OSHA reportedly is on the cusp of sending out, as soon as late this month or sometime in November, the necessary materials to start a small business review process on the agency's proposed rulemaking to help prevent workplace exposures to infectious diseases, a source closely following the issue tells Inside OSHA Online.
September 17, 2026
Worker safety advocates in New York have issued a new report sharply critical of working conditions for contract employees within the city's two major airports, ranging from potential bloodborne pathogen exposure to excessive noise levels, and say workers' health concerns about bodily fluid exposures are heightened now that suspected cases of Ebola disease have apparently gone through the U.S. aviation system.
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NIOSH officials express deep concern that a large contingent of U.S. health care workers who deal with cancer patients face highly risky exposures to hazardous chemicals, raising red flags in a new study coming out in a major occupational health journal about issues ranging from inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to lack of worker training despite widely available guidance.
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Federal experts are exploring the potential toxicity of chemicals involved in a disastrous spill from an industrial storage tank into West Virginia's Elk River early this year that devastated the region's water supply and left thousands of residents for lengthy periods without clean drinking water -- an event closely watched by OSHA observers.
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Occupational safety and health activists are vocally concerned about a bevy of Republican-led bills that would make the regulatory process much more difficult for agencies such as OSHA to navigate -- especially complicated rules like crystalline silica that are currently in the midst of the rulemaking process.
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is pressing the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to work with OSHA to clarify safety regulations involving railroad and rail roadway safety, saying the agencies need to establish “clear guidelines” for use by railroads and railroad workers detailing when and where OSHA standards are to be applied.
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Federal chemical safety officials are citing so-called “hot work” hazards near storage tanks containing organic or biological materials as a central concern in preventing industrial fires and explosions, saying it is both crucial and cost-efficient for such operations to monitor combustible gas levels and head off dangers associated with them.
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OSHA has hit a cell tower contractor with two “willful” and four “serious” safety violations following the deadly collapse of a tower that was being dismantled early this year in Kansas -- an incident that prompted OSHA also to add the employer to its controversial Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) -- demonstrating the agency's willingness to wield rigorous enforcement as a key part of its recent push to improve communication tower safety.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a 2-1 ruling has backed a lower court decision giving the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) authority to investigate the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, expanding CSB's jurisdiction from traditional land-based releases to also include releases from offshore facilities.
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OSHA is again putting a laser focus on worker fall protection, tackling the trend of increasing numbers of fatalities, particularly with recent growth in the construction sector, by teaming with a major national safety group to address the hazard.
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Union officials have filed suit against the Department of Transportation (DOT) over truck driver safety, saying a federal appeals court should order DOT to issue what the complainants characterized as a “long-overdue rule” outlining training standards for entry-level drivers.
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Members of the Senate health and appropriations panels raised concerns about the lack of clear coordination among the slew of federal health agencies working to address the African Ebola outbreak, while backing the Obama administration's request for an additional $88 million to bolster U.S. efforts to tamp down the public health problem.
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The White House is reviewing a planned OSHA rule that would lower by 90 percent the allowed limit on worker exposures to beryllium to .2 mg/u3 TWA -- in line with both union and industry requests -- and put in place medical surveillance requirements to detect sensitization to the metal, a knowledgeable source tells Inside OSHA Online.
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OSHA's fall protection standards are once again the most-cited regulations stemming from OSHA inspections over the last fiscal year, show data newly released from the agency and compiled by a safety organization's journal.
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OSHA has sent to White House regulatory analysts a draft proposed rule aimed at reducing worker exposures to beryllium, taking a key step forward on a standard long sought by worker health experts but that has a narrower impact on industry than other pending rules on far more ubiquitous substances such as crystalline silica.
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OSHA is using nearly $11 million in appropriated funds from Congress to bolster occupational safety and health programs conducted by groups around the country -- particularly by local advocacy committees that use money filtered down from their national organization -- to accomplish what the agency characterizes as “capacity building” efforts as OSHA puts a focus on compliance assistance activities.
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The Health and Human Services Department has issued wide-ranging guidance on ways to protect U.S. health care workers from potential Ebola exposure that suggests using respirators in certain situations -- a document that worker advocates generally praise for its intense focus on correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
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OSHA rolled out final injury reporting regulations Thursday that give the agency broader reach in collecting workplace injury data -- including one option for employers to file electronic reports -- with new requirements on notifying OSHA of amputations, hospital stays of one or more employees, and loss of a worker's eye, along with a sweeping update to work site classification codes for injury logs.
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OSHA is expected to unveil shortly a final rule that, based on an earlier proposal, likely will change injury and illness reporting requirements by putting in place stringent and controversial new mandates for employers to let authorities know when workers suffer amputations or hospitalizations on the job – on top of a long-anticipated roll-out of the new North American classification system for work sites that are required to report incidents to OSHA.
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NIOSH has added more oral drugs to a list of what it classifies as hazardous drugs used in health care settings, the latest step in a decade-old project to inform stakeholders about patient drugs believed to put millions of U.S. health workers at risk of cancer and organ damage.
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