Costa Mesa OSHA & Workplace Safety Compliance Lawyer

Costa Mesa OSHA & Workplace Safety Compliance Attorney

If you are a business owner in California, it’s important to be aware of your assorted responsibilities to various governmental entities. One of the most significant government agencies to be in compliance with is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). If you are in violation of an OSHA regulation, the consequences could be quite serious. A Costa Mesa OSHA & workplace safety compliance lawyer can help your case.

The legal team at Engels-Janzen recognizes the complications of constantly obeying OSHA regulations and workplace safety compliance laws. If you don’t hire a Costa Mesa OSHA & workplace safety compliance attorney to help you meet those standards, your business could face irreparable reputational harm, among other problems. Our team can bring 25 years of focused experience to your case and prevent your business from failing due to OSHA violations.

OSHA Violations in Costa Mesa

If you have an OSHA or Cal/OSHA violation case in Costa Mesa, it’s important to know that your case will not be handled in a traditional courtroom. Instead, you’ll defend yourself in an administrative hearing by the California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board (OSHAB).

While this agency is primarily located in Sacramento, you may have an electronic hearing. In 2024 alone, there were 419 fatal work injuries in California. Your case may be common.

OSHA is a federal agency that’s dedicated to protecting worker safety across the country. The state equivalent in California is the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which is better known as Cal/OSHA. Fines from this agency can be substantial, including maximum fines of up to $15,873 for general and regulatory violations. If you don’t take these violations seriously, the impact on your business can be overwhelming. Here are some common violations:

• Protective gear violations. Every employer in California is required to provide employees with protective gear for their eyes and face if those employees come into frequent contact with dangerous chemicals, deadly fumes, or hazards that can hurt them. Hazards can include falling debris, sparks, and even radiation. If you are not providing your employees with protective gear, mainly goggles and/or masks, you could face a violation.
• Fall protection violations. One of the most common OSHA violations that affects the construction industry is a failure to protect employees from falls. The California construction industry employs over 8.3 million workers. That’s a lot of potential violations and deadly falls. Adequate fall protection includes harnesses and railings when necessary. Be sure to provide employees working from great heights with these protections.
• Energy lockout violations. Some heavy machinery can be very dangerous if handled improperly. It’s important that you turn off some machines when not in use, and even separate them from their power supply entirely to make sure they can’t be turned on accidentally. Otherwise, they could hurt somebody, and you could suffer an OSHA violation. Take the proper precautions when dealing with heavy machinery.
• Respiratory protection violations. Every employee who is consistently around toxic fumes, hazardous chemicals, and deadly toxins must be provided with respiratory protection. This requirement is mostly for construction sites and industrial jobs. Failure to provide adequate respiratory protection can result in an OSHA violation.
• Failure to provide training. The presence of hazardous chemicals in the workplace affects everyone. To make sure nobody gets hurt, employers need to provide training to their employees on how to handle these chemicals and what to do if someone is exposed to them. The last thing you want is for an employee to be hurt by chemicals when nobody knows how to help them or prevent it.

How to Comply With OSHA Using an IIPP

It’s understandable to be worried, concerned, and even terrified at the thought of an OSHA violation compromising the integrity of your business. However, you don’t need to panic. OSHA violations can be very serious, but you have the opportunity to correct the mistake and comply with state and federal regulations. First, you need to hire an OSHA & workplace safety compliance lawyer to protect your interests.

One of the most reliable ways to resolve or even prevent an OSHA violation is by establishing an Injury and Illness Prevention Program, or IIPP. This is a mandatory written workplace safety guide that’s tailored to a specific place of business. It consists of eight key elements that can inform employees on how to handle certain situations. Here are those eight key elements:

1. Responsibility. You need to name the individual responsible for the program.
2. Compliance. You need to consistently maintain a system that ensures employees follow the safe work practices contained within the program.
3. Communication. A business simply cannot function without clear and consistent communication. The same is true for regulatory compliance. You need to implement a reliable system for communicating with employees about safety, including implementing an anonymous reporting system so nobody feels singled out or worried about retaliation for reporting a problem.
4. Hazard assessment. Provide scheduled inspections to identify potential hazards and the most effective ways to deal with them.
5. Hazard correction. It’s vital that you implement the necessary procedures to correct any unsafe working conditions or practices, especially if OSHA has already pointed these out to you.
6. Investigation. If any occupational injuries or illnesses do arise, be sure to investigate them properly to determine the cause.
7. Training. Be sure to provide the proper training to all employees.
8. Recordkeeping. Don’t forget to retain all relevant safety records for at least a year. If OSHA finds another violation, you will need this evidence to defend yourself.

Be Sure to Hire an OSHA & Workplace Safety Compliance Lawyer

There’s nothing wrong with being prepared for a worst-case scenario. Additionally, if you end up facing penalties for an OSHA violation, it’s good to know the most effective way to correct that violation and move forward with your business. Hiring the right legal assistance may be the first step toward course-correcting with OSHA. At Engels-Janzen, we can provide reliable legal help during this trying time. Contact us to speak with a member of our team about what we can do.