Daily News

Industry groups are eagerly responding to a new GOP inquiry into the Obama regulatory agenda by urging a House oversight panel to either slow or block several controversial OSHA efforts – chiefly the agency's plans to institute an injury and illness prevention program rule, revise long-standing noise control policy, and drop blanket inspection exemptions from on-site consultation programs. Union officials decried the move but indicated the onslaught was expected.

Two industry groups have rejected congressional Democrats' request that they issue new consensus standards on the installation of shut-off valves on diesel engines to address the problem of so-called runaway engines in dangerous operating environments. The groups say there are larger process safety management issues related to potential ignition sources, but the lawmakers are expected to continue pressing the issue.

OSHA plans to update enforcement directives to deal with ongoing hazards at building sites, the agency's newly installed head of the Directorate of Construction told Inside OSHA Online.

OSHA has ramped up efforts to develop a combustible dust standard, and unveiled plans to issue several final rules in 2011 -- including a regulation on confined spaces in construction and the long-awaited hazard communication rules to conform with the globally harmonized system -- in its latest regulatory agenda. The agency further says it expects to restore a column for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on the Form 300 recordkeeping log starting in January 2012, after getting clearance from the Office of Management and Budget.

Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican who sat more than two years ago on the House labor committee, signaled that he intends to take a vigorous approach toward regulatory oversight as he assumes chairmanship of the panel's workforce protections subcommittee, though without detailing any OSHA-related priorities as of yet.

House Republicans are sending strong signals that contentious OSHA policies in recent months -- in particular the agency’s decision to bypass formal rulemaking steps in a bid to tighten industry noise controls and to decrease funding for voluntary protection programs -- will be subject to close congressional scrutiny as the GOP conference dominates the lower chamber, sources say.

OSHA is standing firm on its decision to exclude its internal union from early discussions about a possible reorganization of the whistleblower program, telling Inside OSHA Online the union will be brought into discussions if and when there is a decision to restructure the program, which OSHA says has yet to occur.

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OSHA has withdrawn a longstanding directive on its residential construction fall protection standard that allowed for blanket exemptions from rules requiring employers to put conventional measures in place unless shown to be infeasible or create a greater hazard, making official a new policy that agency chief David Michaels announced several weeks ago and a policy shift that OSHA has considered for years.

Supporters of long-term funding to address the health needs of 9/11 first responders to Ground Zero gained a legislative triumph in the waning hours of the lame-duck congressional session Wednesday, as GOP senators who had adamantly blocked the bill won concessions and then agreed to let the measure pass, with the House quickly voting to follow suit. The modified bill permanently closes the victims compensation fund after five years, among other changes.

OSHA sidestepped a potentially costly and legally thorny issue by refusing to adopt a European Union conformity system for electrical products used in the workplace, after the EU sought to persuade the U.S. agency to abandon its existing system and thereby lift a non-tariff trade barrier among the countries.

A California health advisory committee mulled the potential occupational exposure hazards of 10 substances – including arsine and gallium arsenide, which it has discussed before – on Dec. 14, ahead of eventual discussions on setting permissible exposure limits (PELs), but has not made any specific recommendations yet.

OSHA plucked from its own veteran ranks in selecting a permanent head of its Directorate of Construction, naming longtime agency official Jim Maddux to the post, in a move that both industry and organized labor officials said would bring a strong administrative hand to lead the directorate along with solid expertise with the agency's inner workings.

OSHA anticipates that its planned final rule restoring the column for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) to injury recordkeeping forms will soon be approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a top agency official recently told construction industry and union stakeholders. The contentious proposal -- which industry has strongly pushed back against, citing legal issues in the rulemaking as well as paperwork and cost burdens on employers -- has been stuck in an extended OMB review process since this fall.

Updates to permissible exposure limits (PELs) are the top priority cited by industrial hygienists in a wide-ranging survey conducted by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) to identify public policy areas of concern, underscoring the recent emphasis among occupational health and safety professionals on addressing outdated exposure limits, and possibly increasing the pressure on OSHA to take further steps.

OSHA's construction advisory panel is considering urging the agency to explore its regulatory options with respect to helping ensure worker safety at building sites with “prevention by design” programs aimed at eliminating possible hazards before they occur. NIOSH has also been studying the issue, and OSHA officials have expressed interest in the concept but question whether the agency can do anything beyond encouraging industry to embrace the idea.

House Republicans blocked passage on Wednesday of a mine safety bill that was crafted with earlier OSHA reform provisions taken out, likely ending for this congressional session any further action on the issue and handing a defeat to Democrats who made a last-ditch effort to get a bill passed while they still control the chamber in the lame-duck session.

The House voted 214 to 193 in favor of the bill, with a two-thirds vote needed for passage on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the legislation as amended.

OSHA plans to produce a draft regulatory text for its upcoming standard on injury and illness prevention programs, intended to compel employers to provide comprehensive worker protections, by spring 2011, agency officials said Tuesday.

The draft document will be available to the public before the proposed rule goes before a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel for review, which is expected by spring, according to Michael Seymour, OSHA director of the office of technological feasibility, directorate of standards and guidance.

Cal/OSHA's issuance of the country's first-ever standard on diacetyl, the chemical used in food flavor manufacturing which has been blamed for causing the worker illness known as “popcorn lung,” helps make the case for federal recognition of the state's OSHA program, state agency chief Len Welsh told Inside OSHA Online.

NIOSH stepped up its efforts to provide a scientific basis for potential future workplace standards to control exposure to nanomaterials, producing a draft document that includes a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 7 micrograms of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers per cubic meter of air. The proposal comes as NIOSH officials are holding preliminary discussions with OSHA on ways to potentially address worker exposure to nanomaterials.