After Petition Denied, Public Citizen Now Seeks General Duty Citations On Resident Work Hours

A key public interest group is pressuring OSHA to use the general duty clause of the OSH Act to enforce limits on resident physician work hours to battle fatigue and related hazards, after the agency denied the group's petition for formal regulatory action on the issue for the second time in a decade and deferred to an outside accrediting group. The organization, Public Citizen, also wants OSHA to ramp up enforcement of whistleblower laws to counter retaliation against doctors who lodge safety and health concerns over lengthy work periods. Though it denied the petition, OSHA says it is working