OSHA is making clear that it continues to see the problem of worker hearing loss as a high priority to tackle even as it scraps plans to re-interpret its noise control policy, signaling that at the least it would use voluntary programs to keep pushing for implementation of engineering controls.
September 16, 2026
OSHA intensified its efforts to take enforcement action countering the food industry's controversial use of the food flavoring diacetyl and numerous substitute chemicals, broadening the agency's National Emphasis Program (NEP) targeting microwave popcorn processing facilities to include chemicals now used in place of the buttery flavoring, which has been blamed for worker respiratory ailments commonly called “popcorn lung.”
Date:
Updated Story
OSHA should expand its pilot National Emphasis Program (NEP) on high-hazard chemical industry facilities to all 10 agency regions, federal chemical hazard investigators are urging as one of a slew of recommendations to federal, state and local authorities after a more than two-year probe into the 2008 Bayer CropScience explosion in Institute, WV, that resulted in two worker deaths and raised concerns about use of the toxic chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC).
Date:
OSHA chief David Michaels told an agency advisory panel Wednesday morning that OSHA will scrap plans to reinterpret its noise control policy, responding to concerns from the Senate task force on manufacturing and employers that the new policy would be costly to industry. The move came a day after the White House issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to root out federal regulations that are overly burdensome to industry.
Date:
Administration officials have decided not to give the green light to a plan under consideration in the Labor Department to break up OSHA's whistleblower protection program and move some of the functions to the department's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), but will instead keep the program housed within OSHA and try to direct more resources to the effort, Washington sources told Inside OSHA Online.
Date:
California's state OSHA plan has been looking at how to adjust a longstanding policy of required on-site inspections at every employer where a formal complaint has been lodged as part of an effort to free up inspectors and budget resources for the more serious, higher-priority inspections, Cal/OSHA chief Len Welsh said in a recent interview with Inside OSHA Online. The agency would still open some type of investigation in response to all formal complaints, but would limit on-site inspections to the more serious alleged hazards, he said.
Date:
OSHA chief David Michaels says the agency will soon announce plans regarding its contentious proposal unveiled last year to re-interpret language in its occupational noise control standards so as to increase reliance on administrative or engineering controls and less on personal protective equipment, telling a public interest group in Washington on Tuesday that the agency plans to move toward a resolution shortly, but without elaborating.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date:
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.
Date: