Daily News

An industry attorney is floating a wide range of legal critiques of EPA’s proposed TSCA rule for the solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc), including an argument that it is unlawfully regulating in an area that OSHA has already addressed -- even though the workplace safety agency says its chemical-exposure rules are outdated.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is calling on EPA to “claw back” almost $100,000 of money “wasted” by former Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) chair Katherine Lemos, following a report from EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found she misspent board funds on travel and other expenses during her time as its sole member.

A Georgia construction company will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to review a case where an administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld an OSHA citation for fall-protection violations by a subcontractor under the firm’s control, based on a finding that it exercised “no care” as the controlling employer at its job site.

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is touting releases of 12 final investigation reports since July 2022, saying it has completed two thirds of the agency’s “enormous” backlog of work within the past year and is on track to “completely eliminate” the list by the end of 2023, as board staffing gradually improves following years of shortages.

California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved a petition asking the agency to develop an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from exposure to crystalline silica in “engineered stone fabrication shops,” citing a current “crisis” where a growing number of workers are developing advanced silicosis, a serious lung disease.

“I’m hoping that this is the answer because I can see this becoming an epidemic -- if it isn’t already one that’s in the making,” said Dave Thomas, chairman of the standards board, during a July 20 meeting.

Republicans on the House COVID-19 committee have opened an investigation of OSHA’s development and implementation of its now-abandoned COVID-19 vaccination rule, probing how the standard came to be and requesting extensive documentation and communications from the agency to investigate “any wrongdoing by government officials.”

EPA’s proposed TSCA rule on carbon tetrachloride (CTC) is drawing heavy criticism from environmentalists, with one key advocate saying the plan is fatally flawed because it proposes only worker protections rather than banning uses of the solvent, meaning it fails to protect fenceline communities whose exposures may increase under some safety measures.

Employer and industry groups are making last-ditch efforts to convince California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials to ease key sections of the agency’s proposal to strengthen worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction sector and general industry, ahead of an upcoming vote by a divided standards board on the measures.

Chemical industry groups are warning that thousands of facilities could face increased risk of terrorist attacks after the Senate adjourned for its summer recess without approving pending House legislation reauthorizing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security program for two years before its authority expired July 27.

While industry officials say they plan to continue implementing the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program on a voluntary basis, they will not have access to departmental resources or enforcement.

Prompted by a White House call, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a heat hazard alert reminding employers they have a legal duty to protect workers from high heat while also re-upping pledges to step up enforcement of such measures but worker safety advocates say those actions do not go far enough and are renewing their calls for OSHA to issue an interim heat standard while it works on a permanent regulation.

Facing a looming July 27 deadline, Congress appears poised to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security program for two years, after a key senator agreed to support a House bill that fell short of his push for a longer five-year extension.

Senate health committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with more than 100 Democrats, are pressing OSHA to quickly adopt a strict heat protection standard, arguing in part that such a measure is needed to preempt states like Texas that are curbing local efforts to protect workers from stifling heat, which has already resulted in several worker deaths.

OSHA recently posted a slew of new regulatory interpretation letters offering responses to employers’ and industry professionals’ questions on matters such as the categories of chemicals considered “associated with” formaldehyde gas, occupational noise exposure standards, shipment of hazardous materials and silica dust exposure control methods.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has upheld OSHA’s enforcement citation for a 2016 accident where a crane being prepared for dismantling touched a live power line, rejecting the employer’s argument that safety standards for crane “disassembly” do not apply to preparatory steps leading up to taking the machine apart.

Major unions are criticizing EPA for excluding organized labor from stakeholder discussions on its pending TSCA methylene chloride rule, warning that the failure to consult them led to significant omissions in the proposal’s workplace protections compared with OSHA standards -- even as they praise the agency’s strict occupational exposure limits for the solvent.

OSHA is proposing to formally require that construction employers ensure their personal protective equipment (PPE) fits workers, reviving an Obama-era plan that the agency originally advanced through the Standards Improvement Project (SIP) but dropped from that process when it drew industry opposition.

EPA has unveiled a proposed TSCA risk management rule for carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) that would allow uses that it says represent “essentially all” annual production of the solvent to continue indefinitely if facilities meet strict new worker protection mandates -- as well as a bar against increasing air emissions to surrounding communities.

OSHA has unveiled its final rule re-establishing electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates for many employers, largely standing behind the 2022 proposal while narrowing several sector-specific exclusions that unions and their allies criticized in public comments.

OSHA has announced a new, three-year national emphasis program (NEP) aiming to ramp up inspections and enforcement at warehouses, processing facilities, distribution centers and high-risk retail establishments, following what the agency says is a dramatic increase in their injury rates since 2013.

“Our enforcement efforts are designed to do one thing: lead to permanent change in workplace safety,” said OSHA assistant secretary Doug Parker in a July 13 press release announcing the NEP.

OSHA has sent a final rule expected to re-establish Obama-era electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates to the Federal Register for publication, appearing to cut off long-stayed litigation over the Trump administration’s rollback of those requirements while setting the stage for a potential court challenge from employers.