Occupational Safety and Health Regulation

Kelley Drye provides practical solutions and regulatory counseling to our clients on a broad range of industrial health and safety issues.

We represent companies and trade associations by engaging OSHA at all levels in its rulemaking process. By developing technically supportable and legally credible data and arguments, we have helped shape OSHA rules, such as Hazard Communication and Hexavalent Chromium Workplace Exposure Standards, in a way that protects our clients’ interests and workers’ health and safety.

Kelley Drye also has the experience necessary to assist clients in emergency response incidents. We work with clients to prepare, implement, evaluate, and revise process safety management and risk management plans. We have experience in handling complex emergency response activities, including those involving federal, state and local law enforcement agencies conducting parallel investigations and enforcement actions.

We have comprehensive OSHA experience, including:

  • Accident/incident loss workday reports
  • Blood-borne pathogens
  • Electrical safety
  • Ergonomics
  • Fall protection
  • Hazard communication
  • Heat stress
  • Lock-out/tag-out program
  • Powered industrial trucks
  • Process safety management
  • Recordkeeping
  • Workplace exposure standard
Team Members
  • Lead a coalition of food manufacturers and marketing clients in negotiating changes to the OSHA Ergonomics Rule.
  • Lead a coalition of manufacturing clients in steel, shipbuilding and chromium chemicals industries rulemaking that involved proposed workplace exposure standards for hexavalent chromium.
  • Intervening in litigation filed by a citizens group and union related to the promulgation of health standards for hexavalent chromium occupational exposure.
  • Conducting OSHA compliance audits at leather tanning and steel manufacturing facilities.
  • Regular counseling of major manufacturing industries on complex OSHA workplace citations from wall-to-wall compliance inspections.
  • Representing a metal fabrication manufacturer in administrative litigation over various alleged regulatory violations resulting in a fatality.
  • Representing two energy trade associations in response to OSHA’s proposed standard for respirable crystalline silica.
  • Representing industrial clients on hazard communication issues, machine guarding requirements and personal protective equipment issues.
  • Representing a hospital on OSHA reporting requirements and privacy issues.
  • Providing Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety due diligence for large-scale corporate and real estate transactions.
  • Counseling oil and gas industry clients on occupational safety and health issues impacting the upstream sector.
  • Providing ​“top-to-bottom” environmental health and safety auditing for heavily regulated industrial facilities.
  • Representing facilities in preparing for and responding to emergency response activities, including responses involving multi-agency investigations and enforcement actions.
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