Court Rejects ‘Unpreventable Misconduct’ Claim In Trench Safety Appeal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has denied a Texas contracting firm’s bid to overturn an OSHA trench-safety citation under the “unpreventable employee misconduct” (UEM) doctrine, backing the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) application of a four-part test for employers to invoke that defense. The court’s unpublished April 15 ruling in J.D. Abrams v. OSHRC upholds a citation that OSHA imposed on the contractor in 2020, over what it said was the failure of...