The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition from public health advocates and labor unions that urged the agency to write a rule requiring contractors and building managers to submit data about their employees' lead exposures, data that the groups said would help EPA solidify the scientific basis for a rule that would limit lead paint exposures during construction at public and commercial (P&C) buildings.
September 17, 2026
Environmentalists and worker advocates say EPA's long-awaited proposal to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposures largely fails to protect pesticide applicators and they are vowing to push for additional protections, in a rule they say is needed because EPA's registrations do not adequately assess worker risks.
Date:
The Small Business Administration is urging OSHA to work with industry to craft a “safe harbor” provision in the silica rule for construction employers who follow certain silica-safe work practices.
Date:
The federal Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is faulting voluntary oil industry safety standards for failing to prevent fires at refineries that killed or endangered workers and is reiterating a call for the Environmental Protection Agency to require inherently safer technologies (IST), such as use of less-toxic chemicals or other engineering changes to curb such industrial incidents.
Date:
As OSHA is under fire from industry for allegedly downplaying the cost of its recent silica rulemaking, another federal agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, is asking its scientific advisors how the agency could better use "economy-wide" modeling to determine the costs and benefits of its regulations.
Date:
Key House and Senate lawmakers are choosing different laws under which to create a new environmental chemical response program to address gaps highlighted by the recent West Virginia spill, with the Senate bill proposing to use the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the House proposing to use the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Date:
OSHA is stressing a need for employers to be responsible for the health and safety conduct of their subcontractors as part of a new fall protection focus on cell phone tower workers, with the agency sending a letter Monday (Feb. 10) to communication tower employers urging them to strictly adhere to safety standards and common sense practices and make sure their subcontractors do as well.
Date:
More than a dozen chemical, petroleum and other industry groups are urging President Obama and other officials to drop consideration of a federal mandate requiring use of inherently safer technologies (IST), such as benign chemicals, in any upcoming proposal on facility security, saying it will create an impossible burden and derail the president's effort to improve safety at the nation's industrial plants.
Date:
Environmentalists and some labor unions are seeking to re-engage in the "BlueGreen" alliance amid acrimony between the two camps over coal plant closures and the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, ahead of a "green jobs" conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10 and 11.
Date:
Attorneys for industry groups are opposing a proposal by the California health hazard office to potentially add more chemicals to the Proposition 65 list through a newly created administrative route under the state Labor Code, arguing the health hazard office overreaches in its interpretation of federal health and safety regulations, sources say.
Date:
Farmworker advocates are urging White House officials to ensure the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed worker protection standards (WPS) include stronger training requirements so workers can protect themselves from pesticide exposures after stricter measures, such as medical monitoring, appear unlikely to be included in the draft rule expected in the spring.
Date:
Editor's note: The following letter was submitted by Mark Ellis, president of the National Industrial Sand Association, with respect to OSHA's proposed rule addressing crystalline silica. Inside OSHA Online welcomes readers to submit their feedback. Please send comments to: ccole@iwpnews.com
Date:
Chemicals, petroleum and other industry groups are urging President Obama and other officials to drop consideration of a federal mandate requiring use of inherently safer technologies (IST), such as benign chemicals, in any upcoming proposal on facility security, saying it will create an impossible burden and derail the president's effort to improve safety at the nation's industrial plants.
Date:
OSHA is enforcing its process safety management standard (PSM) in several cases that sources say indicate a strong emphasis on chemical safety compliance, especially where the agency believes it can prove serious or willful violations of the standard -- actions which possibly could be used to buttress arguments by OSHA that a rulemaking is needed to strengthen plant safety regulations.
Date:
OSHA made it official Thursday (Jan. 30) that Dorothy Dougherty has been named the agency's deputy assistant secretary, a capacity in which she has effectively served for several months, having been selected for the post during a high-level shakeup after last year's retirement of Richard Fairfax.
Date:
Supporters of broad-based legislation to strengthen OSHA will lose a major ally when longtime Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) retires at the end of this year.
Date:
Public and consumer interest groups urging stronger safety, health and environmental protections lauded the shots President Obama took across House Republicans' bow Tuesday (Jan. 28) in promising to press ahead with his agenda through any executive actions possible when faced with GOP attempts to block administration priorities.
Date:
An industry with perhaps the most obvious of all possible stakes in OSHA's rulemaking to tackle crystalline silica hazards -- the brick-making business -- has started expressing serious apprehensions with the agency's regulatory approach, saying there are many unanswered questions about the technical feasibility of the rule, on top of concerns about its potential economic impact on companies that manufacture the building materials.
Date:
The operator of a Louisiana petrochemical plant where a deadly explosion occurred last year will contest a group of OSHA citations that officials issued after a lengthy probe into the blast, potentially setting up a legal battle over an incident that highlighted national concerns about chemical safety and became a focal point of the issue on Capitol Hill.
Date:
OSHA's proposed silica rule, even if eventually finalized, would be opened up to substantial legal challenges if the agency continues to refute a need for separate, formal avenues by the small business community to review and offer criticism of the proposal, a pair of GOP lawmakers suggested in a recent letter to OSHA chief David Michaels.
Date: