Employer liability related to workplace safety and health obligations at cement operations

Abstract

Cement company operators are faced with numerous challenges in today's regulatory environment. Not least among these is the need to maintain a safe and healthful workplace. Over the years, companies have devised a variety of approaches to making facilities and equipment safer; they have also improved training for employees. Increasingly, employers recognize that anything they can do to prevent on-the-job accidents, injuries or illnesses, they should do. This paper reviews the nature of each of the potential types of employer liability and then considers how they interact. Moreover, it considers particularly the implications of independent contractors being on mine property as third parties since, by their presence, they are persons who are potentially exposed to injury. Perhaps, more significantly, they are persons who may cause an unsafe condition, a violation of law, or a workplace injury. Under present law, a corporation that is deemed an operator of a mine may be held vicariously liable for violations or injuries caused by contractors while on mine property. Thus, this paper also suggests precautions for operators who engage independent contractors for work on mine property.