A public interest group has launched a database for tracking state prosecutions of cases stemming from workers' severe injuries and deaths in an effort to encourage similar prosecutions, amid long-standing criticism that OSHA penalties are inadequate to deter workplace safety violations and as the Trump OSHA has narrowed criteria for publication of worker fatality data.
September 17, 2026
The Trump Labor Department (DOL) is seeking to preserve OSHA's authority to cite so-called controlling employers for violations affecting another company's workers, arguing that the agency's authorizing statute and long-standing practice support the policy, in a lawsuit that an observer says re-opens debate on the OSHA enforcement policy.
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A group representing trial lawyers is joining environmentalists and health advocates in urging EPA to expand the legacy and continuing uses of asbestos the agency plans to assess, as well as mineral types, suggesting they may bring new civil suits against manufacturers if the agency does not address those uses' potential risks to workers.
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Despite high expectations for the Trump administration to rein in the Obama OSHA's emphasis on enforcement, industry attorneys are suggesting that Scott Mugno, the Fedex official tapped to lead the agency, may struggle to quickly ramp up compliance assistance, while labor groups say thorough vetting of his safety priorities is needed.
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Former Obama OSHA officials are backing environmental and labor groups' lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's delay of an Obama EPA facility accident prevention rule, arguing in an amicus curiae brief that the delay will impair the agency's abilities to prevent and mitigate chemical disasters and violates federal law.
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The Defense Department is strongly supporting OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) and backing industry calls for streamlining VPP through greater use of special government employees (SGEs), while also urging OSHA to publish data on the program's effectiveness to garner support from unions, which have faulted VPP as shifting resources from enforcement.
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An industry attorney is acknowledging that the industrial facility fire sparked by Hurricane Harvey flood waters may complicate the Trump administration's effort to revise an Obama-era rule updating the agency's risk management plan (RMP) accident prevention program with new requirements, as environmentalists have argued the fire backs the need for the Obama rule.
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Industry officials may ask the Trump administration to provide greater clarity on how EPA reviews facilities' analysis of the potential impacts of accidental “off site” releases as agency enforcement officials are maintaining the Obama EPA's stepped up scrutiny of the analyses, an industry attorney says.
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Labor union officials and a key Senate Democrat are offering a tepid response to the Trump administration's intended nomination of Scott Mugno, a FedEx vice president, to lead OSHA, seeking a “vigorous and thorough” vetting on key issues but not outright opposing the choice.
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Construction industry groups have been lobbying Congress to block implementation of the Obama OSHA's final rule strengthening the limits for worker exposure to silica for the first time in decades, through a budget rider that would gut funding for enforcement, though the Trump OSHA is moving ahead with enforcing the rule in construction.
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A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) are citing injuries to firefighters who responded to a chemical fire sparked by Hurricane Harvey flood waters to challenge the Trump EPA's nearly two-year delay of an Obama-era facility accident prevention rule, arguing that the delay puts such first responders at risk and is unlawful.
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The Trump administration is moving forward with enforcing the Obama OSHA's stricter crystalline silica standard for the construction industry, issuing an interim guidance for enforcement as the agency reviews a permanent compliance directive and a federal court weighs recent arguments in an industry challenge to the rule.
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Sens. Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) have re-introduced legislation to codify OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) even as the Trump administration works to overhaul the program administratively to address declining resources.
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The chairman of a key House subcommittee charged with overseeing OSHA says that without worker safety priorities from the Trump administration, the panel is gearing up plans for 2018, including bolstering compliance through training, and continuing to support the Trump administration's deregulatory efforts.
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Labor groups are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to deny an industry request to increase line speeds in poultry plants, while also opposing a proposed rule expected to increase speeds in pork processing, arguing both changes would increase risks to workers and reiterating arguments from past petitions for OSHA line-speed limits.
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EPA's career toxics chief is requesting input from staff within the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) regarding a trio of proposals he has floated for reorganizing the office, options under consideration as part of the office's ongoing efforts to implement the one-year-old statute reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
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A Republican congressional staffer is raising concerns that a lack of a Trump administration appointee to head OSHA leaves lawmakers with a lack of clear priorities, highlighting uncertainty that has prompted agency officials to stop work on new initiatives and led Senate Democrats to question the administration's commitment to worker safety.
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The chlorine industry has dropped a controversial guidance based on a novel dispersion modeling approach for assessing risks from toxic gas releases in response to an EPA directive to withdraw it because it “significantly under-predicts” off-site consequences of releases and to advise facilities not to use the method for complying with its Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety rules.
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The United Steelworkers (USW) has withdrawn its request for the Trump administration to hold a public hearing on its plan to limit the reach of an Obama OSHA rule bolstering protections for workers' exposure to beryllium, drawing concern from industry producers of alternatives to beryllium-containing products who support the Obama-era rule and fear the loss of a key ally.
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A key House Democrat is pressing the Trump administration's OSHA to ensure that the agency fully staffs open inspection positions now that a federal hiring freeze has ended, reiterating concerns of Senate labor committee Democrats who have called for adequate funding for inspections and questioned the administration's commitment to worker safety.
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