A full year into the Biden Administration, the senior leadership team at federal OSHA is set, the agency’s new regulatory agenda has been revealed, and the enforcement landscape has begun to take shape, revealing a dramatic shift in priorities, including stronger enforcement, higher budgets and more robust policies protecting workers, and a renewed focus on new rulemaking. Following an Administration that never installed an Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, relied almost exclusively on the General Duty Clause to enforce COVID-19 safety measures, drastically curtailed rulemaking, and declined to issue an emergency COVID-19 standard, the pendulum swing at OSHA has already been more pronounced than during past transitions. Accordingly, it is more important now than ever before for employers to stay attuned to developments at OSHA.
Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s complimentary 2022 OSHA Webinar Series, which includes monthly programs (sometimes more often, if events warrant) put on by the OSHA-focused attorneys in the firm’s national OSHA Practice Group, is designed to give employers insight into developments at OSHA during this period of unpredictability and significant change.
To register for an individual webinar in the series, click on the link in the program description below, or to register for the entire 2022 series, click here to send us an email request so we can get you registered. If you missed any of our programs over the past seven years of our annual OSHA Webinar Series, here is a link to a library of webinar recordings. If your organization or association would benefit from an exclusive program presented by our team on any of the subjects in this year’s webinar series or any other important OSHA-related topic, please do not hesitate to contact us.
OSHA’s 2021 in Review Wednesday, January 12th |
OSHA and Climate Change (Heat Illness and Super Storms)
Tuesday, July 12th |
COVID-19 Emergency Standards and Enforcement Thursday, February 10th |
A Deep Dive into Periodic Lockout/Tagout Inspections Wednesday, August 10th |
Annual Cal/OSHA Enforcement and Regulatory Update Thursday, March 10th |
OSHA’s Recordkeeping, Reporting, and E-Recordkeeping Rules Tuesday, September 13th |
Religious and Disability Accommodations Thursday, April 7th |
The State of the Law re: Drug Testing Tuesday, October 11th |
OSHA’s Training Issues: Proof of Training, Language, etc. Tuesday, May 10th |
Process Safety Update: Wednesday, November 9th |
Exit Routes and Exit Doors
Tuesday, June 7th |
Tuesday, December 13th |
See below for the full schedule with program descriptions, dates, times and links to register for each webinar event. |
OSHA’s 2021 in Review and 2022 ForecastWednesday, January 12, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by the Partners in Conn Maciel Carey’s national OSHA Practice Group As we prepare to begin Year 2 of the Biden Administration, it’s time to look back and take stock of what we learned from and about OSHA during this very eventful year. More importantly, it is time to look ahead and assess what to expect from OSHA now that OSHA’s senior leadership team is complete and ready to place its stamp on the agency. In this webinar, the Partners in Conn Maciel Carey’s national OSHA Practice Group will review OSHA enforcement, rulemaking, and personnel developments from 2021. We will also discuss the top OSHA issues employers should monitor and prepare for in the New Year. Participants in this webinar will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
COVID-19 Emergency Standards / Permanent Standards / EnforcementThursday, February 10, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Eric J. Conn, Kate McMahon, Aaron Gelb and Amanda Strainis-Walker As America grapples with the latest surge of cases caused by the Omicron variant, President Biden has continued to make “Vaccinating the Unvaccinated” a focal point of his administration. At the heart of this effort is the “Vaccinate or Test” ETS which is now scheduled to go into effect on January 10, 2022, with testing due to begin on February 9, 2022. While quite a few employers continued preparations for the ETS after it was stayed by the Fifth Circuit, most employers are now having to restart compliance efforts during the holidays in order to meet these new deadlines. During this webinar, attorneys from CMC’s COVID-19 Task Force will provide a detailed analysis of the rule and address these important questions raised by the latest development on the COVID-19 front:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
Annual Cal/OSHA Enforcement and Regulatory UpdateThursday, March 10, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Andrew Sommer, Fred Walter, and Megan Shaked This has been a challenging year for California employers navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with a set of ever-changing regulatory requirements, as well as a flurry of other new workplace safety laws the legislature passed towards the end of 2021. This update will cover the latest legislative and rulemaking developments concerning COVID-19, including the revised COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard and the “permanent” rule being considered. We will also cover other laws creating new workplace safety requirements and expanding the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (DOSH) enforcement authority. During this webinar, participants will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
Religious and Disability Accommodations (L&E Crossover)Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 4 PM EST/1 PM PST Presented by Andrew Sommer, Jordan Schwartz, and Beeta Lashkari Employee requests for medical and/or religious accommodations in the workplace are not new. Indeed, we have been counseling employers for years regarding their obligations under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified applicants and employees with a disability, unless the employer can demonstrate that doing so creates an undue hardship to the employer or poses a direct threat to the safety of the employee or others in the workplace. Likewise, we have also continually advised employers of their obligation to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious belief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), unless the accommodation creates an undue hardship. However, never have these accommodation requests been such a hot-button topic, nor have these accommodations requests been used so frequently (specifically, religious accommodation requests). The imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates has changed that, particularly regarding religious accommodation requests, which has become the ultimate “gray area,” as both employers and employees alike have learned that sincerely held religious belief can include an employee’s religious-based objection to vaccinations. As a result, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has issued guidance regarding the obligations of employers under Title VII when an employee presents with a religious objection to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, which builds upon prior EEOC guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations in the employment context. Thus, there are multiple issues that employers need to keep in mind and juggle when addressing these vaccination accommodation requests. Participants in this webinar will learn how to best deal with such requests by their employees, including:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
OSHA’s Training Issues: Proof of Training, Language, and MoreTuesday, May 10, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Aaron Gelb and Ashley D. Mitchell To satisfy OSHA, workplace safety and health training must be more than a “check-the-box” exercise where a trainer stands in front of an audience, delivers a lecture, hands out a test and grades the answers. If your employees are not able to adequately explain or communicate the concepts covered in training when they are interviewed by an OSHA compliance officer, the agency will almost certainly conclude that the training was not effective and issue one or more citations. In other words, you do not comply with the applicable standards simply by delivering the training and/or sending a series of sign-in sheets to OSHA—you comply by providing effective training in a manner that is understood by your employees such that it can be applied and readily explained by them. If employees are not trained in a language and/or vocabulary they understand, they will almost certainly be unable to apply or explain what was presented to them. During this webinar, participants will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
Evacuating the Workplace – Exit Routes and Exit DoorsTuesday, June 7, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Lindsay DiSalvo, Micah Smith, and Dan Deacon Evacuating the workplace during an emergency is critical. However, consistently maintaining compliant exit access, routes, and doors in a busy workplace is often challenging, especially in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and retail settings. OSHA routinely cites egress violations as Serious because of the potential for injury or death. It is an easy violation for inspectors to identify during on-site inspections, which often leads to the issuance of costly Repeat or Willful citations. Temporary or permanent storage of materials can create several compliance issues related to OSHA’s egress requirements, but there are several ways to maintain compliant exit routes and doors and ensure that they are always accessible. Identifying and maintaining egress routes and exits is an important element of a workplace’s emergency action plan. Employers should carefully develop emergency action plans and ensure employees understand not only how to evacuate the workplace during an emergency but how to maintain proper egress routes and exits throughout their work shifts, as it provides employees with a safer workplace and may even save lives. Participants in this webinar will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
OSHA and Climate Change (Heat Illness and Super Storms)Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Kathryn McMahon and Ashley D. Mitchell OSHA has embarked on one of the broadest, most significant rulemakings it has undertaken in over a decade. The agency is developing a comprehensive occupational standard to regulate heat illness associated with exposure to heat on the job – in indoor as well as outdoor settings. A heat standard will impact scores of employers in every region of the country and may include requirements to provide conditioned air or increased building ventilation, shade tents, regular work-rest cycles built into employees’ work schedules and biological monitoring to ensure employees are not dehydrated or showing signs of heat stress. The standard has become a priority of the Biden Administration as part of their interagency effort to address climate change and the impact it is having on US worker populations. A number of recent studies show that workers are often the first to be exposed to the effects of climate change and may be affected for longer durations and at greater intensities. NIOSH cites a 2014 study indicating that workers are “the canaries in the coal mine of climate change impacts.” Join us for our webinar discussing OSHA’s heat illness rulemaking – its status, scope and what it may require – as well as the other significant steps OSHA is taking to address heat illness, including the emergent National Emphasis Program (NEP) on heat illness, and to delve into the impacts of climate change on US workers. Click here to register for this webinar. |
