R. Acosta, Secretary, LABR v. Hensel Phelps Constr

JAMES E. GRAVES, JR., Circuit Judge:

Thirty-seven years ago, this court, in a tort case, announced that "OSHA regulations protect only an employer's own employees." Melerine v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc. , 659 F.2d 706 , 711 (5th Cir. Unit A 1981). That decision has endured despite the seismic shift brought about by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. , 467 U.S. 837 , 104 S.Ct. 2778 , 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984), and the decades of administrative-law aftershocks that followed.

Today we reexamine Melerine , and the precedent on which it relies, 1 in the light of that shift. In…