Court Rejects OSHA's Continuing Violation Theory for Recording Workplace Injuries

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has soundly rejected OSHA’s interpretation of the statutory requirement that an OSHA citation be issued no more than six months following a violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.  In a decision issued on April 6 in AKM LLC, d/b/a Volks Constructors v. Secretary of Labor, the court invalidated OSHA’s citation, issued in November 2006, for the company’s alleged failure to properly record certain workplace injuries between January 2002 and April 2006.  The court described OSHA’s arguments as “unreasonable” and leading to “absurd consequences.”

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New DOL App Dishes Information about Violations by Restaurants, Hotels and Motels

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced yesterday the winner of the “informAction app” challenge to “empower consumer choices about the hotel, motel, restaurant and retail industries.”  The winning app, submitted by Rachel Moore, of Alexandria, VA, is called “Eat Shop Sleep.”  It combines enforcement data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) with consumer ratings web sites, such as Yelp and other tools, such as Google Maps. 

 

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OSHA Launches Recordkeeping Tool

As most employers know, OSHA requires employers to record workplace illnesses and injuries and to produce these logs when an OSHA inspector arrives on site.  On June 28, 2011, OSHA announced the launch of a new interactive web tool to help employers determine whether injuries and illnesses are work-related and recordable under the OSHA recordkeeping rules.

 

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Spiderman Caught in OSHA's Web

Injuries have plagued the Broadway stage production of "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark," and on March 4, the production company became ensnared in an enforcement action by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA announced that day that it issued 8 Legged Productions LLC, the production company responsible for the popular musical, three serious violations of workplace safety standards following four separate incidents in late 2010 that resulted in injuries to cast members of the musical.

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