Daily News

The Republican chair of the House panel that oversees OSHA says he will urge appropriators to scale back the administration's proposal to increase funds for the agency's whistleblower program and also wants to see Congress decrease OSHA's emphasis on inspections over compliance assistance. Organized labor sources contend that GOP efforts to scale back whistleblower program funding reflect a clear slant against protecting workers' rights.

Newly released studies by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) showing high cancer risks from heavy exposure to diesel exhaust could provide the Environmental Protection Agency with the data it has long been seeking to quantify the substance's cancer risks and update a 2002 risk assessment that classified the substance as a "likely" carcinogen, sources say. The studies are included in an epidemiological study of miners exposed to diesel exhaust, in which NIOSH also participated.

A major worker safety group is formally urging OSHA to lower the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for occupational noise, which would bring the policy in line with the NIOSH recommendation and the levels recognized by many employers in the U.S. and by other countries, following conversations with the agency on the idea, a source says.

A leading House Republican on occupational safety and health says any chance for OSHA reform under GOP dominance of the body likely depends upon “starting from scratch” rather than attempting to take up pieces of the sweeping Democratic legislation that gained little traction in the previous Congress. But Rep. John Kline (MN), chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, also says there are less controversial victims' rights provisions contained in that bill that could pick up GOP backing.

A key House Republican on worker safety and health says Congress, if members find a need following any eventual OSHA injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) rule based upon its provisions, “can try” to invoke the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to stop such a regulation, though he points out the political difficulty of doing so. Rep.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has developed a new policy on employee participation in investigations that the agency hopes will enhance the role played by plant workers in determining root causes of incidents and promoting facility safety. CSB says the new policy carries out a provision of its enabling legislation and brings the agency's probes in line with those conducted by OSHA.

An OSHA official says the agency intends to clarify its position on how combustible dust hazards may be addressed in its upcoming final rule to align the U.S. hazard communication standard with the United Nations-developed Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classifying and labeling chemicals -- addressing an issue stakeholders on both sides of the issue raised in recent meetings with White House officials. The official says the rule, expected to be published soon, includes changes agreed upon with the Office of Management and Budget.

Both whistleblower and industry advocates say they generally agree with OSHA's efforts to centralize its Office of the Whistleblower Protection Program, but have differing expectations on how OWPP's shift to the assistant secretary's office should influence the program.

The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying until next year its pending Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of the risks of hexavalent chromium (Cr6) in order to craft a new version that will weigh industry-funded studies on the chemical's cancer risks that industry says warrant a weaker risk number than the agency's current draft.

OSHA has unveiled a “major restructuring” of its Office of the Whistleblower Protection Program (WPP), with the office now reporting directly to the agency’s Office of the Assistant Secretary instead of to its Directorate of Enforcement Programs, and is also weighing field office changes.

The Obama administration wants increased funding and a separate line item in the OSHA budget for the agency's whistleblower program in fiscal 2013, but the whistleblower advocacy community is still concerned about how any boost in resources would actually be used.

A key safety group is formally backing OSHA's recently rolled-out policy to more strictly enforce fall protection in residential construction, saying the change promotes a consistent understanding of fall protection measures across the construction industry. But a home builders group continues to express concern about the data OSHA is using to bolster the more stringent policy, and says further agency outreach to employers, especially small businesses, is warranted before full enforcement goes into effect.

White House officials have cleared the way for OSHA to publish its long-anticipated rule to align U.S. hazard communication requirements with the United Nations-developed Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classifying and labeling chemicals, while making changes to the proposed rule that have not been released to the public. The regulations could come out within days if OSHA sticks to earlier projections about when it hoped to publish the standard, also known as the hazcom rule.

NIOSH is considering using the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies' tiered approaches for assessing and listing chemicals' cancer risks when setting workplace safety standards, though the chemical industry is objecting to calls by organized labor and health groups for the agency to follow EPA's risk assessment approach.

The House workforce protections chairman says GOP lawmakers are discussing at the staff level which OSHA matters to bring before the subcommittee, which intends to hold at least one hearing on OSHA in 2012. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) also tells Inside OSHA Online in an exclusive interview that he is concerned about the agency pulling back on some Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) next fiscal year.

The Environmental Protection Agency released Feb. 17 its long-delayed assessment of the non-cancer risks of the ubiquitous environmental contaminant dioxin, brushing aside a host of industry concerns that the agency's oral risk estimate will drive strict new regulatory requirements and will confuse consumers because it exceeds most Americans' exposure from their diet. OSHA does not regulate dioxin under its permissible exposure limits, but stakeholders mentioned dioxin among chemicals of concern in a 2010 web forum the agency held to gather information on updating exposure limits.

Dozens of industry groups are banding together to urge White House officials to remove from OSHA's proposed hazard communication standard (HCS) provisions that would create an “unclassified hazards” category under the rule, which is designed to bring OSHA's existing standard in line with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of labeling and classifying chemicals.

A key House Republican on workplace safety and health issues is backing Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nod in Michigan, where the congressman represents a district in the south central area of the state, and cites what he considers the former Massachusetts governor's understanding of the private sector. The Romney campaign has not answered a question about the candidate's views on OSHA-specific issues, but organized labor is criticizing Romney as the primary campaign heats up in the state.

White House officials are again proposing to shutter two NIOSH programs -- Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AFF) Program -- but with a slight change in their rationale since first pushing the plan last year. Worker safety and health advocates are expressing dismay that the administration continues to press the idea, which they fought for the better part of last year.

OSHA plans to publish three final standards in fiscal 2012 -- electric power, consultation agreements and confined spaces in construction -- and it continues to await White House clearance to publish a rule to align its hazard communication regulation with the Globally Harmonized System of classifying and labeling chemicals, the agency says.