OSHA is seeking a $1.3 million fine against a Massachusetts contractor over a Feb. 24 accident that killed two workers, in the latest step of its push to bolster enforcement against repeat, willful and severe violations of safety standards.
November 15, 2026
Environmental groups are urging EPA to draw on OSHA data on workplace chemical exposures in its newly announced “tiered” reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), alongside arguments that officials should tighten their current plans for the rule in order to generate new data that could aid OSHA and other agencies.
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OSHA has updated its COVID-19 guidance to recommend face coverings for workers at indoor work sites in areas with “substantial or high transmission” of the disease regardless of vaccination status, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guide aimed at stemming the more-contagious “Delta” coronavirus variant.
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The sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka leaves the country’s largest labor group at a potential crossroads just as it is in position to help shape OSHA policymaking and other Labor Department actions in the Biden administration, as well as to make a renewed push for congressional passage of several longstanding worker-safety bills.
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The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a think tank that aims to bolster protections for “low- and middle-income workers,” is urging Congress to step up fiscal year 2022 funding for OSHA as part of a broader push to boost resources for “worker protection agencies,” just as the Senate is ramping up debate on its FY22 appropriations bills.
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A top official at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says the sheer number of engineered nanomaterials in use has made targeted toxicity testing impractical despite a reporting mandate forcing agencies to focus on identifying analogues they can use as the basis for risk assessments.
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Employers’ attorneys say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new move to tighten its COVID-19 guidance following a wave of infections by the “Delta” virus variant has created fresh uncertainty on whether vaccinated workers should be required to wear face coverings, and are pushing OSHA to provide an answer.
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OSHA’s Midwest Region V is tightening enforcement of a host of standards for workers who clean mobile storage tanks used in rail and truck shipping, saying 97 safety incidents and 23 deaths suffered by workers in the sector since 2016 are enough to justify a formal regional emphasis program (REP).
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An alliance of worker groups, environmentalists and others is petitioning OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for heat illness even though the agency has begun to craft a permanent rule on the subject, arguing that the years-long regulatory process is too slow to protect workers from heat waves driven by climate change.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has struck down OSHA’s citation against a New Jersey construction company for a 2017 accident that the agency claimed violated lockout/tagout requirements in its construction safety standard, taking a narrow view of the “maintenance” work that triggers those provisions.
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