Profile
Michael Taylor is Chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Practice's OSHA group. He focuses his practice exclusively on representing employers regarding Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Chemical Safety Board (CSB) matters across the country. Over the last eighteen years, Michael has defended scores of employers during enforcement litigation before federal OSHA, Cal-OSHA, SC-OSHA, WA-DOSH, as well as other state plan states. Many of these representations have involved a significant injury, fatality, or catastrophic event in the workplace.
Currently, Michael is providing guidance to employers regarding appropriate engineering, work practices, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment when dealing with COVID-19 in the workplace. Michael also provides OSHA compliance counseling, OSHA inspection counseling, OSHA whistleblower representation, and OSHA due diligence reviews, and CSB investigations for clients. Michael has wide-ranging experience in the workplace safety field, including his prior public service as General Counsel to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the federal agency in charge of the trials and appeals of workplace safety and health disputes between federal OSHA and the regulated community. In 2013, EHS Today named Michael as one of the Top 50 People Who Most Influenced Environmental, Health, and Safety. Michael is also the Founder and Host of the Greenberg Traurig Workplace Safety Review Podcast, where he interviews influential environmental, health, and safety professionals across the country in a broad range of industries. A highly committed advocate, Michael's clients can rely on him to be present and engaged regarding any workplace safety and health issue in any state across the country.
Concentrations
- OSHA
- Chemical Safety Board
- Process safety management
- Incident Response
- Energy & natural resources
Capabilities
Experience
Construction
- Represented construction company in federal litigation involving crane collapse.°
- Represented construction company in federal litigation involving demolition operations.°
- Represented construction company in federal litigation involving use of certain clamps to pickup tank piping.°
- Represented construction company in federal litigation involving trenching at a construction site.°
Oil and Gas/Energy
- Represented oil and gas company in federal litigation involving a blowout at a natural gas well.°
- Represented oil and gas well drilling company in a case involving a whistleblower allegation.°
- Represented utility company in federal litigation involving lockout/tagout and personal protective equipment.°
- Represented oil and gas well drilling company in federal litigation regarding fall protection.°
- Represented utility company in federal litigation involving arc flash and electrocution.°
- Represented oil refinery in federal litigation involving facility siting.°
- Represented oil refineries in federal litigation involving OSHA's Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program citations.°
- Represented oil refinery in federal litigation involving employee exposure to oily water sewer system.°
- Represented oil refinery in state litigation involving heat exchanger explosion.°
- Represented coal company in federal litigation involving combustible dust.°
- Represented wind energy company in case involving fixed ladders inside wind turbines.°
Baking
- Represented baking company in federal litigation involving OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.°
- Represented baking company in federal litigation involving arc flash and electrocution.°
Trade Association
- Represented trade association in case involving federal OSHA's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Combustible Dust.°
- Represented trade association in case involving federal OSHA's Proposed Rule regarding the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution standard.°
- Represented trade association in case involving federal OSHA's interpretation of Occupational Noise standards.°
Chemical
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving explosion at a salt water disposal well.°
- Represented chemical companies in federal litigation involving OSHA's Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program citations.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving facility siting.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving hazard communication.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving flammable liquids.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving anhydrous ammonia.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving forklift operation.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving tank explosion.°
- Represented chemical company in federal litigation involving explosion at a chemical storage facility.°
Health Care
- Represented health care companies involving COVID-19 fatalities.
- Represented dialysis company in state litigation involving bloodborne pathogens.°
Manufacturers
- Represented automotive parts company in state litigation involving explosion in chemical room.°
- Represented automotive parts company in state litigation involving employee amputation.°
- Represented automotive parts company in state litigation involving fatality.°
- Represented commercial hot water heater manufacturer in federal litigation involving permit-required confined spaces.°
- Represented automotive parts company in federal litigation involving arc flash and other electrical safety issues.°
- Represented coil manufacturer in federal litigation involving guarding issues.°
- Represented paper manufacturer in federal litigation involving lockout/tagout of equipment.°
- Represented paint manufacturer in federal litigation involving process safety.°
Grain Handling Industry
- Represented grain company in federal litigation involving Grain Handling Facilities Standard.°
- Represented grain company in federal litigation grain handling.°
Refrigerated Warehouses
- Represented refrigerated warehouse in federal litigation involving Process Safety Management (PSM).°
Entertainment
- Represented motion picture company in state litigation involving electrical safety.°
Food
- Represented Waco, Texas restaurant in a case involving workplace violence resulting from a motorcycle club shootout and OSHA’s claim the restaurant needed a workplace violence program.°
°The above representations were handled by Mr. Taylor prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
- Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
- General Counsel, 2003
- Chief Legal Counsel and Special Advisor to Chairman W. Scott Railton, 2002
- Legal Intern, Hon. David W. McKeague, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, 1999
- Legal Intern, Hon. Richard F. Suhrheinrich, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1998
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, Benchmark Litigation, "Labor & Employment Star," 2020
- Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Labor and Employment - Workplace and Employment Counseling, 2018-2019
- Recognized, EHS Today, “50 People Who Most Influenced Environmental, Health and Safety.” 2013
- Recipient, American Society of Business Publication Editors: Occupational Hazards magazine, Azbee Award, 2008
- Member, American Bar Association
- Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee
Credentials
- LL.M., Georgetown University Law Center
- J.D., Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School
- B.S., Eastern Kentucky University
- District of Columbia