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Industrial Safety and Workers Compensation Experience |
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During my years as General Counsel at Hackney Industries, Inc., I was heavily involved in Risk Management in workers compensation (we achieved mod rates half the industry average), in general liability areas, and in both self-insured and insured medical plans for multi-state employment levels exceeding 600 employees for 6 plants in 5 states, headquartered out of Washington, NC. I worked with Employee Safety Committees and wellness programs to prevent work-related accidents and injuries. I supervised the handling of workers compensation claims within the corporate organization and assisted in the legal defense of a number of claims in several states, including North Carolina. I have performed safety, OSHA and other regulatory audits of industrial plants several times a year during my tenure as a corporate counsel, and I have defended OSHA and other violations before regulatory bodies in North Carolina and other states. I was very heavily involved in the risk management end of product design, working to provide safer work environments for users of industrial electrical switchgear equipment, general beverage transportation equipment, emergency response equipment, and garbage packing/transportation equipment. I helped develop the working and placement of warnings on industrial equipment, and assisted in the actual design of equipment to lessen user exposure to injury, and to lessen corporate product liability exposures. I have assisted in the defense of a significant number of product liability claims throughout the United States. Industrial safety, in its myriad forms and contexts, has been an overriding concern of mine for many years. I have helped to achieve hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance savings over the years through my attention to industrial safety. I am very comfortable dealing with complex regulations concerning safety, engineering and legal matters. |