OSHA Citation Mitigation/Abatement Services
Had a recent run-in with OSHA? We at Legend Safety understand that it’s difficult to run a shop, keep up with payroll and accommodate all of OSHA’s requirements, (while others in your industry outsource to foreign countries and enjoy lax labor laws.) That is why we try hard to mitigate our client’s OSHA penalties. We believe in what we do and do it quite well.
When asking the question of whether to go with an OSHA attorney or safety consulting company, you first must ask what their qualifications are. In order for you to be in the best position you should be looking for someone who has the following:
- Extensive knowledge of the 1910 Code of Federal Regulations
- Extensive EHS expertise
- Extensive expertise in the issue at hand (engineering/toxicology/environmental, etc.)
- Knows how to map out and execute a corrective actions plan
- Preferably worked for OSHA in the past
- Preferably knows some OSHA personnel quite well
We find that attorneys typically go in and start negotiating on the fine—dollars and cents. When our safety guys sit down with OSHA we first dazzle them with code and engineering language and make them understand that they had no right to issue citations per Code of Federal Regulations. That is when we are in a position to firstly eliminate many items on the list and THEN negotiate on the final fees for the remaining items.
Additionally, sometimes when seeing legal representation, OSHA’s perception of the offending organization is that they are only committed to fight charges but not to upkeep safety.
However, some cases warrant the representation of a legal defense. In the event that it is advisable to work with attorneys, we have relationships with reputable law firms that we have worked with successfully in the past or we can work hand-in-hand with the legal team of your choice.
Case-in-Point:
We had a client, a commercial printer, who faced many citations including some repeats and willfuls. We not only negotiated a $40,000 reduction in fine, but were also able to convince OSHA—through our engineering expertise—that our client does not need to put their dust baler outside (as originally requested by OSHA), thus saving our client $300,000 in unneeded expenses.
When partnering with Legend Safety, we can cover you with the following:
- Advising you what to do step-by-step
- Be your lead contact for OSHA
- Represent you at OSHA meetings (Right to Contest, Informals, Closings)
- Research each citation thoroughly and challenge OSHA on its legitimacy in issuing the
- Negotiate a fair settlement on remaining legitimate citations, divided in fair payments
- Map out a corrective action plan (to be executed by us or any other safety firm) including eliminating hazards, training, safety meetings, writing programs, recordkeeping, etc.
- Some of our compliance experts have worked for OSHA. We know OSHA well, (in some cases personally)
- We will work with local papers to get some positive publicity out after you get started on implementing corrective safety practices