Cotney Authors White Paper on OSHA’s Multi-Employer Site Citation Policy

Adams & Reese Construction Team Leader and Partner Trent Cotney authored the inaugural white paper for the National Construction Policy Institute on “Rethinking OSHA’s Multi-Employer Citation Doctrine: A Comprehensive Policy Analysis and Reform Blueprint.”

Cotney is a Senior Fellow of the NCPI, which empowers the construction sector with research-driven insights on regulatory challenges, workforce policies, and project safety. Cotney's paper tackles OSHA’s multi-employer site citation policy and outlines a path forward to modernize it to increase jobsite safety in today's construction industry.

Cotney says that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s multi-employer site doctrine – which categorizes employers as creating, exposing, correcting, or controlling – remains a pivotal but unevenly applied enforcement framework for America’s $2 trillion construction sector. OSHA’s history of enforcement demonstrates a renewed emphasis on upstream accountability.

“Prime contractors face heightened citation risk merely for supplying subcontractors with the very training, PPE, and safety technologies that could mitigate the hazard,” writes Cotney. “This unintended consequence can chill proactive collaboration and leave systemic gaps in worker protection.”

In his policy paper, Cotney argues that Congress and the Department of Labor must codify clear, brightline limits on controlling-employer liability to preserve both worker protections and project efficiency.

The paper recommends three action items:

1. Establishing a statutory safe-harbor that permits general contractors to furnish PPE, training, and on-site safety technologies without automatically assuming controlling-employer status;
2. Creating a graduated citation matrix that aligns enforcement severity with the employer’s actual ability to abate hazards; and
3. Incentivizing data-driven “safety partnership agreements” that reward collaborative compliance across multiemployer worksites.

“By recalibrating accountability in this way, federal policy can reduce litigation, promote voluntary hazard control, and free resources for innovation, while maintaining OSHA’s core mission of safeguarding America’s workforce,” writes Cotney.

At Adams & Reese, Cotney is a leading member of one of the largest construction teams in the country with more than 90 attorneys licensed across more than 35 states. Cotney represents GCs, subcontractors, suppliers, manufacturers, architects, engineers, roofers, developers, and other professionals. Cotney is a board-certified construction lawyer licensed in eight states and Washington, DC, and he is an EU arbitrator for construction-related disputes.

Cotney is also experienced in construction litigation and arbitration, including OSHA defense, lien law, bond law, bid protests, and construction document review and drafting. Cotney serves as General Counsel for more than 10 construction and roofing trade associations and organizations, and he has published more than 1,000 articles in over 100 publications. Cotney recently published his fourth construction law book, Roofing Law: Contracts.