OSHA -- conceding its proposed injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) rule will not likely take its next key step, a small business review panel, until this spring or later -- faces stepped-up pressure from safety advocates to move the high-profile rulemaking more quickly through the regulatory process. At the same time, a key OSHA advisory group is recommending OSHA and NIOSH back a major national symposium to move I2P2 forward generally.
September 16, 2026
OSHA chief David Michaels is reviewing an internal draft on ways to administratively improve the agency's voluntary protection programs (VPP), an agency official told Inside OSHA Online. The draft addresses ways to revamp VPP policies and performance measures to bolster the program, make the program more consistent across the regions and address resource constraints without compromising the effort, the OSHA official suggested.
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A bill to codify OSHA's voluntary protection programs (VPP) has begun picking up more support on Capitol Hill, and a key senator involved in occupational safety and health is signaling that he wants to push the measure soon, Washington sources say. At the same time, OSHA told Inside OSHA Online that agency chief David Michaels is now reviewing a draft internal report on ways to improve VPP (see related story).
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Key House Democrats are pushing a new bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen its current system for regulating chemical dispersants used in oil spill cleanup efforts, echoing calls from environmentalists and the agency's Inspector General for the agency to strengthen its oversight of the controversial chemicals. The move comes as OSHA recently stepped up its efforts to protect the health and safety of oil spill workers.
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NIOSH, with the help of stakeholders, is closely examining the complexities that may be involved in adopting a new tiered classification system for carcinogens that would create different levels of identified risk, like systems used by other organizations such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A top agency official says moving toward that model could provide OSHA with a far wider range of options for developing its compulsory workplace exposure limits.
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OSHA, in a move sources say closely hews to the intent of a pilot program to reduce safety hazards in chemical plants, as well as a similar effort in refineries, has launched a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) for the chemical industry in all states and regions. Worker advocates, while praising the stepped-up inspections, would like to see voluntary protection program (VPP) sites included in the new initiative, a union official told Inside OSHA Online.
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pressing the White House and OSHA to rule out a potential aspect of the agency's upcoming rule to align the hazard communication (hazcom) standard with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classifying and labeling chemicals, arguing that an “unclassified hazards” category in a draft proposal of the rule could open the door to the agency's controversial push to regulate combustible dust. The business group voiced its concerns in a private meeting Nov.
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Industry groups are urging White House officials to ensure that pending Environmental Protection Agency rules on nanoscale materials include a “clear definition” of what constitutes a nanomaterial, with some citing a recent European Commission (EC) definition that critics say included “no bright lines” about what would and would not be covered by forthcoming regulations.
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A key OSHA advisory panel may recommend that the Labor secretary seek a presidential executive order to effectively tighten chemical exposure limits in federal workplaces, but has stalled over how two related proposals should be worded so as to avoid legal ambiguity, especially for federal contractors. Meanwhile OSHA's top official called the push for tougher federal exposure limits potentially a “breakthrough” that could set a national trend.
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An OSHA advisory panel may call for federal agencies to take the lead in addressing outdated chemical exposure limits in the workplace by adopting exposure caps for federal workers that are lower than OSHA's permissible exposure limits (PELs), which many view as outdated, a source familiar with the issue says. The proposal will be taken up this week by a task force under a panel advising OSHA on safety and health protections for federal employees. One source said the effort, if successful, could also set an example for private companies to reduce exposures.
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Environmental and farmworker groups are warning the Environmental Protection Agency they will sue if they agency does not follow through with plans to propose an update to its 20-year-old worker protection standards (WPS), arguing that the revised rule is needed because the agency's pesticide registration process does not adequately account for risks to workers and applicators.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking steps to improve health and safety in the use of needles and other sharps, by launching a new web page explaining safe disposal of the medical devices, but doesn't plan formal regulatory action, an agency official says. The move buttresses a longstanding effort by OSHA to prevent bloodborne pathogen hazards in the health care sector, though a union advocate for health workers criticized FDA for not taking a regulatory approach.
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OSHA, in what observers call an unusual move, has reached a formal agency Alliance with a worker advocacy group that represents employees in the restaurant industry. Experts in both business and organized labor say OSHA in recent years has shown less inclination to enter into alliances with worker advocacy-focused groups, and instead has focused on forging formal relationships with employers.
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The treated wood sector, including companies that use wood products as a fuel source, is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that it defines treated wood as a “fuel” subject to EPA's boiler air toxics rule rather than a “waste” subject to stricter incinerator emissions limits.
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Harvard University researchers are in talks with the California State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) about establishing an academic detailing program to improve the prescribing habits of opioid medicines and painkillers for injured workers to help them return to work sooner, with the effort likely representing the first iteration of such an activity that could also serve as a template for other states. Meanwhile, a parallel initiative to create the first U.S. insurance industry-funded academic detailing program is making headway, according to the organizer of the payor consortium.
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A hotly contested regulation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has dozens of House Republicans signing onto a friend of the court brief arguing that the rule, mandating that employers post notices of workers' labor rights, is unlawful and, among other legal issues, undermines workplace safety notices directed under the OSH Act.
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A major workplace health group, in a rare move, took its case directly to the White House in urging the Office of Management and Budget to release OSHA's long-awaited regulatory plan to tackle crystalline silica exposures. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) says the public needs an opportunity to view the proposal, and expressed worry that OMB might cave to industry's call to remove the construction sector from the rule.
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Industrial hygienists are floating a position paper that debunks as “misperception” the notion that ergonomics is not a science, pointing to a large body of scientific research on the subject. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) argues that programs to tackle ergo-related issues save money in the long run through productivity and reduced workers' compensation costs, and also asserts that ergonomic injuries can be diagnosed.
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As OSHA prepares to roll out a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) focused on nursing homes and residential care, organized labor is pressuring the agency to further tamp down on health care-related injuries and illnesses by also toughening its inspections of hospitals. An industry source says the nursing home and residential care industries have already expressed concerns about two key aspects of the planned NEP -- health care worker back injuries and exposure to workplace violence, which are contentious areas due to the lack of specific federal standards.
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A top OSHA official on Nov. 3 refuted as “misinformation” reports floating around the occupational safety and health field that the agency may tighten its noise exposure limit after having scrapped a controversial plan to re-interpret the meaning of feasibility in its noise standards early this year. The agency denies speculation that it is trying to reduce the eight-hour time-weighted average exposure limit to below the current 90-dBA threshold, and says it wants to work cooperatively with employers to abate high noise levels.
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