September 16, 2026

Daily News

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit appeared skeptical during recent oral argument of a construction company’s arguments that OSHA’s multiemployer citation policy is unreasonable on its face and that the agency’s “selective” enforcement of the policy is also unreasonable.

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Labor unions are seeking to eliminate questions raised during recent oral argument about their standing to challenge the Biden-era TSCA framework rule for evaluating existing chemicals’ risks by providing the D.C. Circuit with what they say are clear declarations of how the rule would harm their members.

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President Donald Trump has nominated Deputy Solicitor of Labor Jonathan Snare to serve on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), but without an additional nomination and confirmation to the panel, OSHRC will continue to lack a quorum to address the backlog of cases before it.

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California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would impose new restrictions and certification requirements for stone fabrication shops to protect workers from being exposed to crystalline silica and contracting silicosis, a measure that would expand on toughened rules recently approved by California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board.

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A federal district court judge has dismissed for the second time litigation alleging North Carolina labor officials were administering the state’s workplace safety plan in violation of the federal OSH Act, finding the case raises no new issues from a previously dismissed challenge.

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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has vetoed legislation that would have required employers to implement control measures to address workplace violence safety concerns, arguing the bill is unnecessary even as employment law experts expect states to continue to consider such legislation in the absence of federal action.

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Republicans on the House workforce committee are urging the Labor Department (DOL) to withdraw proposed OSHA regulations and rescind final Biden-era ones as part of a broader push to overhaul “burdensome” regulations from the department.

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A panel of D.C. Circuit judges appear likely to rule on the merits of the Biden-era TSCA framework rule laying out procedures for evaluating existing chemicals’ risks to workers and others, after judges repeatedly questioned EPA and industry attorneys’ arguments that the court lacks jurisdiction to do so.

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A leading chemical industry attorney is urging the Trump administration to engage industry and other stakeholders in strengthening the coordination between EPA and OSHA, arguing that a newly issued memorandum of understanding (MOU) fails to provide the necessary clarity on their respective regulatory roles.

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A federal appellate court has backed calls from labor and other groups to hear oral arguments March 21 in a case over EPA’s Biden-era TSCA framework rule laying out the procedures for evaluating -- and thus regulating -- worker and other risks under the law, though the court has directed the parties to discuss EPA’s request to remand the rule.

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Worker advocates and Kentucky’s governor are raising concerns about recently passed state legislation that if enacted would block regulators from enforcing years-old rules that are less protective than federal OSHA standards, setting up a test of whether the Trump administration will enforce statutory mandates for state program effectiveness.

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A California lawmaker is advancing a bill to expand the state’s existing job-security protections for employees who refuse to perform “hazardous” tasks by providing such protection in cases where an employee “has a reasonable apprehension” that the task would result in injury or illness, and requiring full pay during the period of inactivity.

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OSHA is seeking to renew an information collection request (ICR) related to COVID-19 reporting and recordkeeping requirements for healthcare employees to ensure compliance with Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) mandates even as the agency has stopped enforcing the requirements and plans to withdraw them through a rulemaking.

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ExxonMobil is asking the 5th Circuit to vacate an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) findings of improper recordkeeping for failing to properly log work-related mental illnesses following a 2021 accident at the company's Texas facility, in a case that could test OSHA policies governing which medical professionals are qualified to make such determinations.

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The Trump EPA is signaling plans to scale back Biden-era approaches for evaluating -- and thus regulating -- worker and other risks under TSCA, asking a federal appellate court to remand the so-called “framework” rule so that officials can reconsider it “in its entirety,” Nancy Beck, EPA’s newly appointed deputy chemicals chief, told the court.

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A coalition of safety organizations is urging OSHA and employers to go beyond legal requirements and implement robust environmental, health and safety (EHS) practices, emphasizing that proactive risk mitigation not only enhances worker safety but also boosts productivity and contributes to economic growth.

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Debra Lee, who has been serving as California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) acting chief for the past eight months, told state lawmakers during her March 5 confirmation hearing that her priorities include aggressively working to hire new staff to fill a substantial number of vacancies and ensuring that a new program to protect agricultural workers becomes fully operational soon.

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Senate Democrats are raising concerns over whether the Trump administration will provide adequate funding for OSHA, given prior Republican lawmakers’ attempts to slash the agency’s budget, pressing Keith Sonderling on the issue at his confirmation hearing to be Labor Department (DOL) deputy secretary.

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The Trump EPA is indicating its plans to initiate a new rulemaking to reconsider the Biden administration’s Risk Management Program (RMP) final rule, voicing support for industry and GOP state efforts to put into abeyance their ongoing legal challenges to the Biden rule.

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Several members of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board and labor representatives are strongly criticizing a bill pending in Congress that would eliminate federal OSHA, charging such a move would be disastrous for workers across the country and weaken state protections even in states that have their own regulatory programs such as the Golden State.

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