The head of workplace safety practice at the law firm Conn Maciel Carey called OSHA’s severe violator enforcement program (SVEP) “unconstitutional” during a recent panel on the agency’s recent moves to strengthen it, arguing that it imposes penalties on employers before they can seek judicial review of pending citations, in violation of their due-process rights.
November 15, 2026
The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued modified waivers of statutory line speed limits for all 10 poultry processing facilities that were at the center of unions’ lawsuit over a Trump-era waiver program, opening the door for that suit to potentially resume after a stay of over a year.
Date:
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has finished its review of OSHA’s proposed rule that the agency says will “clarify” specific personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for construction workers, a move that could enhance protections against toxic chemical exposure and has been in development for almost four years.
Date:
OSHA leaders say the agency has begun certifying two types of visas for workers who were victims of human trafficking, forced labor and other crimes, it announced, nearly two months after officials announced plans to issue the documents in order to protect workers who are undocumented immigrants or subject to time-limited visas during investigations.
Date:
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has upheld OSHA’s citation against a roofing company over an employee’s failure to use fall protection while briefly assessing the positioning of a crane director, refusing to apply what it says is a narrow exception in the standard for activity before the “actual start of construction work.”
Date:
The Asbestos Disease Organization (ADAO) is asking EPA to expand the window to comment on newly published worker-safety data related to its proposed ban on current uses of chrysotile asbestos, even as it warns the agency against letting its review of those comments delay a final asbestos rule from its non-binding October target.
Date:
OSHA has granted final approval to Maine’s application to administer workplace health and safety standards as they apply to state and local government employees, after the state completed a last round of revisions for the OSH Act state plan that it first submitted a decade ago.
Date:
South Carolina is again challenging OSHA’s mandate for states to match federal minimum and maximum penalties for OSH Act violations, targeting the 2016 federal rule that first announced the policy after a federal court rejected its earlier suit that focused on language restating the mandate in the agency’s annual rules adjusting penalties for inflation.
Date:
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) two recent rulings that rejected OSHA heat-stress citations applying the general duty clause could motivate the agency to more quickly enact its long-promised safety standard specifically governing heat hazards, an employer attorney says.
Date:
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun reviewing the final version of the Biden administration’s rule imposing a one-time mandate on companies to report their recent uses of asbestos, a measure that health advocates have sought to expand as they hope it will inform future assessment and regulation of the mineral’s uses but which industry is seeking to narrow.
Date: