Practical Advice & Guidance
KMCL provides practical advice and guidance, backed by decades of experience.
We help employers develop and achieve effective workplace safety and health management compliance programs within a wide array of industry sectors.
In instances where OSHA, MSHA, or other safety-related agencies issue citations or seek enforcement, our attorneys routinely assist employers in navigating this process in an effort to minimize potential exposure to penalties and abatement measures.
Please contact Bart Turner, Alan Truitt, or Max ZygmontĀ for more information on this area of practice.
Focus Areas
General Safety and Health Compliance Counseling
KMCL assists facilities with developing and implementing safety and health management programs in conjunction with existing corporate employment policies and procedures.
Our goal is to minimize potential exposure and improve the overall safety program in a cost-effective manner. With their technical background and depth of industry-specific experience, our attorneys understand the clientās operational and business challenges when conducting compliance audits under the attorney-client privilege, analyzing best practices concerning industry standards, training, and recordkeeping.
Where appropriate, our attorneys may involve safety experts in this process to assess or evaluate whether certain (administrative or engineering) controls might further assist in managing potential exposures.
Enforcement
Our attorneys are experienced at navigating the various enforcement processes, regardless of the scope. We have a depth of experience in preparing management and supervisory personnel in anticipation of and through OSHA investigations.
After the inspection and investigation phase, our attorneys are experienced in handling the OSHA informal conference phase or further defending an employer in litigation before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission in an effort to achieve the most favorable outcome.
As abatement and corrective action requirements often follow the enforcement phase, our attorneys actively assist employers in developing abatement strategies to achieve regulatory compliance in the most cost-effective manner.
Representative Matters
- Achieving a favorable settlement on behalf of pyrotechnics manufacturing facility that experienced a plant explosion with two fatalities and a subsequent six-month investigation conducted by OSHA, ATF, and Chemical Safety Board.
- Advising a food and beverage client with respect to lockout/tagout, guarding, and combustible dust issues.
- Assisting clients in conducting internal safety audits and developing or revising corporate safety policies, procedures, training and recordkeeping to more accurately reflect the potential safety concerns present at the facility.
- Contesting a citation on behalf of a military contracting entity (refurbishing tanks) and developed alternative fall protection measures through an OSHA approved engineering study that proved to be safer and more functional for the employees.
- Counseling a carbon fiber manufacturing facility through the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (āVPPā) validation process.
- Counseling a steel manufacturing facility through an internal investigation concerning potential employee exposures to lead. Establishing a medical monitoring program in the course of the investigation by working closely with industrial hygienists and toxicologists.
- Representing a pipe manufacturing facility in separate, parallel six-month safety and industrial hygiene investigations and achieved favorable settlement and abatement terms. Assisting the client in implementing routine safety audits, implementing engineering studies to address employee exposure concerns, and comprehensively revising the corporate safety program to reflect these changes.
- Representing a solid waste transportation company in contesting citation concerning hauling and waste load practices and successfully established alternative safety procedures for employees involved in waste loading activities.
- Resolving citation claims against a pharmaceutical company through the informal settlement conference process. The claims involved potential industrial hygiene exposure concerns and the appropriate personal protective equipment (āPPEā) required in the laboratory.
- Submitting an application on behalf of a pipe manufacturing facility seeking a variance by Department of Labor Technical Director concerning fall protection measures associated with pipe extruding process.
Clients have praised KMCL attorney's for their āattention to detail and ability to absorb complex information and develop strategy.ā