EPA's latest proposed settlement with a company for alleged violations of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program includes strict mandates for independent audits to prevent future violations, suggesting the agency will retain reliance on audits in such pacts despite delaying an Obama-era rule to mandate audits as part of RMP.
A former Obama OSHA official is urging the Trump administration to issue more public notices of significant penalties for violations of workplace safety rules in order to discourage non-compliance, reiterating criticism that Senate Democrats included in a call for a Labor Department Inspector General (IG) review of OSHA this spring.
Environmental and labor groups challenging EPA's lengthy delay of an Obama-era facility accident prevention rule are urging a federal court to reject the agency's request for 60 days to file its brief, arguing any further delay would unfairly boost EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's goal of stalling the facility safety update rule.
House lawmakers have introduced a bill to circumvent a controversial 2015 ruling that expanded the definition of joint employer and prompted strict Obama OSHA enforcement guidance, and though the bill would not directly impact OSHA, a source says lawmakers are tracking whether a similar change to the agency's governing statute may be needed.
House lawmakers appear poised to introduce a bill seeking to roll back the effect of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that expanded the definition of joint employer and broadened liability for workplace safety and other labor law violations, announcing a July 27 news conference on a legislative fix to the definition of joint employer.
A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general (AG) are suing EPA over its delay of an Obama-era rule updating the agency's facility accident prevention program, pointing to a fact sheet issued by the Trump agency as showing the rule is needed to protect communities, workers and first responders from accidents.
The Trump administration has scrapped Obama OSHA plans for numerous new rules intended to improve worker safety, including regulations aimed at strengthening chemical exposure limits, preventing workplace violence in health care and addressing combustible dust, drawing fire from labor groups who say the rules are needed to protect workers.
Environmental and labor groups are renewing their arguments aimed at vacating the Trump administration's lengthy delay of an Obama-era update to the agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety rule, charging the delay violates the Clean Air Act and faulting EPA's claim that seeking public input allows for lengthy reconsideration of final rules.
House appropriators are slashing funding for OSHA enforcement while backing industry criticism that the Obama administration's enforcement-heavy approach undermined workplace safety.
EPA is drawing criticism from its children's health advisors and a Region 9 official over its decision to preclude legacy uses of chemicals, such as asbestos, in finished products from review under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), bolstering criticisms from environmentalists who say they may sue the agency over its approach.
Labor groups are signaling that they plan to challenge the Trump OSHA's plan to delay the initial reporting deadline for the Obama administration's worker injury and illness reporting rule, arguing it violates federal law and harms workers, while employers are seeking an indefinite delay pending revisions to the rule and calling for cutting certain provisions.
Industry officials are urging OSHA to give companies a greater role in the agency's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), including recruiting new member companies, signing off on company data, and possibly conducting audits, though union officials question whether the program is reaching the most dangerous job sites and should be expanded.
EPA's suite of early rules under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will inform efforts to reduce risks to workers appear ripe for legal challenges from environmentalists, the chemical industry and other sectors, sources say, due to initial divided reaction to the rules and the massive scope of regulatory provisions in the complex policies.
House lawmakers have advanced a draft fiscal year 2018 spending bill that would cut OSHA by more than what the Trump administration requested, drawing pushback from worker safety advocates, though appropriators also have proposed retaining the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which the administration has sought to eliminate.
Environmentalists challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's nearly two-year delay of an Obama-era facility safety rule are citing Pruitt's prior opposition to the rule while serving as Oklahoma's GOP attorney general (AG) as evidence that he has an “unalterably closed mind” on the rule and that the delay is unlawful.
EPA is claiming broad Clean Air Act authority for its final rule that significantly delays implementation of Obama-era revisions to the agency's facility safety policy, saying its decision to first seek public comment on the delay shields it from the legal uncertainty that led an appellate court to recently vacate a stay of an unrelated air rule.
Several Republican-led states are seeking to intervene to defend EPA against environmentalists' lawsuit challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 20-month delay of Obama-era facility safety rule revisions, arguing that scrapping the delay would result in immediate costs to states, and that they have unique interests in defending the delay.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says that plaintiffs cannot prove injury to justify their suit over the legality of President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) requiring OSHA, EPA, and other agencies to identify two rules for repeal for every new rule they issue, saying that undoing the rules would not cause harm warranting the lawsuit.
A former OSHA deputy chief is faulting the Trump EPA's delay of Obama-era revisions to the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program, saying the agency's justification for the stay is “totally frivolous” -- criticisms that could bolster environmental and labor groups' lawsuit challenging the delay.
An industry attorney and a former Obama OSHA official expect the Trump administration will soon propose to strip so-called anti-retaliation provisions from the agency's injury and illness record-keeping rule, while allowing new reporting requirements to stand, though the industry source says the Trump OSHA is unlikely to publicize the data.