Workplace Safety & Environmental

Workplace safety and environmental regulations—and the ways in which they are enforced—are constantly evolving, making compliance a moving target. As workplaces innovate and modernize and new generations of talent enter the workforce, regulators scramble to apply existing laws to new safety hazards. Companies need sophisticated guidance that does more than just achieve compliance and mitigate risk—they need advice that sees around corners to preserve their core businesses and ensure they can thrive in any regulatory environment.

HOW WE HELP

Seyfarth guides public and private sector companies through the constantly shifting regulatory landscape. Through a combination of deep subject matter expertise and intense client focus, our attorneys offer thorough analyses of the entire life cycle of regulation and enforcement, ensuring there are no surprises.

Workplace Safety Counseling and Litigation. Seyfarth’s workplace safety and health attorneys assist in navigating state and federal safety and health laws, finding practical business solutions to workplace safety and health problems. We are counselors, advisors, negotiators, trial lawyers, and appellate advocates with respect to all elements of workplace safety and health laws. We take a practical, efficient, hands-on approach to addressing issues arising under those laws. We assist clients with compliance, internal audits, expert retention and evaluation, agency inspections, workplace accidents, catastrophe response, litigation, and appeals. Our working relationships with many federal and state regulatory agencies provides us with practical insights often needed to solve unique client dilemmas. Our philosophy is simple: We use our deep subject matter expertise to quickly identify key issues and develop practical strategies to achieve the best possible result for our clients.

Seyfarth’s deep and experienced bench of workplace safety and health attorneys assist a wide variety of industries in OSHA and state plan inspections arising from workplace accidents, union and employee complaints, programmed inspections and national and state enforcement programs, initiatives and emphasis programs aimed at protecting employee safety and health. When a compliance inspection generates litigation, our team has the experience, insight, and reputation to drive the outcomes companies want. We have litigated cases in virtually every state and federal OSHA jurisdiction with numerous successes at trials and in appeals. We have earned and maintain a high degree of credibility with OSHA officials at the federal and state level, their attorneys and the judges who decide OSHA disputes. In addition, Seyfarth attorneys regularly help clients respond to safety-related issues in the workplace, such as workplace violence, pandemic planning and response, chemical exposures, and powered equipment. We proactively assist clients in establishing and improving OSHA compliance programs, manage and oversee internal OSHA compliance audits and safety reviews and represent employers in whistleblower actions brought under laws enforced by OSHA and state analogues. We have helped clients navigate OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) and multimillion-dollar citations and have significant experience with the Mine Safety & Health Act (MSHA).

Additionally, our Fatality and Accident Response team can quickly step in to help when unexpected safety and health crises arise, such as workplace accidents, fatalities, hospitalizations, fires, explosions, and other catastrophes. When a crisis hits, our experienced team helps companies carefully manage interactions with government agencies, media, employees, and counsel representing injured parties. We routinely collaborate with our clients’ tort, workers’ compensation and environmental counsel to help achieve the best possible results across all disciplines.

Our OSHA attorneys have assisted clients in nearly every conceivable industry impacted by workplace safety and health laws. These include industries such as logistics, warehousing, health care, construction, road construction, retail, steel and heavy metals manufacturing, explosives, propellants and munitions, chemical manufacturing, paints and coatings, adhesives, inks and solvents, pharmaceutical manufacturing, building products, staffing services, media, medical products, paper and plastics packaging, plastics manufacturing, commercial laundries, lime operations and cement manufacturing, railcar manufacturing and maintenance, tanker manufacturing and maintenance, ammonia systems, outdoor advertising, alumina manufacturing and aluminum extruding, petrochemical refining, building and roofing materials, cell tower construction and use, printing, batteries manufacturing and recycling, lighting, food and beverage processing, transportation of chemicals and mining products, laboratory products, soaps/surfactants/cleaners, fertilizers, and the waste treatment and disposal industry.

Our international presence includes one of the largest safety and health practices in Australia, and our attorneys often work with the top local counsel in jurisdictions worldwide to evaluate environmental compliance issues and devise site-specific solutions for our clients, regardless of their location.

Environmental Counseling and Litigation. We assist our clients with all water, air, hazardous materials, and natural resources concerns, including those stemming from manufacturing operations, product distribution, insurance needs, property acquisitions, or residential and commercial construction. By addressing the full spectrum of compliance, enforcement, and litigation matters, we create practical business solutions to complex environmental issues.

Whether serving mid-market businesses or Fortune 500 companies with international operations, we translate complex regulation into informed decisions and actionable strategies.

We have experience in all major environmental programs and corresponding local, state, and federal regulations, including the:

• Clean Air Act (CAA)
• Clean Water Act (CWA)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
• Hazardous Materials Safety Transportation Act (HMSTA)
• Oil Pollution Act (OPA)
• Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

We routinely guide our clients through complex environmental due diligence requirements that may arise in property acquisitions, dispositions of property, mergers and acquisitions, and asset purchases or sales. We also counsel our clients on insurance needs, restrictive covenants, permitting requirements, plant closures, and a multitude of other environmental matters relating to operations and transactions. We also have significant experience in helping our clients navigate all matters of environmental remediation of soils, groundwater, soil vapors, landfills, surface impoundments, waste piles and surface waters; whether such remediation is voluntary, required by law, or negotiated as part of a real property transaction.

When disputes arise we leverage our extensive litigation and trial experience before administrative tribunals and in state and federal courts. From Superfund cost recovery and contribution claims, individual and class-action toxic tort and medical-monitoring claims, and civil investigations and criminal proceedings, our team gives clients the confidence they need. Environmental litigation can encompass a wide range of issues including property damage caused by environmental contaminants, insurance coverage disputes, breach of contract and environmental indemnities, and multijurisdictional issues. Our attorneys have close relationships with a wide variety of consultants and other professionals that are necessary to obtain the best results possible in any given circumstance.

THE SEYFARTH EXPERIENCE

We deliver thorough analysis and clear direction, each and every time. After pouring over complex regulations in the office, the team gets on the ground to identify critical business and operational needs at client facilities around the globe. This hands-on approach results in the creative, practical solutions for which Seyfarth is known—putting clients in the best position to address risks and allocate the necessary human and capital resources to achieve compliance.

Partnering with colleagues in the corporate, real estate, business, litigation, and labor and employment practices, we bring in the right people at the right level to illuminate the regulatory landscape and identify a path to profitability.