Daily News

President Obama proposed a fiscal 2014 budget on Wednesday (April 10) for OSHA that includes a sharp increase in funding for whistleblower enforcement efforts, while slightly pulling back on compliance assistance activities, and overall bumping up the agency budget by about $6 million, to just under $571 million. Funding would continue for the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) and the proposal gives a slight boost to OSHA's standards development budget, but also contains a provision to consolidate the agency's regional offices from 10 to seven.

A bill pending in Congress that would require OSHA to issue an interim standard tackling combustible dust hazards while the agency continues the lengthy process of trying to promulgate a permanent standard has picked up support from a key worker safety organization. Unlike several other OSHA-related bills, sources say, this one stands some chance of passage because it has previously enjoyed bipartisan support.

A key organization of workplace safety experts has joined the push in Maryland for legislation that would require the state to pre-qualify construction bidders for public sector projects based on their safety records. The effort is part of a multistate campaign by worker safety advocates to point out the costs of construction accidents on public projects. Industry says the push is problematic because it can be difficult to establish employer fault in many cases.

House Democrats are renewing their press for a package of mine safety measures that in a previous Congress emerged as a vehicle for broader OSHA reforms. Observers say the mine safety package again could be considered as a vehicle for OSHA reform, but note that congressional Republicans are likely to block consideration of the bill in any event.

California's hotel industry is pushing back strongly against a union-led effort to persuade Cal/OSHA to promulgate an ergonomics standard that would specifically apply to hotel room housekeepers, citing an extensive scientific study that business officials say demonstrates there are no risk factors triggered by housekeeper activities or tasks. The study was a key feature of a recent Cal/OSHA advisory board meeting where the agency studied the controversial issue of whether a housekeeper-specific standard is warranted.

A sweeping OSHA reform bill continues to pick up Democratic backing in the Senate, but observers say the measure remains unlikely to gain much traction this year even if parts of the bill are split off in a bid to pick up Republican support. Two more Senate Democrats announced their support for the Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA) shortly after a public radio report delved into the issue of OSHA reducing fines for alleged violators of grain handling safety requirements. The legislation now has 10 cosponsors, all Democrats.

OSHA has issued an extensive new guidance document for protecting emergency responders to combustible dust fires, a comprehensive effort to provide more information on accident response that comes in tandem with the agency's ongoing rulemaking to require measures to prevent such explosions. While the agency includes a disclaimer stating that the guidance does not alter compliance responsibilities in standards, one industry attorney points out that such a document can still be used by the agency to help demonstrate a compliance obligation under the general duty clause.

OSHA is ramping up its annual summertime campaign to combat heat illness, a key education and enforcement priority of the agency, a top OSHA official tells Inside OSHA Online. The initiative comes as states including California elevate their own efforts to tackle the heat illness issue, in some cases exceeding the federal enforcement levels, observers say.

OSHA has begun a lengthy process of rethinking several policies related to its Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) program, including how to monitor independence of testing labs; how to expedite application processing; and how to handle the laboratory renewal process. The agency recently held a stakeholder meeting, primarily with NRTLs, to kick off an information gathering process on how to improve aspects of the program.

A Cal/OSHA advisory panel is closely studying whether there is a need for a rulemaking to provide ergonomic protections to hotel room housekeepers, but the agency is far from what would be a groundbreaking move toward such an ergo regulation. The issue is being closely watched since federal OSHA has no ergo standard. A state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) senior official tells Inside OSHA Online the agency is still in the early stages of collecting information on the hotly contested issue.

Richard Fairfax, OSHA's career deputy assistant secretary and its top administrator of field operations, will retire at the beginning of May, the agency confirmed Wednesday (March 27) to Inside OSHA Online. Fairfax, a decades-long OSHA veteran, has overseen a wide breadth of enforcement initiatives. While it was unclear whether his pending departure will result in any policy changes, sources say Fairfax has earned respect on all sides in his lengthy tenure and his leaving represents a loss for the agency.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) reintroduced the Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) on Friday (March 22), reinvigorating a legislative push that began several years ago to update the OSH Act with a slew of provisions expanding OSHA coverage and workers' and victims' rights. A House Democratic source tells Inside OSHA Online that similar legislation will soon be filed in the House. However, observers say the House bill's prospects are dim given GOP control of the chamber.

House Democrats are again pushing legislation to require OSHA to issue interim rules addressing combustible dust hazards. The renewed legislative effort occurs as the agency attempts to move toward a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) process on a proposed permanent rule tackling the contentious issue.

House Education and the Workforce Committee ranking member George Miller (D-CA), workforce protections subcommittee ranking member Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) reintroduced the legislation last month to force OSHA's hand on interim rules.

OSHA has published a new slide presentation that the agency hopes will advance injury and illness prevention programs with employers, a move that comes as the agency works toward a small business review of a controversial proposed rule that would require such programs in workplaces. A top OSHA official says the agency is still putting together information it needs to conduct a small business review of the planned rule, which is a required step for the economically significant program.

OSHA is moving forward aggressively on a rule to address workplace combustible dust hazards, a top OSHA official says, while also acknowledging the many challenges involved in the controversial proposed regulation.

OSHA has no intention of backing off its longstanding support for voluntary protection programs (VPP), despite stakeholder concerns that the agency under the current administration may pull back resources for the initiative, OSHA official Jordan Barab tells Inside OSHA Online in an exclusive interview.

“We've been moving forward on sites,” says Barab, deputy assistant secretary for the agency. “We're fully supportive of VPP and the integrity of the program.”

President Obama's nominee to lead the Department of Labor is winning votes of confidence from congressional Democrats, but Republicans are already questioning the nomination and characterizing it as divisive. Obama nominated Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general, to replace former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. There was little word yet on Perez's stances on OSHA's policy agenda.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will be revisiting recommendations it made to OSHA and key industry and labor groups on how to tackle fatigue and process safety management issues in the petrochemical industry that came out of the board's probe of the 2005 fire and explosion at the BP Texas City Refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 180.

The chemical industry is again pressing the National Toxicology Program (NTP) to allow the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to complete its review of the 2011 listings of styrene and formaldehyde before issuing a new Report on Carcinogens (RoC), in comments criticizing NTP's proposed new analyses for the next RoC as overly simplistic. Both styrene and formaldehyde have come up as key chemicals of concern as OSHA explores how to update permissible exposure limits.

The Senate on Thursday (March 14) voted down an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) to a short-term spending measure that would have resulted in a $4 million boost to OSHA and headed off an Obama administration plan to cease funding for two NIOSH programs.