The compliance officer flashed his badge and announced he’s conducting a comprehensive safety inspection. Your crew stopped working, your project schedule just got destroyed, and federal investigators are now interviewing your employees without you present.
Within hours, you could be facing substantial willful violation penalties per citation, work stoppage orders that kill your project timeline, and potential criminal referrals that could put you in prison.
This nightmare happens to construction companies every day. OSHA conducts tens of thousands of construction inspections annually, and construction accounts for a disproportionate share of all workplace fatalities despite representing a small percentage of the workforce.
When OSHA targets your construction site, you have minutes to respond correctly or face consequences that can destroy your business and your freedom.
Construction isn’t just another industry to OSHA, it’s their primary enforcement target. The agency dedicates more resources, conducts more inspections, and imposes harsher penalties on construction companies than any other sector.
The brutal statistics: Construction workers are significantly more likely to die on the job than workers in other industries. Falls, electrocutions, being struck by objects, and caught in between accidents are known as OSHA’s “Fatal Four” and are the leading causes of death in the construction industry, claiming over a thousand construction workers annually.
Why OSHA is watching: Every construction fatality triggers an automatic OSHA investigation. But they’re not just investigating deaths, they’re conducting programmed inspections, complaint inspections, and follow-up inspections across the construction industry.
What this means for you: Your construction site is far more likely to be inspected than a typical workplace. OSHA assumes construction sites are dangerous and looks for violations to prove it.
Willful violations = criminal referrals: When OSHA determines a violation was “willful” meaning you knew about the hazard and ignored it, they don’t just issue a citation. They refer the case to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
The personal stakes: Criminal OSHA violations can result in federal prison time per worker death. Company officers can face personal criminal liability even if they weren’t on site when the incident occurred.
Recent cases: Construction company owners have been sentenced to federal prison after worker fatalities from hazards they knew about but didn’t correct.
Employee protection laws: Workers who report safety violations to OSHA are protected from retaliation under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act. Firing, demoting, or even disciplining them can trigger federal retaliation claims.
The multiplication effect: A simple safety violation becomes a retaliation case with automatic attorney fees for the employee. We’ve seen modest citations become substantial retaliation settlements.
Construction-specific risks: Construction workers often report safety violations after being injured or terminated. These complaints trigger inspections that can uncover violations across all your job sites, not just the one where the complaint originated.
After 17+ years representing construction companies, I’ve seen how OSHA investigations can destroy businesses overnight. Construction faces the highest scrutiny, the steepest penalties, and the most severe consequences. When OSHA shows up at your job site, everything you’ve built is at risk – and you have minutes, not days, to respond correctly.
– Karalynn Cromeens, Managing Partner
Financial Destruction. Current OSHA penalties for construction can be substantial for willful violations. Repeat violations face automatic multiplication of penalties. Large construction companies regularly face significant citation packages.
Project Shutdown Orders. OSHA can issue imminent danger orders that immediately stop all work on your project. These shutdowns can last for extended periods while violations are corrected, destroying project schedules and contract relationships.
Government Contract Debarment. Serious OSHA violations can disqualify you from federal, state, and local government contracts. This doesn’t just affect current bids – you can be debarred from bidding for years.
Reputation and Bonding Impacts. OSHA violations become public record and appear in databases that clients and bonding companies regularly check. Serious violations can affect your bonding capacity and insurance rates for years.
Personal Criminal Liability. Company officers can face personal criminal prosecution for willful violations that result in worker deaths. Federal prison sentences are possible even for first-time violations.
Your crisis: Federal investigators are at your job site conducting interviews and inspections without legal oversight. Every statement your employees make can become evidence against you.
Our emergency response: We provide immediate on-site legal representation during OSHA inspections. Our attorneys understand construction operations and can protect your interests while ensuring cooperation with the investigation.
What you get: Professional legal presence that prevents your crew from making incriminating statements, limits the scope of OSHA’s investigation, and begins building your defense from day one.
Your problem: OSHA citations are written by investigators who may not understand construction operations, industry standards, or the technical requirements of your work.
Our solution: We defend citations using construction industry expertise, technical standards, and industry practices that generic attorneys miss. We work with construction safety experts who can challenge OSHA’s conclusions.
What you get: Defense strategies based on actual construction knowledge, not just OSHA regulation theory. We understand how construction work is actually performed and can present credible defenses.
Your challenge: OSHA wants maximum penalties and admission of violations. You need resolution that minimizes financial impact and protects your ability to continue operations.
