Daily News

Industry officials are reiterating calls for the Obama administration to narrow the scope of its pending regulation that will require companies to submit data on nanomaterials' chemical properties, data that will help OSHA, EPA and other agencies determine the scope and reach of future regulatory requirements.

Farmworker and other advocates are urging EPA to ban seven organophosphate (OP) pesticides to prevent neurodevelopmental risks to children and "egregious" risks to the workers, though manufacturers say the agency should halt regulatory action on the substances, arguing officials failed to vet its process for using epidemiological data in risk reviews, according to recently filed comments.

A coalition of major labor groups is suing OSHA over its controversial rule setting new standards to limit occupational exposures to crystaline silica, suggesting they may push to strengthen the regulation even as industry groups argue the measure is unlawful because it is technologically and economically unachievable.

Correction Appended

Just days after its promulgation, OSHA's rule setting strict new standards for crystaline silica has drawn at least three separate appellate challenges from various industry groups, launching a process that will allow the groups to make the case that the new exposure limits that are at the heart of the rule are economically and technologically unachievable.

Growing efforts by the Obama administration to strengthen chemical data disclosure requirements could increase companies' risks of enforcement actions or private litigation for potential Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) violations, says an industry attorney, who argues that efforts to reform TSCA could further increase companies' risk of such actions.

A bipartisan group of 42 House lawmakers is backing calls by a broad coalition of agriculture industry groups that is seeking to continue a legislative prohibition on OSHA's controversial policy narrowing its interpretation of when facilities are eligible for the agency's “retail” exemption from process safety management (PSM) rules.

Facing industry litigation and congressional criticisms, OSHA has delayed until the end of the 2016 fiscal year implementation of its controversial policy for determining threshold concentrations for when some so-called Appendix A chemicals are subject to the agency's process safety management (PSM) standard for highly hazardous chemicals.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is urging EPA to defer to OSHA on revising rules to improve the safety of industrial facilities, and to delay updates to its own accident prevention rule until OSHA completes planned revisions to its Process Safety Management Program (PSM) standard.

A top official is offering a strong defense of the Obama administration's risk management plan (RMP) facility accident prevention program, suggesting that the proposal will not be overhauled as advocates, industry groups and others called for at a March 29 public hearing.

Chemical sector officials are upbeat on prospects for Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation clearing Congress this year, even as states ramp up efforts to approve legislation that would give them more power to regulate chemicals, intensifying the patchwork of state efforts that has helped drive calls to overhaul the federal law.

OSHA has scheduled a public meeting where it will formally launch its effort to craft a separate safety guideline for the construction sector, a step the agency is taking after hearing from both home builders and labor unions that it's draft industry-wide safety guideline was confusing for the sector and required input from a special advisory panel.

After decades of work, OSHA has issued its long-awaited final rule strengthening silica exposure standards in most industries, but the measure will almost certainly face legal challenges from industry groups and their allies in Congress, who have long sought to block or soften any new requirements.

A group of industry lawyers is welcoming OSHA's recently issued “safe harbor” policy that limits employers' liability for actions uncovered under an agency-ordered rapid response investigation (RRI) but they are nevertheless urging employers to proceed cautiously, noting that the policy is not binding, requires clarification and does not protect employers in cases where “serious hazard” is discovered, among other things.

OSHA's high-priority but controversial final rule seeking to limit workers' exposure to crystalline silica dust appears to be poised for imminent release after it cleared review by the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB), usually one of the last steps before such regulations can be promulgated.

According to OMB's website, the office completed the interagency review March 21, returning the final version of the rule to the Labor Department “consistent with” recommended changes.

As OSHA begins a long-awaited public hearing on its proposed beryllium rule, consumer and health groups are renewing their calls for the agency to expand regulatory requirements aimed at limiting workers' exposure to the metal, such as protective gear, but the groups are divided over the proposed safety thresholds.

In comments submitted ahead of the March 21 hearing, groups including Public Citizen and National Jewish Health, a medical research facility in Denver, each called for OSHA to expand the proposed rule's reach to protect workers that may be exposed to the metal.

OSHA chief David Michaels is touting the benefits of the agency's stricter injury reporting rule after its first-year of implementation, but is warning that the many businesses that are still avoiding the rule's requirements could face increased noncompliance penalties once the agency raises its penalty amounts in an upcoming rule authorized by Congress.

Appellate court judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's pick to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, is widely seen as deferential to OSHA and other agencies -- though he has ruled against OSHA in at least one high-profile enforcement action which the agency is still seeking to address.

Obama March 16 announced his selection of Garland, currently the chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, though Senate Republicans have vowed to block his nomination, saying the next president should select the next Supreme Court justice.

The Justice Department (DOJ) is taking a series of steps to bolster its civil enforcement efforts against workplace violations under federal environmental laws, adding to its high-priority effort to step up criminal enforcement against workplace safety violations under the pollution control statutes.

OSHA is proposing a new interim rule establishing procedures for handling complaints from whistleblowers in the automobile sector who face unlawful retaliation, the latest in a series of steps the agency is taking to bolster protections for whistleblowers.

A Texas oil and gas drilling company is renewing its push for OSHA to promulgate, and follow, a formal process governing citizen rulemaking petitions under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) after the agency denied its petition seeking a new safety standard that would require use of the company's proprietary technology and devices.