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.
September 17, 2026
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
OSHA is lodging concern about the safety of water used in emergency eyewash stations, noting the possibility of numerous infections that can result from using contaminated water and raising the possibility that the issue will be increasingly scrutinized by compliance officers, and specifically citing voluntary industry standards as the most effective means of reducing the hazards.
Date:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is criticizing a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility security program, faulting the agency's assessment of and enforcement against facilities that pose risks -- shortcomings that safety activists say should prod federal regulators to impose strict process safety requirements.
Date:
Information gleaned from OSHA's increased enforcement attention to tuberculosis (TB) during inspections of inpatient health facilities can be used to bolster the agency's envisioned new rule designed to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, OSHA chief David Michaels tells Inside OSHA Online.
Date:
Two nominees to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), including President Obama's designee for board chair, will head to the full Senate, lawmakers on the oversight panel for the agency voted unanimously Wednesday (July 29), possibly clearing a path for the troubled investigative board to move ahead on safety recommendations to OSHA that have languished for months.
Date:
A bill introduced several times in recent years by GOP lawmakers to create steep new hurdles for implementation of major rules from OSHA and other regulatory agencies -- by requiring proactive approval of the rules by Congress before they can take effect -- easily cleared the House on Tuesday (July 28) and could advance in the GOP-led Senate, though a White House veto threat in all likelihood dooms the legislation.
Date:
OSHA plans through a newly proposed rule -- which sources say will almost certainly be disputed -- to overcome a key federal appeals court decision three years ago that killed a longtime agency policy stance that inaccurate OSHA logs continued to violate recordkeeping regulations every day the records remained erroneous, continuing to trigger the six-month time limit on potential citations against the employer.
Date:
One of President Obama's nominees to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) going through Senate confirmation tells lawmakers she would balk at recommending a European-style “safety case” approach at chemical facilities without much more consultation with U.S. stakeholders than has occurred to date.
Date:
California state regulators are urging the feds to define all nanomaterials as new chemicals under a proposed federal data collection rule for nanoscale materials, arguing new reporting requirements are insufficient to protect the public, though producers are seeking exemptions from the reporting proposal.
Date:
Some large-scale chemical distributors that once sidestepped OSHA process safety management (PSM) oversight because they technically qualified for a “retail exemption” under the rule could now be subject to PSM inspections and potential enforcement, with OSHA in a contentious move tightening its policy on where the exemption applies.
Date:
OSHA delivered a clear message to employers Wednesday (July 22) that it will aggressively enforce new worker hospitalization reporting rules by determining if employers willfully flouted the law and potentially hitting them with egregious citations, holding up a recent Texas case charging that a company deliberately dodged telling OSHA about a serious medical incident for several days, leading to the maximum proposed fine.
Date:
OSHA's newly produced enforcement policy for the 2012 update to hazard communication (hazcom) standards makes several strides in clarifying for both field staff and affected employers the circumstances under which alleged violations of the rule could be cited, sources say, but industries are concerned about detailed instructions in the guidance and what they consider new, unforeseen paperwork and compliance burdens.
Date:
OSHA has reversed an earlier policy that classified the use of kinesiology tape as an OSHA recordable medical treatment, deciding instead that it qualifies as first aid -- backing down after agreeing to the sports training industry's request to review information about how the medical tape is typically used.
Date:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and a coalition of public health groups are urging senators to take up the House-approved Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill, saying an alternative pending Senate TSCA bill contains too many problematic provisions including sweeping preemption of state chemicals programs.
Date: