The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to consider how strictly OSHA can apply its fall-protection standard in a construction company’s appeal of an enforcement case that has so far focused on how workers should apply the rule’s mandate to wear protective gear when crossing a height difference over 2 feet.
November 15, 2026
Unions representing workers at poultry slaughterhouses have voluntarily dropped their long-pending suit against the Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the safety impacts of line speed waivers for the sector, apparently in response to the beginning of a new Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) trial that replaced the Trump-era program they challenged.
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OSHA has unveiled its latest warehouse-safety citation against Amazon, this time alleging that the retail giant failed to provide “adequate medical treatment” for employees with traumatic and chronic injuries at a fulfillment facility in Castleton, NY -- which the agency says is just one of 20 open investigations into the firm’s workplaces.
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OSHA is beginning a new enforcement national emphasis program (NEP) aimed at preventing on-the-job falls -- which the agency notes is the leading cause of fatal workplace accidents -- and improving compliance with the fall protection standard.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has found that OSHA properly treated two subsidiaries of Universal Health Services (UHS) as a “single employer” in a citation for workplace violence at a Massachusetts facility, rejecting the firm’s claim that doing so would render the test “near-boundless” -- but also classifying its decision as non-precedential.
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A National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) working group crafting advice for OSHA’s long-awaited heat-danger standard appears set to recommend that the rule avoid tying protections to specific temperatures and instead account for variability in working conditions and geographic areas.
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A three-judge appellate panel appears skeptical of an Ohio contractor’s constitutional challenge to OSHA’s safety standard program, suggesting during recent oral arguments that the petitioner have a high bar to clear and questioning whether the case was intended only to challenge Supreme Court precedent on the so-called non-delegation doctrine.
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A scientist at EPA’s TSCA office says the agency’s collection of data on worker safety and chemical exposures differs in scope and purpose from industrial hygienists and employers’ methods, offering more insight into the program’s assessment process just as it is floating its first set of workplace safety standards in a newly proposed rule for methylene chloride.
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OSHA’s enforcement chief has issued a letter of interpretation stating that the process safety management (PSM) standard allows host employers to train contract workers on requirements for handling hazardous chemicals, holding that host-led instruction satisfies the rule as long as the contractor’s direct employer ensures its adequacy and maintains records.
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An employer attorney says Amazon’s challenge to Washington State’s requirement for firms to abate alleged safety violations before administrative review of their citations is “ripe for an appeal” after a federal district court rejected the suit, holding out hope that further litigation could scrap the policy, though he warned that the retailer’s own arguments undercut its claims.
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