Bernan Press
Pages: 358
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-59888-678-8 • Hardback • March 2016 • $126.00 • (£97.00)
978-1-59888-679-5 • eBook • March 2016 • $119.50 • (£92.00)
Marshall Lee Miller
Margaret S. Lopez
Francina M. Segbefia
Arthur G. Sapper
William K. Doran
Katie A. Duggin
Melissa A. Bailey
John B. O'Loughlin, Jr.
Kenneth B. Siepman
John B. Flood
Michael T. Heenan
Eric J. Conn
Lauren Handel
Frank D. Davis
Rachel Schaffer
Contents
Occupational Safety and Health Act ........................................1
1.0 Overview .............................................................................................1
1.1 Comparison of OSHA and EPA ..............................................2
1.2 OSHA, the Organization ...........................................................2
2.0 Legislative Framework .......................................................................3
2.1 Purpose of the Act .....................................................................3
2.2 Coverage of the Act ...................................................................4
2.3 Exemptions from the Act ..........................................................5
2.4 Telecommuting and Home Workplaces ..................................6
3.0 Scope of OSHA Standards ...............................................................6
3.1 Areas Covered by the OSHA Standards .................................7
3.2 Overview of Standards ..............................................................8
3.3 Overview of Health Standards .................................................8
3.4 Overview of Safety Standards ..................................................9
4.0 Standard Setting ................................................................................10
4.1 Consensus Standards: Section 6(a) .........................................10
4.2 Standards Completion and Deletion Processes ...................12
4.3 Permanent Standards: Section 6(b) ........................................12
4.4 Emergency Temporary Standards ..........................................14
4.5 General Duty Clause, 5(a)(1) ...................................................15
4.6 Feasibility and the Balancing Debate ....................................15
5.0 Variances ............................................................................................18
5.1 Temporary Variances. ...............................................................18
5.2 Permanent Variances ................................................................19
6.0 Compliance and Inspections ..........................................................19
6.1 Field Structure ...........................................................................19
6.2 Role of Inspections ..................................................................19
6.3 Training and Competence of Inspectors ..............................20
6.4 Citations, Fines, and Penalties .................................................20
6.5 OSHA Citation and Penalty Patterns ....................................21
6.6 Communicating and Enforcing Company Rules .................22
6.7 Warrantless Inspections: The Barlow Case ...........................23
7.0 Recordkeeping ..................................................................................23
7.1 Accident Reports ......................................................................24
7.2 Monitoring and Medical Records ...........................................24
7.3 Hazard Communication ..........................................................25
7.4 Access to Records ....................................................................25
7.5 Programmatic Standards ..........................................................26
8.0 Refusal to Work and Whistle-blowing ..........................................26
8.1 Refusal to Work .........................................................................26
8.2 Protection of Whistle-blowing ...............................................27
9.0 Federal and State Employees ..........................................................28
9.1 Federal Agencies .......................................................................28
9.2 State Employees ........................................................................29
10.0 State OSHA Programs ..................................................................29
10.1 Concept ....................................................................................29
10.2 Critiques ...................................................................................30
11.0 Consultation ...................................................................................31
11.1 Education .................................................................................31
11.2 Alliances ...................................................................................32
12.0 Overlapping Jurisdiction ...............................................................32
13.0 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission ............33
13.1 OSHRC Appeal Process ........................................................34
13.2 Limitations of the Commission ...........................................34
14.0 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ...........35
14.1 In Theory .................................................................................35
14.2 In Practice ................................................................................35
15.0 Hazard Communication Regulations ..........................................36
15.1 Reason for the Regulation .....................................................36
15.2 Scope and Components ........................................................37
15.3 Hazard Evaluation ..................................................................38
15.4 Trade Secrets ...........................................................................39
15.5 Federal Preemption Controversy .........................................40
16.0 Ergonomics Issues .........................................................................42
16.1 Background .............................................................................42
16.2 Scope of the Problem ...........................................................42
16.3 Scope of the Standard ...........................................................43
17.0 Legislation .......................................................................................44
Notes ........................................................................................................45
The Rulemaking Process ...........................................................53
1.0 Overview ...........................................................................................53
2.0 The Rulemaking Process .................................................................54
2.1 Petitions for Rulemaking .........................................................54
2.2 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ......55
2.3 Advisory Committees ..............................................................55
2.4 Regulatory Agenda ....................................................................56
2.5 Request for Information and Advanced Notice of Rulemaking .................57
2.6 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ............................................57
2.7 Hearings .....................................................................................58
2.8 The Final Rule ...........................................................................58
3.0 Negotiated Rulemaking ...................................................................59
4.0 Other Applicable Statutes Concerning Rulemaking ...................59
5.0 Delays in Rulemaking ......................................................................60
6.0 Emergency Temporary Standards .................................................61
7.0 Variances ............................................................................................62
7.1 Temporary Variance .................................................................62
7.2 Permanent Variance .................................................................63
7.3 Interim Order ............................................................................64
8.0 State Law Standards/Jurisdiction ..................................................64
9.0 Judicial Review .................................................................................65
Notes ........................................................................................................65
The Duty to Comply with Standards .........................................69
1.0 Overview ...........................................................................................69
2.0 Applicability of OSHA Standards .................................................69
2.1 The General Principle of Preemption ..................................69
2.2 Special Applicability Problems ...............................................70
3.0 General Principles of the Duty to Comply ..................................71
3.1 The Exposure Rule ..................................................................71
3.2 To Whose Employee Does the Duty Run? ..........................72
3.2.1 The Multi-Employer Worksite Liability Rules ...................72
4.0 Actual or Constructive Knowledge ...............................................74
5.0 Additional Elements That OSHA Must Sometimes Prove .......75
6.0 The Employer’s Substantive Affirmative Defenses ....................76
6.1 Infeasibility .................................................................................76
6.2 The Greater Hazard Defense .................................................77
6.3 Unpreventable Employee Misconduct ..................................78
6.4 Invalidity of the Standard .......................................................79
6.5 De Minimis ................................................................................80
Notes ........................................................................................................80
The General Duty Clause ..........................................................89
1.0 Overview ...........................................................................................89
2.0 Who Is Protected by the General Duty Clause? .........................91
3.0 The Existence of a Hazard ............................................................93
4.0 Recognized Hazard ..........................................................................94
4.1 Industry Recognition ................................................................94
4.2 Employer Recognition .............................................................95
4.3 Obvious Hazard Recognition .................................................96
5.0 Causing or Likely to Cause Death or Serious Physical Harm ...97
6.0 Feasible Measures to Correct the Hazard ....................................98
7.0 Practical Enforcement of the General Duty Clause ................100
8.0 Conclusion ......................................................................................101
Notes ......................................................................................................102
Recordkeeping ........................................................................104
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................104
2.0 Statutory Authority ........................................................................105
3.0 Injury and Illness Recordkeeping ................................................106
3.1 History of the Recordkeeping Requirements ....................106
3.2 OSHA’s Authority for Requiring Employers to Keep Records ............106
3.3 Identifying Injuries and Illnesses that Must be Recorded .107
3.4 Special Cases ............................................................................123
3.5 Recordkeeping Forms and Retention Periods ...................127
3.6 Employee Involvement and Access to Records .................128
3.7 Privacy Cases ...........................................................................129
3.8 Reporting Injuries and Fatalities ..........................................129
3.9 Exemptions from Recordkeeping Requirements ..............131
4.0 OSHA Standards Requiring Written Documents .....................131
4.1 Safety Standard Recordkeeping Requirements ...................132
4.2 The Health Standards ............................................................134
4.3 Hazard Communication and Bloodborne Pathogens .......136
4.4 The Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records Standard ..............138
5.0 Using Records to Prove Compliance ..........................................140
Employees’ and Employers’ Rights ........................................152
1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................152
2.0 What Are the Employer’s Rights in This Scenario? ..................158
Refusal to Work and Whistleblower Protection .....................165
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................165
Hazard Communication: Implementation of the Globally
Harmonized System in the 21st Century ................................183
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................183
2.0 The Hazard Communication Standard and Push Toward Global Harmonization ........185
2.1 ..The Hazard Communication Standard ..............................185
3.2 Key Requirements ..................................................................189
3.3 Implementation of RCHS .....................................................195
4.0 Conclusion ......................................................................................197
Voluntary Safety and Health Self-Audits ...............................204
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................204
2.0 The Significance of Voluntary Safety and Health Auditing ....205
2.1 Overview of Audits ................................................................205
2.2 Auditing Tips ...........................................................................207
3.0 OSHA’s Voluntary Self-Audit Policy ...........................................209
3.1 Purpose ....................................................................................209
3.2 Scope ........................................................................................209
3.3 Provisions .................................................................................210
3.4 Limitations ...............................................................................211
3.5 Critique .....................................................................................212
4.0 Privileges and Protections from Disclosure of Audit Information ................213
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................213
4.2 The Self-Audit Privilege ........................................................213
4.3 The Attorney/Client Privilege ..............................................216
4.4 Attorney Work Product Doctrine ........................................217
5.0 Conclusion ......................................................................................218
Inspections and Investigations ...............................................220
Understanding and Contesting OSHA Citations ...................237
Criminal Enforcement of Violations .......................................257
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................257
//Note that the footnotes are not automatically renumbering and
need to be paired with the text// ..............................................258
2.0 Willful Violations Causing Death to Employee .................258
3.0 Federal Prosecution .......................................................................259
4..0 False Statements and Advance Notice ...............................261
6.0 State Enforcement .........................................................................263
7.0 Prosecution under Environmental Statutes ...............................264
8.0 Legislative Proposals and Prospects ............................................265
Judicial Review of Enforcement Actions ...............................267
Imminent Danger Inspections ................................................278
1.0 Overview .........................................................................................278
2.0 Imminent Danger Defined ...........................................................279
3.0 Nuts and Bolts of an Inspection .................................................279
4.0 The On-Site Visit ...........................................................................280
5.0 Employee Representatives ............................................................283
6.0 Opening Conference .....................................................................284
7.0 The Walk Around ..........................................................................284
8.0 Notices of Imminent Danger and Temporary Restraining
Orders .............................................................................................285
9.0 Closing Conference .......................................................................286
10.0 Citations and Penalties ................................................................286
11.0 Abatement .....................................................................................287
12.0 MSHA Imminent Danger Inspections .....................................289
13.0 Individual Employee Rights and Labor Unions ......................290
14.0 Summary .......................................................................................291
[P]rovides an authoritative and up-to-date reference that you’ll quickly rely on for straightforward explanations.
— Occupational Health & Safety
Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook is the go-to reference and resource for the fundamentals of occupational safety and health law in America, including matters pertaining to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Each chapter is by an expert attorney in the specific field. Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook has been deliberately written in plain-terms English, avoiding legal jargon so as to be accessible to readers of all backgrounds. The updated third edition includes new material about major changes to the Hazard Communication Standard, new enforcement initiatives, updated regulations in the construction industry, new emergency response procedures, and more. Although Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook cannot substitute for the counsel of a trained attorney, it is an invaluable tool for reducing the risk that legal troubles will arise in the first place - and an excellent resource to study prior to consulting with an expensive professional who bills by the hour! Highly recommended for law, college, and corporate reference shelves.
— Midwest Book Review
• Written by 15 expert authors
• Comprehensive coverage of OSH laws and regulations in the U.S.
• Chapters include detailed practical information on inspections and guidance for compliance
• Written in an accessible manner using plain English