OSHA is “highly unlikely” to finalize a national heat illness standard before the end of the Trump administration, despite its October 2027 goal, a former agency official says, noting OSHA’s plan to significantly revise the Biden-era proposal and seek additional comment even though the standards office has had large staffing cuts.
September 16, 2026
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) updated proposal to modify its workplace inspection “walkaround” rule to reflect federal OSHA’s rule on who can serve as an employee representative during inspection visits is prompting continued pushback from employer representatives who had sought a number of significant revisions to an earlier draft.
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The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is planning to quickly finalize more than a dozen deregulatory actions it proposed last year, although it plans to hold a public hearing on its controversial proposal to eliminate the authority for a district manager to require additional measures in roof control plans.
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OSHA is planning to take “final action” on a Biden-era proposal that would require employers to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in their workplace by October 2027, according to the agency’s latest Unified Agenda of regulatory actions, although it remains uncertain what that action will be.
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Mine operators should still be reviewing their safety and health compliance efforts on an annual basis even though the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was unable to adjust its penalty levels for 2026 due to the government shutdown last fall, legal experts say.
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The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is urging its members to lobby lawmakers to back legislation that would bar OSHA from finalizing the Biden-era proposal for a national heat standard, saying the proposed rule would undo much of the relief for small businesses the Trump administration has put in place.
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Public Citizen is urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide stable funding for OSHA in fiscal year 2027 and push back on proposed House cuts to the agency’s budget that go beyond those requested by the Trump administration.
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California lawmakers are continuing to advance a bill aimed at bolstering California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) probes of serious worker-safety violations through its Bureau of Investigations (BOI), and to establish a first-time pilot program to require BOI to send fatality incidents directly to county prosecutors for faster potential criminal enforcement actions.
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OSHA is proposing to collect a total of more than $3.5 million in fines from three companies the agency says failed to protect workers during a post-emergency response cleanup after a chemical spill at an industrial facility near Houston, TX, in December.
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EPA’s draft TSCA risk evaluation for the siloxane known as D4 has several shortcomings, including a significant lack of data about workers exposure to the chemical even though chemical manufacturers requested EPA evaluate D4, agency science advisors say in a final report outlining several concerns with the draft document.
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The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has finalized four rules to remove outdated requirements after the proposals dealing with conveyor belts, blacksmith shops, diesel particulate matter (DPM) emission limits and flame safety lamps received no opposing comments.
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The 4th Circuit is upholding a lower court’s dismissal of South Carolina’s challenge to an OSHA rule requiring states to match annual increases to federal OSH Act penalties, finding South Carolina’s arguments seeking to reinstate the litigation “hold no water.”
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is poised to approve an expanded set of safety rules for the installation, maintenance and operation of elevators, escalators and other conveyances that labor unions and other backers say represent the most stringent provisions in the country and could serve as a model for other states.
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The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is commending the American Petroleum Institute (API) for quickly updating its safety standards beyond what the board recommended to address flammable gas even as OSHA and EPA have yet to act on repeated CSB advice to expand federal standards in a similar manner.
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EPA is finalizing a rule to align its hazardous chemical inventory reporting rules under an environmental right-to-know law with OSHA’s hazard categories, which EPA says will improve first responder and community safety.
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An administrative law judge’s (ALJ) recent upholding of OSHA penalties against a lumber company totaling nearly $2.5 million illustrates the need for employers to have written safety procedures, adequate training for employees and a top-down management commitment to safety, attorneys with a focus on OSHA compliance say.
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A Texas-based energy infrastructure company is challenging the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), becoming the latest entity seeking to apply a 2024 Supreme Court ruling requiring jury trials to resolve OSHA citations.
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EPA has preliminarily identified three conditions of use (COUs) of a wildly used flame retardant known TBBPA that pose unreasonable risks to workers, which if finalized could set first-time occupational limits for a chemical that OSHA has not regulated.
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The D.C. Circuit has upheld an OSHA citation against an oil and gas drilling specialty contractor after a fatal 2022 incident, rejecting the company’s arguments that the agency erred in issuing the citation, including claims that the OSH Act General Duty Clause is too vague.
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Colorado has expanded its heat standard covering agricultural workers to include both hot and cold temperature extremes and all other types of workers, potentially increasing pressure on OSHA to finalize its long-pending heat standard or encouraging other states to take similar action in the absence of a federal rule.
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