We counsel and represent businesses being inspected or cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) programs, including whistleblower or discrimination investigations. With the former Litigation Manager with the Division of Legal Services for the VOSH program on our team, we provide highly adept specialized assistance in navigating your business through this intricate area of the law.
Additionally, we offer audits of your worksite to assess your exposure, including whether you are covered by any emphasis programs or schedules that might make an inspection more likely. We also can provide management training and mock inspections so that your key personnel know how to respond when an OSHA or VOSH compliance officer shows up. When one does come, subject to availability, we offer on-site inspection defense within one hour of the inspector arriving.
Having counsel experienced in the nuances of the laws and procedures governing the compliance officer’s authority on your jobsite is critical to a successful outcome. We counsel businesses during the information request phase after the walkthrough, and if citations are issued, we evaluate your defenses and negotiate with the regional or area director for an agreeable resolution (including at informal conferences). If you decide to contest your citations, we offer defense of your contest in Virginia courts, and before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) for federal citations.