Labor & Employment
OSHA
Roetzel’s employment attorneys counsel employers of all sizes in multiple industries to help them meet — and maintain — full compliance with all safety and health standards established and monitored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Our OSHA attorneys assist clients in developing and implementing safety and proper recordkeeping procedures, including designing training programs with a goal toward preventing workplace illnesses, injuries and fatalities.
Our attorneys work with employers to prepare comprehensive plans and procedures that clearly define what to do.
Roetzel knows that the unexpected arrival of OSHA inspectors at your factory or work site can be stressful. Our attorneys work with employers to prepare comprehensive plans and procedures that clearly define what to do: the steps to take, company representatives to involve and questions to ask. We also provide training for both employees and management on following those plans to satisfy inspectors while protecting company interests and rights, as well as those of employees.
In addition, we help businesses that receive citations, up to and including contesting and litigating fines associated with the charges. We have negotiated favorable settlements with OSHA to substantially reduce penalties for our clients, such as saving one company several million dollars by eliminating a requirement to upgrade equipment, and obtaining a significant decrease in fines and the withdrawal of two willful citations for another client.
Our Experience
- Successfully negotiated a settlement with OSHA that involved a substantial reduction in penalties for the client and saved the client several million dollars by avoiding expensive (and unnecessary) upgrades OSHA initially required to CNC machines
- Counsel for chrome platers on OSHA and related matters
- Assisted a telecommunications company with an emergency response effort associated with a fatality that occurred when an employee erecting a cellular phone tower fell to his death. We represented the company through the OSHA investigation and subsequent lawsuit brought by the decedent's family. We minimized the client's liability exposure and worked cooperatively with OSHA to resolve the investigation, without a finding of fault or a statutory violation on behalf of the company
- Assisted a public utility with an OSHA investigation resulting from an electrocution fatality; we minimized the company's liability exposure by insuring that the OSHA investigation did not result in any serious or willful violations. We entered into a settlement agreement with OSHA that prevented disclosure of its terms and admissibility in subsequent legal proceedings
- Defended a roofing company before OSHA in a fall-protection case where the company allegedly failed to provide or require the use of fall protection; we successfully defended all citations based upon a claim of employee misconduct with no adverse findings or penalties being assessed
- Negotiated a favorable settlement with OSHA for a manufacturing client, resulting in a substantial decrease in fines and the withdrawal of two willful citations
- Minimized a public utility company's liability exposure in an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation about an electrocution fatality
What We Do
- Perform on-site audits to ensure compliance with OSHA requirements
- Litigation of complex OSHA charges before the Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission
- OSHA compliance, safety programs, safety manuals
- OSHA standards, complaints, responses, and inspections