OSHA officials are signaling that a new standard on beryllium exposures that is applicable only to the construction sector could be limited to lowering the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for the toxic metal, though that is only one option being considered and regulators are also weighing a range of medical surveillance measures to screen workers for potentially developing beryllium disease or cancer.
Just a few straightforward lines OSHA slipped into an otherwise routine set of guidelines for written feedback on the agency's recently unveiled regulatory proposal on silica hazards has led to the rulemaking equivalent of a firestorm, with industry furious that OSHA is asking stakeholders with technical comments to voluntarily disclose the funding sources and by implication, who has a financial stake in the policies they are advocating.
OSHA is eying the possibility of making several major changes to its process safety management (PSM) standard, designed to protect workers from catastrophic events inside chemical plants, and process safety enforcement policies, according to sources who say the agency's thinking may be reflected in a series of questions OSHA is asking about how regulators could improve the PSM and related standards.
Some industry advocates view the Obama administration's latest regulatory agenda for OSHA as fitting hand-in-glove with a more aggressive stance in the safety and health arena on both the standards and enforcement fronts, possibly emblematic of a tougher overall emphasis on regulations in the president's second term.
OSHA officials are signaling that a draft proposal for new regulations to protect workers from beryllium exposures could be released in the next few months, sources tell Inside OSHA Online, noting that the agency intends to update a group of advisors on the rulemaking later this week.
The partial shutdown of the federal government that ran over two weeks in October had a substantial impact on workplace safety and health enforcement efforts nationwide, the White House says in a recent report, with OSHA unable to conduct most of its usual inspection regimen with most compliance officers furloughed.
OSHA has set next spring as the new time frame for commencing a small business impact review of a proposed rule that would tackle the complex issue of combustible dust hazards in the workplace, according to the Labor Department's new regulatory agenda, released by the White House alongside other agencies' last week.
OSHA chief David Michaels found himself answering the same basic question, albeit phrased different ways, several times in a conference call on OSHA's campaign to inform employers of chemical hazards: How could the agency somehow leverage the newly available resources in a hypothetical enforcement action? Each time his answer was basically the same: OSHA has no plans to use the educational push as an enforcement tool. But still, questions linger – with industry persistently raising apprehensions about how the new data tools propagated by the agency could be used.
OSHA plans to implement several changes to its mechanical power press rule including removal of a paperwork requirement involved in weekly inspections of the machinery -- revisions the agency says will contribute to an administration-wide effort to reduce regulatory burdens wherever possible.
Ensuring employee safety during the surge of consumer activity around the holidays remains a key enforcement concern for OSHA despite the controversial aspects of the federal agency exercising enforcement discretion that critics say goes beyond its statutory powers in requiring employers to fix known hazards, sources say.
OSHA released its long-awaited proposed rule tackling crystalline silica exposures on Friday (Aug. 23), rolling out a comprehensive regulation that if eventually adopted would cut the permissible exposure limit to 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter and take broad measures to limit worker exposures across industries.
The proposed rule is split between two separate standards -- one for general industry and maritime, and the other for construction.
OSHA's position asserting that the independent agency charged with reviewing OSH Act citations has authority to order so-called “enterprise-wide” abatement of hazards keyed to inspections at individual locations of a multi-site employer faces new legal hurdles after an administrative law judge (ALJ) rejected the agency's interpretation.
Editor's note: The following is a letter to the editor from industry attorney Lawrence Halprin of Keller and Heckman regarding OSHA's proposed silica rule. Inside OSHA Online invites reader comments on this subject, which may be sent to ccole@iwpnews.com.
OSHA is forcefully pushing back against Republican calls on Capitol Hill for a second small business review of the agency's planned crystalline silica rule, with a top agency official telling Inside OSHA Online the agency did a “very thorough panel” in the early 2000s and afterward fully addressed small business concerns in the proposed rule unveiled this summer.
A key case testing the legal theories involved in OSHA's use of the general duty clause to press citations in situations where the agency has not issued a specific standard will be reviewed soon by the full Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), with one of the two sitting commissioners withdrawing her recusal from the case after divesting stock in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the company challenging OSHA's stance.
The American Medical Medical Association (AMA) on Tuesday (Nov. 19) officially endorsed OSHA's recently released proposal to toughen regulations on workplace exposure to crystalline silica, saying the change would lead to a dramatic decline in worker illness and calling the existing permissible exposure limit (PEL) insufficient.
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).
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.
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.