accident

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By Adam R. Young, Daniel R. Birnbaum, Mark A. Lies, and James L. Curtis

Seyfarth Synopsis: Recent involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin serve as a reminder of the state criminal manslaughter liability that may result from industrial accidents. Company management and employees involved in an accident face potential criminal prosecution, prison, and hefty personal fines.…

Continue Reading Alec Baldwin Manslaughter Charges Spotlight Criminal Liability For Occupational Fatalities

By Adam R. Young, Mark A. Lies, Brent I. Clark, James L. Curtis, Patrick D. Joyce, A. Scott Hecker, and Melissa A. Ortega

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s Summit decision limits enforcement against controlling employers and defines secondary safety roles.

The Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine allows the Occupational Safety…
Continue Reading “Secondary Safety Role” Relieves Primary Source of Anxiety for Controlling Employers under OSHA’s Multi-Employer Doctrine

By James L. Curtis, Kerry M. Mohan, and Craig B. Simonsen

A circus “Hair Hang Act” performance took a dreadful turn when the apparatus the performers were hanging from suddenly fell to the ground.

The “human chandelier” act accident, the Agency alleges, occurred because the carabiner, a metal ring used as a connector, supporting the performers was improperly…
Continue Reading Extra-Ordinary Equipment Use Leads to Fall and OSHA Citation

By Brent I. Clark, Meagan Newman, and Craig B. Simonsen

Mine operators and employee interveners lost their joint appeal to U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals — where the Court agreed with the Commission that MSHA acted within its statutory and constitutional authority to issue document demands for employee medical and personnel records. Big Ridge, Inc., et al., v. …
Continue Reading 7th Circuit Upholds MSHA’s Authority to Request Medical Records to Verify Reported Injury Statistics

By Andrew H. Perellis and Craig B. Simonsen

Senator Frank Lautenberg introduced legislation yesterday intended to reduce the risk to communities from attack or catastrophic incident. The proposed legislation would require high risk chemical, oil refineries, and water facilities to assess and develop plans to address their vulnerabilities.  The legislation would also require the highest-risk facilities to use “Inherently Safer Technology&rdquo…

Continue Reading Congress Considers Bills to Impose Heightened Safety Obligations Upon Chemical Facilities

By James L. Curtis and Craig B. Simonsen

As noted in a previous blog, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the railroads have been fighting for years over Whistleblower issues related to employee discipline for workplace injuries. In another decision from the OSHA Administrative Review Board, Vernace v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp., ARB No. 12-003, ALJ No. …

Continue Reading OSHA Administrative Review Board Finds Railroad Whistleblower Violation

By Mark A. Lies II and Elizabeth Leifel Ash

On August 17, 2009, three journeymen electricians from M. C. Dean (Dean), an outside contractor, were servicing electrical installations at a warehouse owned by Ryder Transportation Services (Ryder).  One of the journeymen electricians fell through a skylight on the warehouse roof and suffered fatal injuries.  Following this accident, the Occupational Safety and…

Continue Reading “Am I Management?” New OSHA Case Blurs Lines Between Employees And Supervisors During Inspections