New OSHA rule: ‘Safety first’ gets a second look
“OSHA has generally allowed representatives of both an employer and an employee to accompany the OSHA Inspector during a physical inspection of an employer’s job site. Importantly, though, the prior version of the Walkaround Rule explicitly limited an ‘employee representative’ to current employees only,” explains Christopher Hampton, a partner at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone LLP in Mineola. “Under the new rule, an employee now has the right to designate unions, labor activists, attorneys and other third parties as their representative.”