HAAK LAW LLC

Dear Clients and Friends: I'm writing this month about risks posed by "vigilante" safety enforcement given that OSHA may decrease traditional enforcement efforts in the face of potential budget cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. Earlier in May, I gave two presentations (one to the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council, and one to the Northern Ohio and McKinley Chapters of the ASSE) in which I warned of the dangers of the "enforcement vacuum" that would be created if OSHA

Back in 2010 a major auto manufacturer suffered through embarrassment and substantial reputational damage when a trove of "smoking gun" emails surfaced in the discovery portion of a series of lawsuits related to the alleged sudden uncontrolled acceleration of the manufacturer's cars. In direct response, attorneys (both in-house and outside counsel) across the United States spent the following weeks and months speaking to their clients about the risks of creating ill-conceive

(Originally published in 2012) My family and I just returned from vacation early this past Monday morning. The trip marked my 4 year old son's first time on an airplane. Both my wife and I were worried about how he would respond, but he handled all of the flights like a champ. His favorite part was "going super fast" on takeoff, and he didn't seem to notice any of the relatively minor turbulence that occurred (my wife was a different story, though). I've got several diff

For those of you who may not remember, a "haiku" is a Japanese poem of 3 lines that consists of exactly 17 syllables -- 5 in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line. Housekeeping is good Put trash in a garbage can Can't stress this enough... Forklifts have seat belts I'm too busy to wear mine Until I fall off... Safety glasses, ugh! I'll look cooler with a patch And a parrot, too! Walking in the plant Busy with text messages Damn, I'm i

A recent decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) underscores the importance of taking proper contractual, oversight, and safety precautions on "multi-employer worksites". In this context, the term "multi-employer worksite" includes not just sites with general contractors and one or more sub-contractors, but also traditional facilities (e.g., manufacturing, chemical facilities, and petroleum refineries) where contractors of any type are perform