Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook / Edition 3

by Melissa A. Bailey, Matthew C. Cooper, Frank D. Davis, William K. Doran, John B. Flood

Overview

Now in its third edition, this popular Handbook has been your go-to guide to the fundamentals of occupational safety and health law for over a decade. This new edition provides an authoritative and up-to-date reference that you count on for its reliable information and straightforward explanation. Each chapter is written by a highly respected attorney who is an expert in the field. Yet the book is written without legal jargon, in plain English that anyone can understand. In it, the authors provide interpretations of many facets of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, review regulations and standards governing employee protection, and offer advice for dealing with regulatory authorities.

The Handbook covers all of the important legal aspects of the Occupational Safety and Health Act with clearly written explanations of such issues as the boundaries of OSHA regulations, general administrative law concepts, and OSHA's enforcement tactics. It provides “Practitioner's Tips”—useful legal guidance given by experienced attorneys for complying with OSHA inspection regulations and enforcing employers' and employees' rights during inspections. It describes changes to the probable cause test under OSHA's “Warrant Requirement.” It also explains the legal and practical consequences facing a business not contesting OSHA citations, OSHA's use of “Monitoring Devices on Employees,” and more. This new edition covers major changes to the Hazard Communication Standard, new enforcement initiatives, updated regulations in the construction industry, new emergency response procedures, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598886788
Publisher:	Bernan Press
Publication date:	03/31/2016
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	358
Sales rank:	348,031
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

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

Editorial Reviews

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

[P]rovides an authoritative and up-to-date reference that you’ll quickly rely on for straightforward explanations.

Occupational Health & Safety