The hardest thing for people to understand is OSHA is totally separate from the juditial system, they are their own system, they do not used the same rules of practice or procedure.  In civil court you must be proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  OSHA uses preponderance of the law.  You knew or should have known or 50% chance the claim is true you should have known a hazard exisited.  OSHA set the rules and standards, employers must protect their employees with a measured standard of care.  This standard is not always written it can be a best industry practice or an industrial practice, then OSHA used the General Duty Clause Section 5 a 1 out of the OSHA act.   then OSHA has what they call a multi-employer clause, where an owner or business hires a company to do work that company is also citable for a hazard.  Link: Multi-Employer Citation Policy | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov) so OSHA breaks it down my controlling employer(s), exposing employer(s), creating employer(s) and correcting employer(s).   Recently I ran across this scenario and the employer did not understand OSHA - The controlling employer - who hires the other companies.  A creating employer is who created the hazard, The exposing employers is whos employees are exposed to the hazard, and the correcting employer is who is going to abate or fix the problem.  OSHA could and does all the time cite the controlling company, the contacting companies for the exposure, abatement as a controlling employer and exposing employer, the contractor as the creating employer and the subcontractor as correcting employer.  There may be one hazard / violation for less than an hour and several companies can and will be cited for a violation.  You need to understand how OSHA works, learn more or hire help that work in that field.   We can help explain your rights and how the system works, or we can do a referral to who can help.  Call and learn more.