Businesses have struggled with the determination of who is an independent contractor vs employee for many decades. One of the challenges rests with the fact that the applicable legal test may be different depending on the area of law at issue. Thus, employers could find themselves in a situation where the IRS determines that a specific factual relationship to be an independent contractor while a state Department of Labor for purposes of Unemployment Benefits may determine otherwise. Obviously, such conflicting decisions place the employer in a tricky predicament. In recent years, changes to th ..read more

On January 26, 2024, OSHA published a revised enforcement manual for Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (“Manual”). The Manual reflect OSHA’s first revisions to its prior directive issued in 1994 which is specifically identified as cancelled and superseded by the Manual. OSHA highlights significant changes in the Manual as: • Removal of the Appendix A PQV Audit Checklist in the OSHA Instruction CPL 02-02-045A and • Incorporating existing PSM enforcement policies into a question and response format The thrust of the information provided in the Q&A’s cite to prior regula ..read more

As we head into the New Year, it is a good time for businesses to review OSHA’s cold stress guidance (link below). OSHA reminds employers that monitoring the wind chill temperature and workers’ physical condition while performing tasks will help them assess cold stress exposure and assist them in developing strategies to ensure work can be done safely. This is particularly true for employees not accustomed to working in the cold or those returning to such conditions, i.e., acclimatization, which is also an important tool in minimizing heat stress. Other cold stress risk factors identified by O ..read more

Guest Author: Norm Keith, B.A.(Econ), J.D., LL.M. Mr. Keith is a leading management-side employment and labor lawyer, the author of 12 books, 8 of which deal with OHS, and is a senior partner at the law firm of KPMG Law LLP, and may be reached at: nkieth@kpmg.ca. The enduring legal legacy of the Westray Mine disaster is the Bill C-45 amendment to the Criminal Code that established the new crime of Occupational Health and Safety (“OHS”) criminal negligence for individuals and organizations. Often referred to as the Westray Bill, it introduced a legal duty and accountability for corporate and in ..read more

OSHA recently shared preliminary data for its Top 10 list in fiscal year 2023 which ended September 30, 2023. They are listed below in order of most frequently cited: Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) Hazard Communication (1910.1200) Ladders (1926.1053) Scaffolding (1926.451) Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178) Lockout/Tagout (1910.147) Respiratory Protection (1910.134) Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503) Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102) Machine Guarding (1910.212) Each of the standards above saw a significant i ..read more

As technology evolves, unfortunately, so do ways to hack that technology. The recent cyberattacks in several casinos in Las Vegas are just one recent example of the growing concern about cyberattacks on businesses and the tremendous consequences and liability that may result from such attacks. Could OSHA be one such concern? At first blush, any direct connection between cyberattacks and safety and health issues may seem tenuous. For certain, there is no specific OSHA standard addressing cyberattacks as a workplace hazard. Theoretically, cyberattacks might have an effect on workplace safety and ..read more

According to a recent OSHA standard interpretation letter, probably yes.  In the 5/17/23 letter, an employee was driving the company vehicle on a public roadway between service calls.  As the employee approached a car accident, the driver who caused the accident entered the Company’s vehicle, shot the employee, stole the vehicle and fled the scene.  There was no evidence that the employee did anything to provoke the attacker.  The employer subsequently learned that the attacker had been in the midst of a serial crime spree at the time of the accident. In finding that the em ..read more

On July 17, 2023, OSHA released its final rule expanding its electronic recordkeeping and reporting requirements. As expected, the rule largely mimics OSHA’s 2022 proposal and takes effect January 1, 2024. The rule requires establishments with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries, i.e., industry classification, to electronically submit information from their Form 300 (Log), Form 301(Incident Report), and Form 300-A (Summary) annually.  In addition, covered employers are required to include their legal company name when filing electronic submissions to OSHA. OSHA will ma ..read more

Creating a strong safety culture in a business has many components. It requires the commitment and participation of the executive management team and all supervisory and non-supervisory employees throughout the organization. A critical part of accomplishing this requires conducting internal and/or third-party safety and health audits on a routine basis and whenever business needs otherwise dictate, e.g., after an injury or a near-miss incident. There are many benefits to having regular health and safety audits at your business, including increasing efficiency, avoiding legal risks, ensuring co ..read more

When it became apparent yesterday that the wildfire smoke cascading throughout parts of the Northeastern United States was having a serious health effect on anyone outside and exposed to the harmful particulates contained in such smoke, certain outside activities were simply canceled, such as the major league baseball games in Philadelphia and New York City. But what if your business cannot simply give everyone the day off and you are concerned about your legal obligations to your employees, especially if their outside work is exposing them to potential adverse health effects? Although the fed ..read more