Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Workers throughout the United States and Canada are protected by occupational health and safety laws, administered by federal, and state or provincial worker safety agencies—such as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia (WorkSafeBC). Most of these agencies recognize workplace violence as a potential hazard, although regulatory requirements associated with this hazard vary considerably among jurisdictions. Effective November 1, 2013, British Columbia supplements its longstanding workplace violence prevention requirements with requirements for "all reasonable steps to prevent where possible, or otherwise minimize, workplace bullying and harassment." BC provides separate, complementary rules for:

Do you know about these changes? Do you know their effective dates? Is your company ready to comply with each and every change? If your answer to any of these is “no”, or you have no idea what this alert is about, you’ll want to see the Federal Register notice that announced and described these changes. A copy can be found here.

It’s common knowledge now that lead is a systemic poison. Overexposure to it can damage our blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems. In the past, lead was commonly added to industrial paints because of its characteristic corrosion resistance and color enhancement. Lead Poisoning Prevention Week takes place from October 20–26. Sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this year’s event focuses on protecting children from exposure to lead. EPA and partner agencies such as HUD are helping raise awareness among parents of ways to combat lead poisoning, from monitoring children’s consumption of certain types of imported candy to screening those most liable to be exposed to lead in the home.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates thousands of chemicals, through a variety of regulatory standards.  At the broadest level, employers must evaluate basic information about every potentially hazardous chemical, and provide information to employees in compliance with OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard.  OSHA also provides somewhat-more-tailored requirements for classes of chemicals (such as flammables), and for types of activities that pose chemical hazards (such as welding).  For a small number of especially hazardous chemicals, OSHA provides a detailed standard applicable to a single chemical—examples include asbestos, benzene, and lead.  On September 12, 2013, OSHA published a proposal to establish just such a single chemical standard, for crystalline silica (29 CFR section 1910.1053).

Recently, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a new series of notices concerning hazardous materials handling and driver recordkeeping procedures. CMV drivers and transporters of hazardous materials should be alert to the following:

On September 20, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-proposed regulations to regulate carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from electricity generating units fueled by coal and natural gas.  This proposal marks the latest of many ongoing steps by the Obama Administration to limit emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) even though Congressional deadlock means there will be no legislative initiatives until after the 2014 elections at the earliest.  This proposal applies—critics say stretches—EPA's Clean Air Act (CAA) authority.

Jane Brown, an avid online shopper in New Mexico, is delighted to find just the candleholders she needs on discounted sale on LuvLee Living, a home décor website based out of New York. She orders a pair, but when the package arrives, she feels they are not as described on the website. She attempts to return them, but is told by LuvLee that sale items are “as is” and non-returnable as per their website’s terms of use. Brown protests that she did not agree to any such terms. LuvLee responds that their terms of use are posted on the site and can be viewed by clicking a link. By browsing the LuvLee Living site, the retailer contends, Brown agreed to the terms of use. Further, should Brown wish to pursue the matter, she will be bound by arbitration under New York jurisdiction, even though she resides far from New York, because such stipulation was also in the terms of use.

On September 18 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed to require public companies to calculate and disclose the pay ratio between their principal executive officer (PEO) and other employees: