Service area: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
McNeil Safety Consulting is led by Michael Karl McNeil, an occupational safety, industrial hygiene and forensic consultant who has worked in the field since 1989 and has operated the firm since 2005. The firm is headquartered in San Gabriel, California, but the experience behind it is not exclusively Californian. Twenty-five years of it was federal service, carried out under federal law, on assignments that ran throughout the Western United States and beyond.
That distinction matters to an employer facing a citation in Boise, Billings, Denver, Fargo or Rapid City. Those are not Cal/OSHA jurisdictions. They are federal OSHA jurisdictions, and the standards, the deadlines and the forum are federal ones.
Twenty-Five Years of Federal Service
Michael McNeil retired as a Fire Battalion Chief after twenty-five years in the fire service, the bulk of it as a federal employee. He served in federal fire, advancing from Fire Prevention Captain to Battalion Chief, Prevention.
Federal service means federal rules. Occupational safety inside a federal agency is administered under 29 CFR Part 1960, the basic program elements for federal employee occupational safety and health programs, which applies the substantive standards of 29 CFR 1910 and 1926 to federal agency operations. Prevention work, fire and life safety code enforcement, origin-and-cause investigation and incident safety in that environment are performed against the federal standard set, not against a single state plan.
Incident Assignments Across the Western United States
Federal fire assignments are national by design. Over the course of his career Mr. McNeil was dispatched to incidents across the country and predominantly across the Western states, qualified under the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) system. NWCG qualifications are federal and interagency: a position certified under NWCG is recognized across agencies and across state lines, which is precisely why federal responders can be ordered anywhere in the nation on short notice.
The practical effect of that is regulatory, not just operational. Running assignments in other states means working inside those states’ occupational safety, hazardous materials, air quality and emergency management frameworks alongside the federal ones — repeatedly, across many seasons, in conditions where misreading a requirement has consequences. That is where the multi-state regulatory familiarity behind this practice was actually built.
Federal Law Enforcement Training and Credentials
Investigation and enforcement training on the federal side supports the forensic and expert witness half of the practice. Credentials and training include:
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) — federal law enforcement training
- California State Fire Marshal (CSFM) certifications
- NWCG federal wildland fire qualifications
Federal law enforcement training that is jurisdiction-neutral by construction is part of the reason this is not a California-only resume. It is a matter of record rather than marketing.
Why a Federal Background Matters in an OSHA Citation Case
Of the thirteen states McNeil Safety Consulting serves, five — Idaho, Montana, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota — have no state plan covering private employers. Citations there are issued under the federal standards at 29 CFR 1910 and 1926 and contested before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission under the Commission’s own rules of procedure. Oregon, New Mexico and Wyoming operate approved state plans that track the federal model closely. California runs the most divergent program of the group.
Representation in the federal forum does not require a lawyer. 29 CFR 2200.22 provides: “Any party or intervenor may appear in person, through an attorney, or through any non-attorney representative.” California’s counterpart, 8 CCR §378(a), provides that “a party may appear in person or through a representative who is not required to be an attorney at law.” Oregon (OAR 438-085-0431(2)), New Mexico (11.5.5.111(A) NMAC) and Wyoming (WY OSHA Rules of Practice Ch. 6 §6-3(d)) each permit non-attorney representation as well.
Two exceptions are stated plainly, because they matter more than the marketing does. McNeil Safety Consulting does not take citation defense or appeals representation in Washington or Utah. Washington’s rule on who may represent a party before the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals is a closed list (WAC 263-12-020(3)(b)) that does not clearly reach an outside consultant, and Utah requires a Utah-licensed attorney for corporate parties (Utah Admin. Code R602-1-3(1), (3)). Work in those two states is safety and EHS consulting only — industrial hygiene and exposure assessment, written program development, hazard analysis, audits and training support.
Deadlines are not uniform either. Oregon and Utah run 30 days; the rest run 15 working days, all from receipt rather than issuance. The state-by-state breakdown, with the rule text for each, is set out on the OSHA citation appeal deadlines reference.
