Spencer Fane attorneys work with industry and manufacturers to maintain safe jobsites and comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. We assist companies in responding to OSHA investigations and related health and safety audits to help minimize risk, and when deficiencies are alleged and enforcement sought, our team contests OSHA’s citations and seeks to resolve them on favorable terms.
We counsel a wide-variety of businesses, such as construction contractors and energy companies, to help them accomplish their work in a safe manner and maintain regulatory compliance. When the unthinkable happens at a jobsite, our qualified attorneys help to handle the government investigations and defense. In the event of workplace fatalities or catastrophic incidents (e.g., explosions, fires, chemical releases), our team handles crisis management and incident investigations involving the intersection of health, safety, and environmental regulations and government agencies, including the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and EPA. One area of focus in this practice includes chemical accident prevention programs, including EPA’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) program and OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) program.
We also defend companies against OSHA whistleblower allegations and related complaints regarding workplace safety and claims of unsafe practices. In any type of challenge to a company’s safety record, Spencer Fane works with clients to ensure compliance with standards and defends them against any potential enforcement actions, including both civil and criminal cases.
Representative experience
- Successful defense of construction company in OSHA workplace fatality investigation under the OSHA general duty clause
- Counsel for group of chemical company engineers and operators in four-person workplace fatality as part of criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office
- Represented geotechnical contractor in workplace fatality involving electrocution with overhead power lines
- Represented roofing contractor in successful defense of OSHA workplace fatality investigation regarding fall protection and working at heights
- Successful defense of warehouse owner/operator in double-amputation case involving forklift accident investigation by OSHA
- OSHA citation contest defense in numerous jurisdictions and numerous cases throughout the nation on behalf of multiple industrial sectors including: aircraft manufacturing, construction, electrical contractors, food manufacturing, metal products, and the restaurant industry