Daily News

OSHA's long-planned rule to reduce workplace silica dust exposures faces tough new opposition from Republican appropriators on Capitol Hill trying to derail the contentious rule through appropriations, though a new round of budget gridlock similar to recent years would likely prevent such provisions from becoming law, congressional observers say.

Ergonomics concerns at inpatient health care facilities will almost certainly get mentioned in at least some of next year's Democratic presidential platforms on safety and health, worker advocates say -- with candidates likely to call for mandates on hospitals to install mechanical lifting in place of manually moving patients.

OSHA has reached a milestone settlement with a corporate health care provider that gives the agency a foothold to proactively address workplace violence risks, using its negotiating powers to take on an issue that officials signal will increasingly become a federal enforcement priority in health care.

OSHA is asking the White House for the go-ahead to finish a final rule aimed at heading off workplace hazards from slips, trips and falls, taking a crucial step in a 25-year regulatory effort -- and moving ahead on a rule the Obama administration has made clear it wants to issue this year despite a string of delays.

House and Senate appropriators point to a pending human health risk assessment of formaldehyde to reiterate long-standing concerns about the Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), calling in fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill report language for increased scrutiny of a controversial study underpinning the assessment. The developments come as OSHA undertakes an intensive study of permissible exposure limits based on emerging risk data.

A recent enforcement policy by OSHA detailing the mandate to use recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP) raises new industry concerns that inspectors will find many companies' engineering practices less stringent than general industry's.

OSHA's newly rolled-out areas of emphasis for compliance officers conducting hospital and nursing home inspections -- focused intently on ergonomic issues, bloodborne pathogens, workplace violence, tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls -- comes after lengthy and intense pressure by health care worker advocates, particularly the nurses' lobby, on the agency to increase inspectors' concentration on inpatient facilities, Washington sources say.

NIOSH says researchers have found that attaching a regular shop vacuum to a dust-collecting circular saw can provide a “simple, low cost solution” to reduce exposure to hazardous dust when construction workers cut fiber-cement siding -- findings that come as OSHA works intently to finalize a controversial rule to reduce exposures to crystalline silica dust, which is a major concern in dealing with that type of construction material.

Broad bipartisan reform of federal chemical safety law has made it through the House, but a related Senate bill -- which specifically names workers as among the categories of populations vulnerable to toxic substances -- has yet to advance, and questions remain on how to handle a bicameral conference to resolve gaps between the two measures.

Two of the three remaining members of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) used a procedural tactic Wednesday (June 24) to push through a series of changes to the agency's governing rules that the third member, who wasn't in attendance, had sought to hold for further consideration, allowing the modifications to go through in the waning hours of one of the official's term. Supporters of the overhaul say it will improve CSB transparency and make it easier for the board to investigate chemical disasters and come up with OSHA policy recommendations.

Worker safety and health activists, led by a high-profile worker rights group in Massachusetts, are sounding alarm over the incidence of severe injuries as well as illness following exposure to toxic chemicals as a result of working in the robust and fast-growing garbage recycling industry -- possibly leading to an increase in pressure on OSHA to address the complex problem.

Advocates of stricter protections for agricultural workers are closely watching an ongoing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) review of the Environmental Protection Agency's draft rule revising worker protection standards (WPS), after an earlier review prompted the agency to weaken a first-time minimum age requirement for pesticide handlers.

OSHA has crafted a new enforcement policy applicable to citations against employers for allegedly failing to adhere to recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP), an issue that has emerged as a legal concern in recent years with employers contending they have the legal flexibility under OSHA regulations to effectively devise their own interpretations of what constitutes good practices under the process safety management (PSM) standard, which is designed to prevent chemical accidents.

Escalation in public feuding among board members and top staffers at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) -- culminating in a dispute over who has administrative and governing control, along with the interim removal of two key officials -- has safety and health stakeholders concerned over the micro-agency's ability to continue issuing OSHA recommendations and carrying out investigatory functions to prevent chemical disasters.

OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency have issued a new "alert" backing voluntary use of inherently safer technologies (IST) to reduce risks and improve safety at chemical plants, but advocates say the non-binding alert highlights the need for EPA to quickly issue a rule that would mandate the use of IST.

California's state OSHA program has settled a long-running dispute with farm workers' groups over enforcement of the state's heat standards, just as new regulations become effective aimed at addressing many of the concerns borne out by the protracted litigation.

The 10-year-old California heat illness prevention regulation has been lauded by proponents as an example of Cal/OSHA exceeding federal OSHA standards and enforcement, but has also been subject to criticism from worker rights advocates.

Environmental officials in recently released guidance claim "broad authority" to protect workers from indoor air contamination, arguing that OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency each have distinct responsibilities for ensuring worker health and safety and rejecting arguments from some federal agencies and industry that EPA is trying to encroach on OSHA's authority.

California' state OSHA program is making a renewed push for heat illness prevention as temperatures are projected to soar in the southern region of the state, coming as OSHA simultaneously doubles down on its perennial campaign to inform employers and workers of measures to prevent heat exhaustion and stroke.

OSHA recently issued an update to its whistleblower enforcement manual providing further depth of information to field staff on how to approach two major issues -- the awarding of punitive damages and determination of emotional distress as a result of retaliation -- as well as detailing other policies such when to award front pay instead of reinstatement in rare cases where returning to the job would be impossible or unbearable.

Employer advocates are voicing concern over a recently issued enforcement memorandum by OSHA that they say appears to contain a requirement with respect to calculating levels of allowed accumulation of combustible dust in facilities, based on a mathematical formula, with industry worried that OSHA could use the policy in place of notice and comment rulemaking on the complex issue.