Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

On September 5, New York’s governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (A8947-C/S8358-C) to require employers to take steps to protect employees in retail stores from workplace violence (NY Labor Law sec. 27-e). The new law assigns the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) to develop model policy and training documents for use by employers. Most requirements are effective as of March 4, 2025. These retail workplace violence prevention (WVP) requirements are comparable to public sector employer requirements in place since 2007 (NY Labor Law sec. 27-b), which are also administered and enforced by NYDOL. The rest of this note describes these new requirements. 

Read More

Saskatchewan’s Employment Act (SEA) requires employers to take action to protect their employees against workplace violence. Since 1997, express requirements have applied to workplaces “prescribed” by regulations based on higher hazards; effective on May 17, 2024 these requirements apply in all workplaces, implementing SEA amendments enacted in 2023 by Bill 91 (“The Saskatchewan Employment (Part III) Amendment Act, 2022”). The rest of this summarizes workplace violence prevention (WVP) requirements set forth in the SEA, and in regulations issued and administered by the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Division of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety.

Read More

The US federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations specify the formats of workplace warning signs and tags to alert workers to the presence of a variety of physical and health hazards.  OSHA’s Accident Prevention Signs and Tags Standard (29 CFR 1910.145) specifies wording, colors, shapes—even requiring sign corners to be rounded off.  OSHA sets up a hierarchy of hazards, and associated warnings. In addition, many of OSHA’s targeted standards include specific requirements for signs and tags.

Read More

The US federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published its annual list of the “Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards” for fiscal year (FY) 2021. The tabulation covers October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021; OSHA delays its annual publication to allow time for inspections during a fiscal year to produce citations if appropriate. (I wrote about OSHA inspection procedures and priorities HERE). The remainder of this note summarizes the new list.

Read More