OSHA is planning to advance several dozen rules and proposed rules in the coming year, ranging from measures to protect workers from slips, trips and falls, industrial facility accidents and exposure to numerous toxic chemicals, according to a federal rulemaking docket.
A top OSHA official is pushing back against industry plans to delay implementation of the agency's new rule limiting silica exposures in workplaces, calling recent industry appeals court challenges to the rule an “expected” consequence of any major OSHA rule, and saying the lawsuits are unlikely to stall OSHA's implementation of the new standards.
Democratic Senate supporters of a compromise bill to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) are discussing potential further changes ahead of floor votes on the legislation to win over Democratic lawmakers that currently oppose the measure, including tweaks to provisions on when states' chemicals programs would be preempted.
OSHA's recent deal that ended petrochemical industry litigation over its controversial enforcement policy that requires companies to use defined “engineering practices” to comply with the agency's process safety management (PSM) standards may aid ongoing talks aimed at resolving a similar dispute over OSHA's policy for determining when company's concentrations of certain chemicals in mixtures subject them to PSM requirements, an industry lawyer says.
House lawmakers supporting the just-announced Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill say they have enough bipartisan backing to advance the bill to President Obama for his signature without having to make changes to appease some House Democrats who now oppose it and claim it is weaker than current law.
Health and safety advocates are urging OSHA to issue new rules to protect workers from exposure to nanomaterials used to process food and agricultural chemicals, and to prioritize research on preventing worker exposures, arguing their report finding nanomaterials in baby formula also raises risks for workers who may inhale particles during production.
EPA and a government employee whistleblower group are asking a federal appeals court to hold in abeyance a lawsuit seeking a formal response from EPA on a petition the group filed to tighten federal hazardous waste handling and storage requirements for corrosive dust.
OSHA's plan to codify its controversial enforcement policy that narrows a long-standing exemption from its process safety management (PSM) standard for retailers is prompting strong criticism from industry groups in Congress and the courts, suggesting continuing battles over the issue.
House Democrats are urging Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking Democrat on the House energy committee, to resolve an apparent dispute over language suggested by senators for a compromise Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill that aims to limit toxicity testing on animals, the latest potential barrier to Congress advancing a final bill.
Chemical manufacturers and water utilities are urging the White House to reject EPA's data request to support its proposed rule to overhaul its facility safety program, which if successful could significantly delay the revisions by forcing the agency to undertake lengthy new work on revising the information request that will underpin the rule.
Petrochemical industry groups have dropped their challenge to a controversial OSHA enforcement policy that required companies to use defined “recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices” (RAGAGEP) to comply with the agency's process safety management (PSM) standard after officials revised the policy.
Chemical and other industry officials say the Justice Department's (DOJ) finding that arson caused the fatal West, TX, fertilizer facility explosion undermines EPA's plan to force stricter risk prevention planning at chemical plants, because the agency justified the regulation in part on claiming inadequate accident controls at the West facility.
Top House lawmakers are offering tentative support for a Senate-crafted deal that will give states an additional year to regulate some substances before EPA could preempt their efforts under a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill.
Facing an almost certain legal challenge from industry groups, OSHA chief David Michaels is offering a broad legal and policy defense of the agency's new rule requiring facilities to report worker injury data, arguing the measure is legally justified and will encourage employers to provide safer workplaces, despite industry assertions that the publicizing such data will deter injury reporting.
As lawmakers near a potential final deal on legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), chemical industry sources say significant questions remain on how an agreement might affect a host of key policies in the bill including preemption of state chemical programs, the scope of EPA risk assessments, and more.
Labor and environmental groups are urging OSHA to withdraw a draft guidance for weighting scientific evidence in assessments of chemicals' workplace hazards, and instead provide chemical manufacturers and importers with clear, enforceable mandates for conducting such reviews when developing safety data sheets (SDS).
Top House Republicans are warning that upcoming OSHA plans to overhaul its process safety management (PSM) program may overlap with EPA plans to revise its Risk Management Plan (RMP) accident prevention program, underscoring long-standing industry concerns that the two agencies' rules may result in competing requirements.
OSHA has formally launched an effort to codify its controversial 2015 policy memo that for the first time subjects small facilities that sell fertilizer to the agency's process safety management (PSM) facility accident prevention program, a move that would put the policy on a more solid legal footing.
The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has begun formal review of the Labor Department's (DOL) final guide for helping federal agencies determine whether contractors' OSH Act and other violations preclude them from awards, part of a plan that industry is calling an unlawful “blacklisting” rule that will face legal challenge.
The Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Texas are urging EPA to amend draft revisions to the agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility accident prevention rule, arguing that some of the proposed new requirements, such as for independent audits and information sharing, are outside the scope of the Clean Air Act and fail to make facilities safer.