Ben H. Patton

Reed Smith LLP

Ben concentrates his practice on environmental and safety regulatory and compliance matters. He routinely counsels companies in connection with major industrial accidents, internal investigations and root cause analysis (RCA), workplace culture, compliance assurance, crisis response, whistleblowers, process safety incidents, and workplace injuries and fatalities. Ben also advises companies on government agency investigations and enforcement, environmental litigation, and response to regulatory rulemakings.

Ben is part of the firm’s global environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice. He has a particular focus on the environmental and governance aspects of ESG. He routinely counsels clients on risk management, environmental and safety social governance, and ethics in crisis response. 

Ben has represented clients in response to investigations by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and state and local regulatory agencies and public service commissions.

A significant part of Ben's practice involves counseling companies on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) culture and the management of process safety. He advises energy companies with upstream, midstream, and downstream operations on emerging regulatory requirements and systems for overseeing EHS performance, and has worked on several of the most significant industrial incidents of the past decade. Additionally, Ben advises energy companies on the development of robust process safety management systems and procedures. 

Ben is trained and certified in upstream and offshore safety and emergency procedures.