Daily News

The Obama administration is proposing to overhaul federal risk management plan (RMP) requirements in order to impose new mandates on industrial facilities to prevent and mitigate releases of harmful chemicals, but is rejecting advocates' long-running push to mandate use of “inherently safer” processes or regulate additional substances.

Two lawyers are warning employers to expected stepped up enforcement and penalties by federal workplace safety regulators and are urging industry to review their environmental health and safety plans to ensure they comply with relevant regulatory requirements.

OSHA officials have agreed to an oil industry request to extend the comment deadline on its proposed guidance for weighting scientific and other evidence used to assess chemicals' workplace health hazards and communicate those risks, though the additional time officials have granted falls short of the industry call for a 60-day extension.

A key advisory committee is urging OSHA to strengthen its draft safety and health management guideline update, echoing calls from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) to bolster the document's recommendations.

OSHA on Friday announced that it will host a conference in Illinois to address workplace safety and health concerns for temporary worker.

The OSHA Safety Day Training Conference will be held on March 18 in Sugar Grove, IL, featuring sessions on industrial hygiene fundamentals, machine safeguarding, risk assessment, occupational safety and health management programs, and more.

New OSHA guidelines for occupational safety and health management programs and industry-led OSH standards will be the topic of discussion at OSHA and industry events this week.

OSHA will hold a day-long roundtable discussion Thursday on the agency’s updated Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines.

The American Society of Safety Engineers, an occupational safety and health industry group, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have released a new Spanish-language guide to help construction workers better understand how to protect themselves on the job.

The new ASSE resources, announced March 2, were released after NIOSH and ASSE found that Hispanic workers at small construction firms are more likely to encounter occupational safety and health challenges than other employee segments.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and OSHA have released new resources to help employers better prevent fall injury and death when aerial lifts are being used.

OSHA announced March 1 a new NIOSH webpage devoted to aerial lift safety, including guidance on risks associated with lifts, computer simulations to help employers better prepare employees for hazards, as well as guidance on OSHA requirements and industry standards.

OSHA is requesting public comments on information collection requirements contained in its Walking and Working Surfaces Standard for General Industry.

A Federal Register notice from OSHA states the agency is looking to determine the desired format and minimize the reporting burden of reporting requirements contained in the standards.

An OSHA hearing originally scheduled for this week on a proposed rule on occupational exposure to the chemical beryllium has been pushed back to March 21, according to the agency.

The March hearing will bring together stakeholders to participate in the rulemaking process by providing oral testimony and documentation for a final rule, according to OSHA.

OSHA will seek public input on a proposed chemical exposure rule this week, while industry will outline standards for hazard communication and methods to implement new OSHA requirements.

A new report by Underwriters Laboratories offers an assessment of workplace safety and health on a state-by-state basis, aiding businesses in identifying issues that can be managed through health and safety frameworks and prevent workplace injury, illness and death.

The American Society of Safety Engineers is “disappointed” OSHA has not completed a rulemaking that requires employers to adopt safety and health management programs, but sees updated guidelines on such programs as a positive step forward.

According to comments submitted on OSHA’s new voluntary guidelines supporting health and safety management programs, ASSE is planning to partner with OSHA to determine ways to promote the updated guidelines across industries.

The bar has dropped for OSHA investigators to determine whether a workplace retaliation complaint has merit, according to an assessment by occupational safety and health attorneys, leaving employers more vulnerable to whistleblower investigations.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez has reauthorized a committee charged with advising OSHA and Labor Department leaders on occupational safety and health in the maritime industry.

On Feb. 18, OSHA announced that the Labor Department had renewed the charter for the Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, appointing 15 new members and a “special agency liaison.”

Monday is the final day for the public to submit comments on OSHA’s new Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines, which offer a “proactive approach” to finding and fixing hazards within the workplace and improving communication with employees.

OSHA will hold a public meeting on the guidelines on March 10.

OSHA announced Thursday that its National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health will convene on March 4 for a special session to consider and make recommendations on OSHA’s draft Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines.

The meeting will be open to the public, according to OSHA, and stakeholders may submit written comments and suggestions on the guidelines or make oral statements at the meeting.

The NACOSH meeting comes after OSHA extended the deadline for public comments on the document from Feb. 15 to Feb. 22.

OSHA today announced that it is seeking comment on potential changes to the way it handles cases of workplace retaliation for whistleblowers.

OSHA is planning to revise the form employees must submit to file retaliation complaints and is considering electronic submissions, according to a Feb. 17 Federal Register notice.

OSHA and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health have released a new hazard alert for oil and gas industry workers who manually gauge or sample fluids on production and flowback tanks, following what OSHA has identified as a series of preventable deaths on the job.

OSHA has announced that it will seek public input on a new guide aimed at protecting workers from hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

On Feb. 16, OSHA will begin accepting comments on its Guidance on Data Evaluation for Weight of Evidence Determination, a companion guide to OSHA hazard classification guidance intended to help employers consider all factors when determining what chemicals should be considered hazardous.