Heat Treat Consultant: Rick Kaletsky

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Name: Rick Kaletsky
Company Name: Rick Kaletsky, Safety Consultant
Location: Bethany, CT
Years In Industry: 30+

Consulting Specialties:

  • Occupational Safety
  • Hazard Recognition & Abatement
  • Accident/Incident Investigation
  • Site Inspection
  • Citation Resolution

Briefly:

Rick Kaletsky, MTI’s OSHA Safety Consultant, specializes in hazard recognition and abatement, site inspection, accident investigation, and citation resolution. Prior to founding his firm (dba “Rick Kaletsky, Safety Consultant”) in 1992, Rick worked for USDOL/OSHA for 20 years, as compliance officer/safety specialist and assistant area director. While with OSHA, he conducted hundreds of “walkaround” compliance inspections and reviewed thousands and successfully negotiated hundreds of settlement agreements with employers. As the sole owner of his company, Rick has conducted a wealth of OSHA-type, “hands-on” comprehensive inspections. The list includes MTI-member companies in California, Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts. Further, he has presented occupational safety talks, including for MTI, across the country. He is the author of OSHA Inspections: Preparation and Response, which is now in the 3rd edition, which is the 14th version, has been endorsed by MTI, and was received with exceptional praise from professional organizations, companies, government agencies, and industry leaders. Rick has also written over 400 articles, columns, and Q&As, and is the sole lecturer and “inspector” in two videos: “Employee Safety: Protecting Yourself and Your Fellow Workers” (by Wausau Insurance & the Metal Treating Institute) and “Walk-Thru Safety Inspection: Through the Eyes of an OSHA Compliance Officer (originally by Business & Legal Reports, 2002, but re-released by National Safety Council in 2017). He is also the sole lecturer in a series of four online training modules: Permit-Required Confined Spaces, Lockout/Tagout, Personal Protective Equipment, General Plant Safety (by Metal Treating Institute, 2017). He frequently serves as “expert witness” for attorneys and has testified more than 60 times and consulted on numerous other cases that did not require his testimony. He has worked in many states as well as Belgium and Switzerland.

Publications or Significant Accomplishments:

  1. Registered as a member of multiple professional organizations, including but not limited to:
    • Bureau of Business Practice
    • Business & Legal Reports
    • Metal Treating Institute
    • National Safety Council
    • American Society of Safety Professionals (formerly American Society of Safety Engineers), past chapter vice-president
    • Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health
  2. Authored OSHA Inspections: Preparation and Response (2023 3rd Edition), National Safety Council, softcover, 475 pages.
  3. Featured as a guest on Heat Treat Radio #92: Navigating OSHA.gov with Rick Kaletsky.
  4. Authored over 400 articles, columns, and Q&As in publications that include but are not limited to: various publications and newsletters of the Metal Treating Institute, Newsletter of the Nutmeg Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers, News & Views, Precision Cleaning Magazine, and Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.  “A Jam-Packed Tour of Common Hazards in the Heat Treat Industry”, originally published with MTI, was reprinted in Heat Treat Today‘s Aerospace edition (March 2019).
  5. Worked in multiple states within the U.S. and in Belgium and Switzerland conducting inspections and commenting on OSHA policies and procedures.
  6. Gave more than 280 presentations as both an OSHA employee and as a self-employed safety consultant to schools, labor, corporations, management, associations, insurance groups, and miscellaneous organizations, and has been interviewed on television.
  7. Quoted outside of the publication of his own articles in: Occupational Hazards Magazine, Occupational Health & Safety Magazine, Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, OSHU Up-to-Date, the Architectural Woodwork Institute, Logistics Management, Catalog Age Magazine, Forging Magazine, and others.
  8. Served as an advisory panel member for Aspen Publishers and Business & Legal Reports.
  9. Taught as sole lecturer and inspector in two videotapes:
    • “Employee Safety: Protecting Yourself and Your Fellow Workers” produced by Wausau Insurance & the Metal Treating Institute.
    • “Walk-Thru Safety Inspection: Through the Eyes of an OSHA Compliance Officer” produced by Business & Legal Reports (2002)
  10. Taught as sole lecturer in a series of four online training modules for the Metal Training Institute, 2017:
    • Permit-Required Confined Spaces
    • Lockout/Tagout
    • Personal Protective Equipment
    • General Plant Safety
  11. Taught occupational safety and health at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the following colleges:
    • Undergraduate: University of New Haven, Mitchell College, Housatonic Community College
    • Graduate: University of New Haven
  12. Served as a faculty member of the National Business Institute, the Institute of Business Law, and the Council on Education in Management.
  13. Provides expert testimony (over 60 times in court, by deposition, and at arbitration), and has consulted on numerous other cases not requiring testimony
  14. Founded his own safety consulting firm, Rick Kaletsky, Safety Consultant (1992).

 

Links to Other Online Resources from This Consultant (but not limited to)

References available upon request from the Consultant