Happy Holidays from the Health and Safety Law Report!  Join Abbie White and Doug Jenks as they report on that status of OSHA's proposed heat injury and illness prevention standard.  Will it ever go live?  And while they are at it, what does OSHA what employers to do regarding cold stress?  Yes kids, it's that age old dispute between the Heat Miser and the Cold Miser.  But this time the employer may be caught in the middle.  In other news.  Construction contractors beware:  OSHA also has made a change in the construction standard regarding PPE.  Tune in for these exciting holiday themed topics. 

Every person you pay for some service is either your employee or a contractor.  And guess what?  The factors that determine the nature of the relationship are not as clear as most people think.  And worse, the factors change from time to time depending on your jurisdiction.  For example, the federal government's analysis has recently changed under the Biden administration.  This could be critical because you could be responsible safety and injuries if that independent contractor turns out to be an employee.  Abbie and Doug have seen many people surprised to find out that their independent contractor is actually an employee who has filed a workers' comp claim.  So, tune in to this exciting, new, and improved Health & Safety Law Report to learn about this and other fascinating topics. 

It is here.  OSHA has published its proposed standard on heat illness prevention.  Join Abbie and Doug as they review the proposed standard, including its surprises and mysteries. 

But wait!  There's more.  Its early August.  Summer is almost over, but it's never too late for a new summer playlist.  Tune in as Abbie and Doug review their own proposed standard summer playlist for 2024.  Click here, put the top down, turn up the volume.  To 11. 

Thank you for continuing to tune in!  Please contact Abbie and Doug as [email protected] with questions or comments.  

Who knew that employers and even employees can go to jail for OSHA violations?  It's both true and terrifying.  Tune in to this edition of the Health and Safety Law Report to learn how to stay out of OSHA jail.  Abbie also provides a brief update on the criminal case involving Alex .... make that ALEC Baldwin following the work-related death on set for the film Rust.  

OSHA is inching closer to adopting a standard for heat illness prevention.  In this smokin' hot episode of the Health and Safety Law Report, your intrepid hosts discuss the likely contents of the new standard, and also talk about what OSHA expects employers to do right now to protect employees from heat hazards.   

For more information, please see OSHA's heat stress web page.   

See also the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health's agenda and notes from it April 24, 2024, meeting regarding the new standard.

And here is the transcript from that meeting.  

Alert! OSHA has released injury and illness data collected under the 2023 “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” regulation.  This data dump doesn’t just include 300A summary data -  it includes individual illness and injury data submitted by employers with 100 or more employees, in “high hazard” industries.  Join Doug and Abbie as they discuss the data has been released, where to find it, and what’s still to come.  For questions and comments, feel free to send email to [email protected].

The Eclipse is coming!  Are you having a watch party at work?  What will you listen to?  Every party has to have a music playlist, right?  Who better to create and curate that playlist than the Health and Safety Law Report?  We've got all the songs, listed in order, to rock out to as the event unfolds.

Click here for the playlist on Spotify.

Oh, and if the party gets too nutty, you might want a workers comp liability waiver.  Yes, its true.  In some states, injuries to employees that occur during employer-sponsored social events are compensable.  In those jurisdictions, workers comp liability waivers may be available.  

Tune in, for another exciting episode of the Health and Safety Law Report to learn about these things and more!

Alert!  The sun will go dark mid-afternoon on April 8 for millions of Americans from Texas to Maine, and every place in between.  That means your outdoor worksite will be plunged into total and complete darkness.  And your employees working indoors will all simultaneously run outdoors to stare at the sun!  What's an employer to do?  In this exciting and timely and ever entertaining episode of the Health & Safety Law Report, your hosts Abbie and Doug will talk about this celestial wonder and what it might mean for employers in the path of totality!  

The OSHA standards require employers to contact OSHA when an employee is admitted to the hospital for treatment due to a work injury.   Thats like calling the police on yourself.  So employers should be sure to do so only when required.  In this episode of the Health & Safety Law Report, Abbie and Doug discuss OSHA's definition of "treatment."  Do diagnostics count?  How about an overnight stay in the hospital for observation?  And what happens if the employer doesn't learn about an employee's treatment in the hospital until long after the work injury?  Or what if the injured employee is not admitted to the hospital for several days after the work injury?

Tune in to the Health & Safety Law Report to learn the answers to these and other burning questions.

Happy Holidays from the Health & Safety Law Report!  In this year's Christmas Special, Abbie and Doug discuss OSHA's new electronic reporting requirement.  Better get ready.  Electronic reports are due by March 2, 2024 for many employers.  But wait!  There's more.  Because its Christmas, Abbie and Doug talk about whether OSHA would consider mayhem at office Christmas parties to be work hazards.   Can OSHA cite the employer if the office crock pot has a frayed extension cord?  What if the company grill explodes?  And because its Christmas, Abbie and Doug conclude the episode (and the year) by exploring whether the movie Die Hard is a Christmas movie.  What do you think?  Tune in and join Abbie and Doug on this Christmas extravaganza of fun and information!