
warrantless, 26, 210–11 warrants, 210–11
challenging of, 215–18 exceptions to, 212–13
willful, 23 inspectors
competence of, 22 training of,
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judicial review, 64 knowledge
reasonable diligence, 73 legislative framework of, 3 medical records, 28 Medical Records Access standard, 137 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs),
248 monitoring and medical records, 28–29 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
cooperation between, 161 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM),
53–54 Occupational Noise Exposure, 121, 122 Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission (OSHRC), 37 Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
57 organization of, 2–3 overlapping jurisdiction, 36–37 Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 56, 57 preemption, 65–66
exposure rule, 67–68 special applicability problems, 66–67
Priority Planning Committee, 53 Priority Planning Process, 53 probable cause, 26 programmatic standards, 30 purpose of, 3–4 recordkeeping, 27–28, 29, 101, 102
Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records, 138–40
compliance, proving of, 140–41 criteria of, 114–21
hearing losses, 121–22 medical treatment, definition of,
118–20 needlestick injuries, 122–23 tuberculosis, 124–25
employee involvement, 126–27 employers, 104 exemptions, 129 forms, 125–26 health standards, 134–36
Asbestos standard, 135 Bloodborne Pathogens, 136, 137–38 Chromium standard, 135 hazard communications, 136–37
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), 136
permissible exposure limit (PEL), 134 history of, 103 injuries and fatalities, reporting of,
128–29 injuries and illnesses, identifying of, 104 injuries, work-related, 105, 108, 111–14
exceptions to, 108–11 preexisting conditions, 107 privacy, 127–28 retention periods, 125–26 written documents, 130
safety standards, 130–34 Recording and Reporting Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses, 101, 103 Regulatory Flexibility Act (REA), 57 Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA), 57 Request for Information (REI), 53, 54 reputation of, 1 Respiratory Protection standard, 140 rights, 143, 153
employees, 148–53 complaints, 148–49 discrimination, protection from, 150 information, access to, 152–53 inspections and enforcement,
participation in, 151–52 work, refusal to, 149–50
employers, 144–48 citations and civil penalties, 145–46 inspections and warrants, 144–45 judicial review, 146 rulemakings, participation in, 146–47 trade secrets, protection of, 147–48
roles of, 4, 49 rulemaking process, 50, 56–59
delays in, 57–59 negotiated, 56 petitions of, 50
safety standards of, 9–10 safety v. health, 9–10
self-auditing, 191, 192, 205 attorney client privilege, 203–4 attorney work product doctrine, 204–5 audit, scope of, 193 audit team, 192–93 censoring, 195 confidentiality, 194 good faith, 198 hazards, 194–95 health auditing, 192
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policy, 196–99 safety auditing, 192 self-audit privilege, 200–2
common law, 200–2 statutory/adult privilege, 203 as voluntary, 197
Small Business Advocacy Review Panel, 57 standards:
categories, agricultural, 49 construction, 49 general industry, 49 maritime and longshoring, 49
consensus, 9, 11–12 emergency temporary, 11, 15, 59
grave, 15 general duty clause, 15–16 health, 14 overview, 8–9 permanent, 11, 12–13 scope of, 7 setting of, 10–11 state v. federal, 61–63
Standards Completion Process, 12 state employees, 33 state programs, 33–35, 279–80, 286
critique of, 34 preemption issues, 281, 286 probationary phase, 280 rejection and withdrawal, 281 statues of, 282–85
telecommunicating and home workplaces, 6–7
variances, 59–61 interim, 61 permanent, 20, 61 temporary, 19–20, 60–61
violations, 253 criminal enforcement of, 243–44
advance notice, 246 employee deaths, 245–46 environmental statues, 248–49 false statements, 246 knowing, interpretation of, 246 recent legislation, 249–50 state enforcement, 247
willful, 245–46 whistleblowing, 30–32, 165
common law, 167 federal statues, 165–66
preemption, 166 state statues, 166
work, refusal to, 30–32, 156–57 workplaces, 6. See also Occupational Health and Safety
Review Commission (OHSRC); Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act
Office of Compliance Programs, 6 Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
41
P Pegasus Tower (2005), 9` People v. Chicago Magnet Wire Corp. (1989),
247 People v. Pymm Thermometer (1991), 247 Pepperidge Farm (1997), 83 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), 131 Peterson Bros. Steel Erec. Co. (1993), 76 Petition for Modification of Abatement
(PMA), 145 P. Gioioso & Sons Inc., v. OSHRC (1997),
255 Phelps Dodge Corporation (1980), 16n30 Pitt-Des Moines (1999), 245 Process Safety Management, 131 Powered Platforms for Building Maintenance,
131 Public Citizen Health Research Group
(PCHRG), 58, 59 Public Citizen Health Research Group v. Chao
(2002), 58
R Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 57 Reich v. Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.
(1993), 259 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), 244, 248, 249 Restatement of Torts, 43 R. T. Vanderbilt Co. v. OSHRC (1984), 253
S Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), 185, 186 Safety and Health Achievement Recognition
Program (SHARP), 35 Safeway, 93 Secretary of Health and Human Services:
annual reports, 329–30
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Secretary of Labor: annual reports, 329–30
Sec. of Labor v. Muth, 214 self-audits, 191, 192
health, 191, 192 safety, 191, 192
Senate Labor Committee, 249 Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act (SBREFA), 57 Small Business Advocacy Review Panel, 57
The Society of the Plastics Industry v. OSHA (1975), 17
South Korea, 180 Standard Threshold Shift (STS), 121 State Sheet Metal Co. (1993), 76 states:
grants to, 326–27 statistics, 327–28 Stein, Inc. (1996), 86, 87 Stoops, Roy G., 246 Sun Ship, Inc. (1982), 97 Superfund, 30–31 Supreme Court, 152, 156, 157, 238, 244,
259, 262 arbitration, 162, 163 economic feasibility, 19 employee rights, 276 inspection, 209–10 probable cause, 211 work, refusal to, 149, 150, 159
sweat shops, 6
T Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances
and Physical Agents in the Work Environment, 43
trade secrets, 43–44, 147–48 Turner Co. v. Secretary of Labor (1977), 18
U UAW v. Chao (2004), 51 United Nations Committee of Experts on the
Transport of Dangerous Goods, 183 United States:
Globally Harmonized System (GHS), implementation of, 187
V variances, 19
permanent, 20 temporary, 19–20
Virgin Islands, 286
W Waldon Healthcare Center, 96 warrants, 144 Wellstone, Paul, 249 Whirlpool Corp. v. Marshall (1980), 156–57,
276, 277 whistleblowing, 155, 165
federal statues, 165–66 protection of, 30–32
White, Justice, 26 Woodson v. Rowland (1991), 223n4 workplaces, 6;
hazardous conditions in, 263; safety of, 191
work: refusal to, 30
Workers’ Family Protection, 324–25 World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD), 187
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setdistillerparams << /HWResolution [2400 2400] /PageSize [792.000 1224.000] >> setpagedevice
