Daily News

NIOSH continues to press for “prevention through design” solutions to reduce safety and health risks through early preventive measures, urging employers to weave the concept into their business models and producing a new guide to help companies understand how to put such an initiative in place.

OSHA chief David Michaels says a new Obama administration policy to screen employers for alleged past OSH Act and other labor law violations and use that as a factor in awarding federal contracts has been written to proactively help employers get into OSHA compliance, not simply freeze them out of federal business, a view contrary to industry's worries that the policy will be used as a heavy-handed enforcement tool.

Labor Department lawyers have drafted a policy for OSHA to determine whether a joint employer relationship exists between franchisors and franchisees that includes several key tests, including an analysis of “economic realities,” according to an internal document obtained by Inside OSHA Online.

A judge in throwing out OSHA's citations against a Texas shipbreaking operation criticized the agency in unusually strong language as he reversed the penalties, finding agency officials had acted “recklessly” by misrepresenting their intent to abide by an agreed-upon 60-day abatement period stemming from an earlier round of inspections and lengthy litigation.

OSHA's newly devised process for resolving whistleblower disputes in the early stages using a form of agency arbitration has cautious support of industry experts who say it carries the potential to greatly cut litigation costs but should be pursued sparingly and only in cases that will not lead to further dispute.

OSHA has landed a significant agreement with an Ohio nursing care facility that stipulates new policies and procedures for safe lifting and repositioning of residents -- a step forward in the agency's efforts to tackle the growing issue of ergonomics in health care through enforcement and negotiation with employers instead of rulemaking.

OSHA is pushing ahead on the early stages of a potential rulemaking that would put in place tighter safety and health regulations for emergency response and preparedness activities, and is poised to consult in Washington with a national advisory panel Sept. 9 on the issue. By then draft regulatory language will be available, OSHA said Monday.

California industries are urging federal officials to assess the costs and benefits of a guidance for protecting against cardiac birth defects from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), arguing the Environmental Protection Agency policy is based on uncertain science and will cost companies millions of dollars. The controversy takes place as OSHA stakeholders push for revisiting workplace exposure limits on TCE.

OSHA is making a case to administration budget officials that several of the agency's ongoing regulatory initiatives will result in beneficial economic and fiscal outcomes as sought under an executive order mandating periodic lookbacks on federal regulations across the government -- even though some of the efforts remain controversial.

OSHA signaled a willingness to take tough enforcement action and widely publicize alleged willful infractions of the agency's asbestos standards, hitting two Illinois construction companies and a manager with nearly $2 million in proposed fines, alleging numerous violations of the longstanding regulations.

One of the employers was also entered into OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), and the agency made cross-referrals of the company to the Environmental Protection Agency and Small Business Administration.

Cal/OSHA hit ExxonMobil with more than $566,000 in proposed fines stemming from the February blast at the company's Torrance, CA, facility that injured four workers, an incident that sparked renewed national attention to refinery safety and that led the state to form a task force keyed to the complex issue.

Farmworker advocates are backing aspects of a new proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency that would strengthen protections for applicators of restricted use pesticides by setting a first-time minimum age for certified applicators, as well as first-time training requirements for those who work directly under the supervision of certified applicators.

Several groups of federal contractors banded together early this month to tell the White House that President Obama should refrain in the “foreseeable future” from issuing executive orders that could negatively impact contractors, just as the administration rolls out a new policy requiring agencies to screen employers for OSHA and other labor violations.

Worker safety and health activists in Massachusetts are urging state lawmakers to pass legislation that would effectively create a public employee state OSHA plan by extending the federal agency's protections to all workers in the commonwealth including at the county and municipal levels.

A former member of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) whose term expired just months ago reportedly is being strongly considered for another term on the board, Washington sources tell Inside OSHA Online, as two Senate-confirmed members including a new chair are poised to be sworn in. Filling out the troubled investigative board, particularly the top slot, likely will pave the way for long-awaited safety recommendations to OSHA and other authorities by providing a quorum and new management structure, observers say.

The first draft report from the panel of science advisors peer reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency's draft assessment of the human health risks of the petroleum chemical benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) generally concurs with many of the agency's conclusions about the hazards the chemical poses, but is critical of most of the risk estimates EPA has calculated, and urging a closer look at evidence of skin cancer in studies of numerous workers.

OSHA has again staked out a tough enforcement stance against one of the country's largest steel producers, claiming new repeat and serious citations following complaint-driven probes, even as a broad settlement agreement reached last year with Republic Steel continues to be implemented at the company's Lorain, OH, mill.

OSHA's proposed rule issued Thursday (Aug. 6) aiming to better shield workers from beryllium risks closely hews to a union/industry negotiated model standard and lowers allowed exposure caps to the metal by 90 percent, but leaves out construction and shipyards, with OSHA saying it wants more data before attempting new standards for those sectors.

OSHA reportedly is set to release on Thursday a long-anticipated proposed rule tackling worker exposures to beryllium, a standard that sources tell Inside OSHA Online has been crafted only to apply to general industry and not to the construction and maritime sectors, where the metal has also been named as a workplace health concern.

OSHA has approved a new state plan covering public-sector employees in Maine, a rare development in a string of longstanding efforts nationally to cover more government workers through a state-by-state approach, which has faced roadblocks including a lack of funds to set up new programs.