OSHA hopes to forge ahead on long-term efforts to revise its chemical exposure standards to reflect newer scientific evidence by formally collecting data from stakeholders ahead of the next potential regulatory steps.
OSHA plans to propose by November a new rule on injury and illness recordkeeping that effectively would reverse the impact of a recent controversial federal court decision invalidating the Labor Department's legal position that the OSH Act statute of limitations continues as long as recording violations occur within the five-year reporting period.
Senate Republicans are signaling that GOP staff will closely examine the details of any potential injury and illness prevention program mandate that OSHA issues as a proposed rule.
OSHA has reached a major settlement with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that stipulates enterprise-wide abatement of alleged electrical hazards faced by postal employees.
OSHA plans to take regulatory steps to address process safety management (PSM) issues surrounding the use and storage of reactive chemicals, along with potential hazards involving flammable liquids and spray finishing, according to a new regulatory agenda unveiled by the administration Wednesday (July 3).
OSHA has initiated an enforcement program in its Western region to protect workers in the automotive maintenance and repair industry from dangers related to automotive lifts -- with inspections targeted to car dealers, repair and maintenance shops, gas stations, and automotive parts, accessories and tire stores.
An unusually wet harvest in the Midwest has safety professionals concerned about grain engulfment and other hazards inside grain handling facilities, and OSHA has launched an extensive educational campaign to warn employers and workers about the risks.
OSHA's recently rolled out initiative to tamp down on industrial exposures to isocyanates could signal that the agency wants to give greater weight to health concerns overall in its National Emphasis Programs (NEP), a former top standards official with the agency says.
Chemical safety experts say a closer look by OSHA at the processes under way at the West Fertilizer Co. in central Texas -- particularly under the agency's explosives and blasting agents standard at 29 CFR 1910.109 -- could have helped prevent the disastrous explosion at the chemical mixing plant in April.
Persistent resource and staff shortages at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) are resulting in numerous investigations being disrupted as teams are pulled from one disaster site to another -- a growing problem highlighted by a series of chemical explosions in Texas and Louisiana in recent weeks that demand the board's attention, CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso told Inside OSHA Online in an interview Thursday (June 27).
A key organization of safety experts is pressing lawmakers to increase funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) -- the lead agency that investigates industrial disasters -- citing recent resource-intensive operations that have put a strain on CSB's ability to deploy teams to incident sites.
OSHA has unveiled a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) targeting hazards from isocyanate exposure.
Senate Republicans likely will attempt to add a policy rider to the upcoming Labor appropriations bill, blocking OSHA from carrying out a controversial new policy opening up inspection walkarounds to third parties including union representatives, a GOP source on Capitol Hill tells Inside OSHA Online.
OSHA's national office is telling regional offices to instruct field inspectors to check for possible violations of employer requirements to adequately provide exits and keep means of egress unlocked and free of obstacles.
An OSHA plan unveiled this month to revise accident prevention signage regulations to incorporate newer consensus standards crafted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) follows an effort over several years by industry to persuade the agency to update the rules in general industry and construction.
A major umbrella group representing worker advocates has joined a global boycott of Hyatt Hotels spearheaded by the hospitality workers union UNITE HERE, intensifying pressure on the hotel chain to ease workloads and provide control measures in particular for alleged ergonomic hazards.
A second federal appeals court has struck down the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) contentious rule to require employers to post an official board notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act -- a rule fiercely opposed by Republicans who depicted it as a power grab by the labor mediation body.
An interim report by NIOSH researchers on the findings of a Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) of a poultry processing plant in South Carolina concludes that “most employees reported musculoskeletal symptoms,” usually involving the hand or wrist, in data collected from production employees.
The Louisiana chemical plant where a catastrophic blast on Thursday (June 13) took at least two lives and sent scores to the hospital had not been through an OSHA inspection, according to an agency official.
OSHA's recent rollout of a Local Emphasis Program (LEP) by its Idaho office to better enforce regulations on the safe use of powered industrial trucks could point to a larger trend of the agency enforcing such rules around the country, an industry attorney tells Inside OSHA Online.