Modernizing Process Safety Management Regulations Identified As Key Safety Improvement By CSB
Posted on Dec 2, 2014
Yesterday, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (“CSB”) identified modernizing U.S. Process Safety Management Regulations as its second “Most Wanted Safety Improvement.” (The CSB identified the adoption of a combustible dust standard for general industry as its Most Wanted Safety Improvement in 2013). According to the CSB, many of the recommendations it has made over the last two decades related to OSHA’s PSM program and EPA’s Risk Management Program (“RMP”) have not been fully implemented, including recommendations to adopt a more rigorous regulatory system that would require...
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Preventive Maintenance Steps To Maximize Preparedness For Litigation And Crisis Management
Posted on Nov 30, 2014
As the year winds down, there is no better time to make sure that your company is as prepared as possible for future litigation and crisis management. Below is a quick checklist of 10 preventive maintenance steps you can take to maximize your preparedness. When conducting any of these steps, be cognizant of protecting privilege. Document the scope of reviews and clarify the purpose as being completed to obtain specific legal advice, and understand when to use outside counsel for additional protection. -Perform strategic assessment of operation, system, or work process to assess likely...
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Where Safety Guard Removed, Insurer No Duty To Indemnify Employer For Injured Worker’s Suit
Posted on Nov 29, 2014
A worker in an Ohio manufacturing plant sustained serious injuries while clearing jammed materials from a machine. At some time prior to the incident, an unknown person at an unknown time bypassed an interlock device on the machine, which would have prevented the incident. The worker brought a lawsuit against his employer alleging claims under Ohio law, including a claim for workplace intentional tort under Ohio Revised Code 2745.01(c), which provides, “Deliberate removal by an employer of an equipment safety guard … creates a rebuttable presumption that the removal or...
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Product Liability Claim Stemming From Alabama Mining Incident Dismissed On Statute Of Limitations Grounds
Posted on Nov 29, 2014
On August 15, 2011, a belt installer was injured at a mine in Alabama, allegedly because the boom drive jacks on the belt assembly malfunctioned, which caused the boom drive to fall on the worker. The Mine Safety and Health Administration was called to investigate the incident. The worker hired Attorney No. 1 to help with his workers’ compensation claim and the workers’ compensation case was resolved on August 2, 2012. On August 14, 2013, however, the worker hired Attorney No. 2 and that same day, Attorney No. 2 filed a product liability claim against the company that the...
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Ammonia Release Causing Plant Shutdown Can Trigger Property Insurance Coverage According To New Jersey Federal Court
Posted on Nov 26, 2014
While a New Jersey company was constructing a new juice packaging plant in Georgia, a release of anhydrous ammonia occurred during the start-up of the plant’s refrigeration system. The release severely burned a contractor’s employee and the plant owner made an insurance claim under a property insurance policy that covered “direct physical loss of or damage to” the property on the grounds the plant had to be shutdown and the ammonia release curtailed. The insurer denied coverage, but the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted partial summary...
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Texas Federal Court Finds Alabama, Not Louisiana Proper Adjacent State Of Offshore Platform In Indemnity Dispute
Posted on Nov 26, 2014
For work on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the operator of the platform and a contractor entered a master service contract in which each agreed to indemnify the other for the injuries of their own employees. An employee of the operator was injured on the platform and the worker filed suit against the operator and the contractor in Louisiana federal court. The contractor brought a cross claim against the operator to enforce its indemnity provision and the Louisiana court transferred the cross claim to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas pursuant to a forum...
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Subcontractor Not On Hook For Faulty LP Detector Following Fatality According To Fifth Circuit
Posted on Nov 25, 2014
The Fifth Circuit recently decided an insurance-coverage dispute involving a contractor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and one of that contractor’s subcontractor hired to haul and install FEMA trailers. As part of the contractor-subcontractor agreement, the sub agreed to indemnify the contractor for any injuries arising directly or indirectly out of the parties’ contract itself or out of the sub’s acts or omissions. After a flash fire occurred in one of the trailers that resulted in a fatality caused by the...
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