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NIOSH's long-awaited proposal to overhaul its system for classifying potential workplace carcinogens shifts to a tiered model used by several other agencies that deal with toxic substances, and the new NIOSH policy categorizes the substances based on definitions used in the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). NIOSH also proposes to move toward a quantitative model in setting recommended exposure caps -- largely using the established 1-in-1,000 risk over a working lifetime of developing cancer -- where a substance could pose carcinogenic dangers in the workplace.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) is urging the Environmental Protection Agency not to grant calls by Democrats and advocates to add the fertilizer ammonium nitrate to the list of substances regulated under its facility safety rules, saying existing OSHA rules adequately address risks from the substance's release.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed updated protection standards for agricultural workers exposed to pesticide chemicals, formally submitting the long-delayed rule to the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for review following various lobbying efforts from farmworker groups over the summer and past threats of litigation. The rulemaking could also align EPA's pesticide hazard communication requirements with OSHA regulations.

According to OMB's website, review of the rule began on Oct. 25, marking the start of a 90-day review period.

Worker health experts view legislative efforts to reform a decades-old federal toxics law the Environmental Protection Agency uses to screen substances as one potential way to tackle the problem of outdated OSHA permissible exposure limits (PELs), by including protections for workers as a subset of so-called “vulnerable” populations who are highly exposed or sensitive to risky chemicals. There are even calls to directly update OSHA's PELs through the effort, one source says.

Chemical safety experts are lauding the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for developing new consensus standards that clamp down on the controversial practice of “purging” gas pipelines with flammable gases, which was blamed for a deadly Connecticut blast nearly four years ago. NFPA's initiative follows intense pressure on OSHA to issue both emergency and permanent safety regulations on the issue, though such federal actions have not occurred to date.

House Republicans this week will take a closer look at a bipartisan plan to reform the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) -- which could have eventual ramifications for OSHA's chemical safety enforcement -- though informed sources say the measure faces an uphill climb in the Senate because it fails to meet several Democratic demands on safety standards. The legislation has drawn concern for lacking worker safety protections that had been included in an earlier Democratic proposal.

Workplace safety and health whistleblower advocates are calling for increased protections against employer retaliation at the state level to address what they say are considerable flaws in federal OSHA protections, in part the 30-day complaint filing period which they argue is too narrow.

A national trade group representing silica sand producers is pushing for a comprehensive new crystalline silica rule under which OSHA would mandate a far-reaching set of exposure monitoring and medical surveillance requirements to prevent worker silicosis but not lower the permissible exposure limit (PEL) below 100 micrograms per cubic meter, as OSHA would under its newly proposed standards to confront the hazard.

OSHA plans to require quarterly electronic reporting of injuries and illnesses at companies with 250 or more workers under a proposed rule that amounts to a revolutionary change in the way OSHA gathers data, though officials say the shift does not alter employers' basic recordkeeping duties. Industry immediately protested the move, calling it a giveaway to unions and their allies who could use the new publicly available, site-specific data to target individual employers as alleged “bad actors” without giving a full picture of events.

OSHA plans to unveil as soon as Thursday (Nov. 7) a proposed rule aimed at modernizing injury and illness recordkeeping requirements under the OSH Act, a source familiar with OSHA's plans regarding the rulemaking tells Inside OSHA Online. The White House budget office indicated it gave the green light Monday (Nov. 4) for OSHA to publish the proposed rule “consistent with change,” but didn't say what that revision was.

New York City leaders are weighing a bill to require worker training for some types of development projects that receive city financial assistance -- a proposal that mirrors efforts in several states and municipalities to tie public-sector support to occupational safety and health mandates. The push in New York has the backing of Public Citizen, which is behind a national campaign to make government and taxpayer backing contingent on developers meeting safety and health standards.

Safety and health programs at the state level are gradually taking steps to disseminate crucial data and develop new regulatory schemes that will help reduce workplace hazards posed by toxic drugs used in heath care settings, especially chemotherapy agents, NIOSH chief John Howard tells Inside OSHA Online in an exclusive interview. Howard says moves are under way in several states to bolster longstanding efforts by the federal research agency to address the problem.

Richard Griffin, President Obama's nominee for general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), cleared the Senate in a largely party-line vote Oct. 29, even as Republicans blasted the nomination as reflecting a long-term push by the administration to instill a pro-labor bias on the mediation board.

OSHA faces pressure from labor groups to revise its Field Operations Manual, the guide compliance officers use during inspections, to clearly set out enforcement policies regarding safety and health protections for temporary workers, who are seen as generally more vulnerable than direct hires, often due to insufficient training.

Agency officials this year embarked on a broad initiative to focus attention on the issue, but have run up against legal and policy questions about the shared responsibilities of host employers and staffing firms.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a bill at the close of the state's legislative session that would have required employers to abate certain types of alleged hazards identified in Cal/OSHA workplace inspections even if an appeal of the citation was under way -- rejecting on procedural grounds a policy that also is a pillar of federal OSHA reforms advocated by Democrats and unions. But one worker advocate notes that Brown is urging state lawmakers to introduce a tweaked version of the measure that could garner the governor's eventual backing.

A priority for worker health advocates is eventually getting Congress to pass legislation that would bring OSHA's permissible exposure limits (PELs) for industrial chemicals in line with the most up-to-date science, a top union official tells Inside OSHA Online. The look towards Congress comes as OSHA strives to address what it considers obsolete exposure limits through an education drive encouraging employers to cut exposures below mandated caps and use “safer” alternatives when possible.

OSHA's new push for industries to find “safer” alternatives to hazardous chemicals -- rather than relying solely on the agency's permissible exposure limits (PELs), considered outdated in many cases, to reduce hazards -- signals an aggressive shift in approach, experts say. But one legal source notes that while OSHA has favored the substitution model for decades, it has lacked the statutory power to regulate or enforce it.

OSHA has agreed to extend until Jan. 27, 2014, the public comment period on its proposed crystalline silica rule, agreeing to industry and GOP lawmakers' demands for a lengthier review. But the extension from OSHA's initial timetable is 47 days -- just about half the time industry and lawmakers wanted.

OSHA launched a high-profile effort Thursday (Oct. 24) to push employers to consider a sweeping set of occupational exposure levels (OELs) -- published in newly developed tables on its website -- for dangerous chemicals based on recommendations from NIOSH, exposure levels developed by a group of government industrial hygienists, and permissible exposure limits (PELs) enforced in California that are more stringent than federal standards.

California lawmakers enacted a bill requiring Cal/OSHA to adopt rules addressing the potential workplace hazards from handling chemotherapy drugs, making the Golden State the latest to tackle the longstanding concern in the health sector's labor community. Their move comes as states increasingly try to address hazardous drugs -- especially antineoplastic agents -- and as federal OSHA presses the issue through a national campaign.