A Deep Dive Into Periodic Lockout/Tagout InspectionsWednesday, August 10, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Aaron Gelb and Beeta Lashkari Year in and year out, OSHA’s Lockout/Tagout (Energy Control) standard is one of the most frequently cited standards. With the National Emphasis Program on Amputations continuing in 2022, employers are subject to inspections focusing on their LOTO programs and practices even if there are no serious injuries or complaints made about them. With increased scrutiny comes a greater risk of citations—particularly repeat violations—which can lead to employers being placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. Despite being such an important standard, OSHA’s LOTO rule continues to be one of the least understood. This webinar will take a deep dive into arguably one of the most confusing (not to mention, one of the most frequently cited) aspects of the LOTO rule – periodic inspections. Participants in this webinar will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
Important Nuances of OSHA’s Recordkeeping, Reporting, and E-Recordkeeping RulesTuesday, September 13, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Lindsay DiSalvo and Ashley D. Mitchell Although OSHA’s Recordkeeping, Reporting, and E-Recordkeeping rules may seem clear on their face, there are many nuances in all three standards that are essential for employers to understand in navigating their injury and illness recording, reporting, and electronic submission obligations. It is important to understand those nuances for several reasons. As to recordkeeping, 300 Logs and 300A Summaries are always requested during an inspection and can be an additional tool for enforcement purposes. Injury and illness data can also be a factor in certain employers’ continued operations and sustainability, required to be shared in contract bidding and/or requested by potential customers. Furthermore, reporting a serious injury or illness has a direct correlation to OSHA’s initiation of enforcement activities, often resulting in either a Rapid Response Investigation or an on-site inspection depending on the type or report. Finally, e-recordkeeping data is collected by OSHA and used in developing and executing its Site-Specific Targeting Program (SST annually) based on an employer’s 300A Summary. Participants in this webinar will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
The State of the Law re: Drug Testing (L&E Crossover)Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Aaron Gelb, Daniel Deacon, and Ashley Mitchell Recreational and medicinal marijuana are here to stay. Each year, it seems that several new jurisdictions legalize marijuana use in some form and momentum continues to build for change on the federal level. As such, it appears to be only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized in some form throughout the entire country. However, with these changes comes the potential for more employees to be under the influence of both legal and illegal drugs at the workplace. So, what can employers do to maintain a safe workplace? What restrictions are there for testing employees for drug use? Can employer really impose a drug-free workplace policy considering these seemingly pro-marijuana laws? This webinar will explore the changing legal landscape concerning marijuana, analyze potential issues related to zero-tolerance policies and review tips for developing effective drug testing policies that will comply with fair employment laws as well as OSHA regulations. Specifically, you will learn about:
Click here to register for this webinar. |
Process Safety Update: The Latest with OSHA PSM & EPA RMPWednesday, November 9, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Micah Smith and Beeta Lashkari By November 2022, the Biden Administration will have had more than a year and a half to make its mark in the process safety arena, so we will be reporting on the rulemaking and enforcement efforts that OSHA, EPA, and CSB have undertaken. We will evaluate whether the agencies have managed to fully reverse the regulatory rollbacks that the previous administration pursued and whether there are new, clear priorities being revealed. Regardless the direction the Administration takes, we know that the regulated industries will be closely watching this space, so we will discuss how companies can best respond to and prepare for enforcement and investigative initiatives that the process safety agencies have launched. We’ll be certain to cover the status of OSHA and EPA rulemaking and to discuss how CSB’s data collection is proceeding under its accidental release reporting rule. Click here to register for this webinar. |
New Emergency Response RuleTuesday, December 13, 2022 at 1 PM ET Presented by Eric J. Conn, Amanda Strainis-Walker, and Megan Shaked After a period of inaction, OSHA is renewing its interest in the Emergency Response Standard by picking up where the Obama Administration left off with creating a new, broader standard to protect employees who respond to emergencies as part of their regularly assigned duties. The Biden Administration has designated this rulemaking as a priority and is expected to complete the Small Business Advocacy Review (“SBAR”) Panel under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (“SBREFA”) during a global pandemic – a year the Agency issued a record-breaking number of Emergency Temporary Standards. The potential (yet likely) standard could apply to employers that designated employees to provide emergency response services that are currently covered by OSHA’s Fire Brigades Standard or currently not covered by another OSHA standard. Specifically, this could include Emergency Service Organizations (“ESOs”) (e.g., firefighting, fire rescue, emergency medical service, etc.), general industry employers that have or will establish a Workplace Emergency Response Team (e.g., an industrial, emergency, or facility fire brigade), and general industry, construction, and maritime industry employers that we expect, based on past experience, to enter into a mutual aid agreement or contract to provide “skilled support” personnel at an emergency incident (e.g., crane/bulldozer operators, towing companies, environmental response firms, electrical power responders, drone operators, etc.). Participants in this webinar will learn about the latest rulemaking developments and details regarding when and what new compliance obligations will likely be effective. Click here to register for this webinar. |