Our approach: We negotiate settlements that focus on business impact, not just legal theory. We understand how OSHA penalties affect bonding, insurance, and contract relationships in the construction industry.
Results we achieve: Significant penalty reductions for construction clients, plus settlement terms that minimize business disruption and reputation damage.
Your problem: An employee filed an OSHA complaint after being disciplined or terminated, creating both safety violation exposure and retaliation claim liability.
Our solution: We handle both the underlying OSHA investigation and the retaliation claim, preventing violations from multiplying and protecting against federal employment law exposure.
What you get: Coordinated defense that addresses all aspects of OSHA-related claims while protecting your ability to manage your workforce.
Your challenge: Generic safety programs don’t address the specific hazards and operational realities of construction work.
Our solution: We develop safety programs specifically designed for construction operations, addressing fall protection, electrical safety, excavation, and other high-risk construction activities.
What you get: Safety programs that actually work on construction sites and provide legal protection if OSHA investigates your operations.
Your challenge: When OSHA arrives, you have minutes to respond correctly. Mistakes during inspections often make violations worse and create additional liability.
Our solution: We train your management team on proper OSHA inspection procedures, employee interview protocols, and documentation requirements specific to construction sites.
What you get: Confidence that your team will handle OSHA visits professionally, limiting exposure and protecting your legal position.
Your challenge: Identifying and correcting OSHA violations before the government finds them during an inspection.
Our solution: We conduct compliance audits using the same standards OSHA applies, identifying potential violations and providing specific correction guidance.
What you get: Early identification of problems while they’re still correctable, preventing citations and reducing inspection liability.
The leading cause of construction deaths and OSHA’s top citation category. We defend against fall protection violations and help you develop compliant fall protection programs.
Construction electrical work creates unique hazards that OSHA closely scrutinizes. We handle electrical safety violations and develop site-specific electrical safety programs.
Cave-in hazards make excavation work extremely dangerous and heavily regulated. We defend against excavation violations and provide compliance guidance for earthwork operations.
Construction equipment creates serious hazards that OSHA actively monitors. We handle equipment-related violations and develop equipment safety programs.
Scaffolding violations are common in construction and carry serious penalties. We defend against scaffolding citations and provide compliance guidance.
Construction sites use numerous hazardous chemicals that require proper handling and communication. We address chemical safety violations and develop compliant hazcom programs.
When OSHA shows up at your construction site, everything changes instantly. Work stops. Investigators start interviewing employees. Citations start accumulating. Every decision you make in the next few hours can determine whether you face minor penalties or business-ending consequences.
Construction companies that handle OSHA investigations without experienced legal help typically face:
Emergency Response for Active Investigations. When OSHA arrives at your job site, call us immediately. We provide rapid on-site legal representation in Texas, Georgia, and California.
Immediate Citation Defense. If you’ve already received OSHA citations, time is critical. You have only 15 working days to contest citations or they become final and non-appealable.
Comprehensive OSHA Legal Services. Our retainer covers all OSHA-related legal services, including emergency response, citation defense, retaliation claims, and compliance guidance.
Guaranteed rapid response for all OSHA-related emergencies.
Contact The Cromeens Law Firm immediately: (713) 715-7334
When OSHA targets your construction site, don’t gamble with your business and your freedom. Call now for immediate legal protection.
Call us immediately, then politely request that OSHA wait for legal representation. You have the right to have an attorney present during inspections, and exercising this right cannot be held against you.
Yes. OSHA can issue imminent danger orders that immediately stop all work until violations are corrected. These orders can last weeks or months and destroy project schedules.
Serious violations carry substantial penalties. Willful violations can result in significantly higher penalties. Repeat violations face automatic penalty multiplication and potential criminal referrals.
Yes. Willful violations that result in worker deaths can lead to federal criminal prosecution with potential prison time for each death.
Only 15 working days from receipt. Missing this deadline makes citations final and non-appealable, regardless of whether they were justified.
This creates dual exposure – both the underlying safety issues and federal retaliation claims. Contact us immediately before taking any additional action against the employee.
Ready to protect your construction business from OSHA? Call (713) 715-7334 now for immediate consultation.
The Cromeens Law Firm offers a comprehensive retainer package tailored exclusively for clients in the construction industry. With our firm’s deep expertise in construction law, our retainer package ensures you have access to top-notch legal services whenever you need them.