Education, Registrations and Certifications
- B.S., Forestry — University of Idaho
- Registered Industrial Hygienist (RIH)
- Registered Emergency Planning Professional (REPP)
- Certified Construction & Occupational Health & Safety Manager (CCOHSM)
- Certified Environmental & Safety Compliance Officer
- Qualified SWPPP Developer / Practitioner (QSD)
- Hazardous Materials Manager; HAZMAT Specialist / Incident Commander
- EMT-II (California); Certified Tactical Medic
Professional Memberships
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) — member and reviewer
- Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM) — contributor
- American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
- California Association of Arson Investigators (CAAI)
- National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI)
- Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA)
- California Professional Firefighters (CPF)
Where McNeil Safety Consulting Works
Citation defense and appeals representation, plus full EHS and industrial hygiene consulting:
- California — Cal/OSHA (home jurisdiction)
- Oregon — Oregon OSHA state plan
- New Mexico — New Mexico OSHA state plan
- Wyoming — Wyoming OSHA state plan
- Idaho, Montana, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota — federal OSHA
Safety and EHS consulting only, no citation defense:
- Washington — representation restricted by WAC 263-12-020(3)(b)
- Utah — corporate parties require a Utah-licensed attorney, Utah Admin. Code R602-1-3
Nevada and Arizona are outside the service area by choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does McNeil Safety Consulting work outside California?
Yes. The firm serves thirteen states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Cal/OSHA citation defense is the largest single service line, but five of the thirteen states are federal OSHA jurisdictions and five more run approved state plans where a non-attorney may appear. Washington, Utah and Arizona are consulting-only for the reasons given above.
Can a non-attorney represent an employer in a federal OSHA case?
Yes. 29 CFR 2200.22 states that “any party or intervenor may appear in person, through an attorney, or through any non-attorney representative” before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. That is the federal counterpart to California’s 8 CCR §378(a). Counsel is still the right answer where there is criminal exposure, parallel civil litigation or a novel legal question, and this firm says so rather than competing for that work.
What is the federal side of Michael McNeil’s background?
Twenty-five years in the fire service, the bulk of it in federal fire, retiring as Battalion Chief, Prevention. Qualifications carried under the federal NWCG interagency system, and federal law enforcement training through FLETC.
Why does a fire service background matter to an industrial hygienist?
Because the work overlaps directly: hazardous materials response and management, confined space, respiratory protection, fire and life safety code enforcement, origin-and-cause investigation, incident command, and accident investigation under conditions where the record has to survive later scrutiny. Those are the same subjects that appear in citations and in litigation.
Who Actually Does the Work
McNeil Safety Consulting is a two-person firm, and that is a deliberate choice rather than a stage it has not grown out of. Work is never subcontracted, brokered to a partner firm, resold to a national vendor network, or assigned to a contract inspector hired locally for the assignment. Michael Karl McNeil performs the site work, the sampling, the program writing, the citation defense and the expert analysis himself. Zennin Sedacey-McNeil, LVN handles the medical side: occupational health, infection control and OSHA medical surveillance.
This is also why the service area stops at thirteen states. When an out-of-state engagement is accepted, the same two people travel to it — so the firm takes fewer matters than a staffed consultancy can, and declines work it cannot cover personally. What a client gets in exchange is continuity: the person who saw the site is the person who signs the report and the person who defends it. The service area page sets out the scope state by state.
Talk to Michael Directly
There is no intake team here. Calls go to Michael McNeil. If a citation has already issued, the clock is running from the date it was received — call (626) 546-9384 or use the contact page.
Related: service area and states served · Cal/OSHA citation and violation defense · OSHA citation appeal deadlines by state · Cal/OSHA citations, classifications and penalties · expert witness and litigation support
This page describes professional qualifications and experience. It is not legal advice and does not create a consulting or attorney-client relationship. Regulatory citations are current as of publication; the rule text governing your own citation controls.