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Proliferation of Laws Providing Employment Protections for Marijuana Users Complicate Businesses’ Efforts to Maintain Occupational and Public Safety
On the afternoon of January 4, 1987, the crew of a Conrail locomotive traveling near Baltimore, Maryland failed to respond to stop signals and hit an Amtrak train traveling from Washington, DC, to Boston, Massachusetts. Fourteen passengers on the Amtrak...
The 411 on 420: Can Employers Still Test for Marijuana?
Manufacturers understandably are concerned about how new laws protecting employee off-duty marijuana use may undermine their efforts to avoid workplace injuries and deaths. Understanding the changing legal landscape and the tools still available to employers to protect against safety risks...
OSHA Issues COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Requiring Employee Vaccination or Weekly Testing
Today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published its “COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing; Emergency Temporary Standard” (the “ETS”) in the Federal Register . The ETS applies to employers with a total of 100 employees or more, based on OSHA’s...
OSHA's Revised COVID-19 Guidance Adopts CDC's Latest Recommendation on Masks for Vaccinated Employees, Advocates for Vaccination, and Suggests Periodic Testing for Unvaccinated Employees
In response to the modified COVID-19 recommendations published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 27, 2021, on Friday, August 13, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) updated its Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing...
Bonuses Tied to Low Injury Rates: Will They Be Unacceptable to Biden's OSHA
In 2016, the Obama-era Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued regulations prohibiting employer retaliation against employees for reporting workplace injuries or illnesses. The regulations' preamble indicated that, under many circumstances, employee bonuses or other incentives tied to low injury...
Biden's Selection of Doug Parker as OSHA Head Signals Aggressive Safety and Health Enforcement and Close Collaboration with Organized Labor
On this past Friday, April 9, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Doug Parker, the current chief occupational safety and health regulator in California, to serve as the United States Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and...
Virus Mitigation Steps for Employers Amid OSHA Ramp-Up
Just over a week after President Joe Biden, by executive order, instructed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to publish revised guidance to employers on worker safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency complied on Jan. 29, with the issuance...
Signaling More Aggressive Enforcement Going Forward, OSHA Issues "Stronger" COVID-19 Guidance For Workplaces
Just eight days after President Biden ordered OSHA to publish “revised guidance to employers on workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency complied this past Friday, January 29, with the release of a 12-page document which the Department of...
Pandemic-Related OSHA Complaints: Return to Workplaces Only Escalates the Risks
Employees coping with health-related anxieties as workplaces reopen are commonly turning to OSHA for help. Resulting legal risks for employers can take several forms. This webinar will succinctly explain those OSHA-related legal concerns and how to avoid potential claims and...
Keeping Your Plant Safe From COVID-19
If you’re a plant owner, you should be concerned about the health and safety not only of your employers but of your contractors’ workers. Bob Nichols, a partner in Bracewell’s labor and employment team, discusses why you need to be...
Labor & Employment Webinar: Have Questions? Get Answers
The volume of evolving information arising out of the coronavirus pandemic is astounding. How do employers sort through it all to know what is important for your company and role within the organization? Bracewell’s webinar aims to help. Our Labor...
EHS Self-Auditing: Effectively Utilizing Privileges to Protect Your Findings
Assessing compliance with EHS-related requirements is fundamental for industry, not only to validate compliance assurance efforts, but to help prevent, or at least minimize, enforcement exposure. At the same time, however, candid evaluations give rise to other risks in the...
Caught in the Crosshairs at Work: Practical Considerations for Employers to Prevent and Address Violence in the Workplace
Employers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring a safe and healthful environment for their employees, including a workplace free from violence. Unfortunately, OSHA estimates that more than 2 million individuals are affected by workplace violence every year and the...
OSHA Rescinds Substantial Portion of Injury/Illness Electronic Reporting Requirement
Under pressure from business organizations, OSHA has issued a final rule rescinding the requirement for workplaces with 250 or more employees to electronically submit data from their OSHA 300 and 301 forms to the agency. The two forms required employers...
How to Prepare for and Manage an OSHA PSM Inspection
Bob Nichols and Kevin Collins discuss preparations for an OSHA process-safety-management-standard (PSM) inspection. OSHA issued the PSM standard to help ensure the safe management of highly hazardous chemicals. The standard integrates hazard assessment, technology, procedures, and management practices, and PSM...