Daily News

A Texas construction firm is suing over OSHA’s citation for a 2016 accident where a worker was seriously injured when a crane touched a live power line during disassembly, after the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) twice rejected the employer’s defenses -- including that the crane safety standard should not apply.

OSHA chief Doug Parker told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a sworn July 25 declaration that his agency is “on track” to complete a long-term COVID-19 standard for healthcare workers by September or October, despite Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s recent comments that the rule could take as long as five months.

Environmental health experts at a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) meeting said extensive new research is needed to identify the full range of workers exposed to toxic per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), based on newer studies suggesting exposure even for those who may not knowingly handle the chemicals directly.

The Biden administration is highlighting early inspection figures from OSHA’s first-time National Emphasis Program (NEP) on heat danger as part of a broader push to showcase its climate policies amid a worldwide heat wave and the failure of Senate negotiations over clean-energy measures in a reconciliation spending bill.

According to a July 20 White House release, OSHA “has already conducted 564 heat-related inspections, which are focused on over 70 high-risk industries across 43 states” since unveiling the enforcement initiative in early April.

A trade group is calling on EPA to partner with OSHA on a reworked version of its proposed rule banning current uses of chrysotile asbestos, arguing that TSCA requires the two agencies to coordinate and gives a leading role to the work-safety agency, even as unions and public health advocates say OSHA’s asbestos limits too outdated to protect workers.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a handbook of workplace safety “best practices” for companies that employ temporary workers (TWs) hired through staffing firms, building on joint recommendations it issued with OSHA in 2014 and calling on employers to go “beyond compliance” in order to protect TWs.

The coalition of unions suing OSHA to revive its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector say the agency’s self-imposed timeline for a permanent rule appears at risk of slipping by as much as two months, citing comments by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh during a Senate appropriations hearing.

California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) proposed workplace violence-prevention standard for “all industries” is coming under fire from state-level labor groups that say it is far narrower and less stringent than the agency’s existing rule that applies to healthcare facilities.

Labor union representatives are attacking California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) proposal to remove “exclusion pay” requirements from its proposed long-term COVID-19 worker-safety regulation, saying that if the state drops its existing requirement to pay infected workers for time away from their duties many will come to work sick and further spread the virus.

Major industry associations are calling on EPA to drop its proposed ban on current uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead agree that the notorious carcinogen can be “safe” with strong enough worker protections, signaling they may be uninterested in negotiating a phase-out even after previously backing legislation that would have imposed a ban.

Employers are lining up against OSHA’s proposed withdrawal of federal approval for Arizona to operate an OSH Act state plan, saying the move has no reasonable basis and would undercut a “highly effective” program, while national unions and safety professionals are hailing the proposal as a necessary step for worker protections.

Petrochemical and other industry groups are urging the White House not to tighten mandates under EPA’s risk management plan (RMP) program that requires facilities using very hazardous substances to follow plans to reduce risk of dangerous releases, as the agency moves toward reviving Obama-era policies that the Trump administration rescinded.

The Labor Department (DOL) is outlining a process for workers to seek formal “statements of interest” asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) not to enforce immigration laws against workers dealing with alleged OSHA standard violations or other “labor disputes” who fear retaliatory deportations or other penalties for whistleblowing.

The Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) is raising a long list of defenses against OSHA’s proposal to withdraw its state plan authority under the OSH Act, saying the federal agency’s claim of a “history of shortcomings” by ICA is merely a “pretext” for a revocation and that it has never established a legal standard to deem a state program inadequate.

Employers and labor-aligned groups are renewing their longstanding arguments on the merits of OSHA’s expanded electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates in response to the Biden administration’s proposal to generally unwind a Trump-era rollback of those requirements, with unions again welcoming the rule while industry calls it unnecessary or dangerous.

With little warning, EPA has revived and finalized a 2016 proposal that aims to harmonize its approach to regulating new chemicals with OSHA’s overall worker protection practices and the terms of that agency’s 2012 Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) -- rejecting industry objections that certain policies are either inconsistent with TSCA or redundant.

A top TSCA official says EPA’s pending rule banning use of chrysotile asbestos is not “indicative” of how it will regulate workplace exposures and other risks from chemicals under the reformed toxics law, telling stakeholders to look instead at upcoming rules for several solvents, starting with methylene chloride, as a better model for the future.

Seeking to ramp up OSHA enforcement, House appropriators have approved a fiscal year 2023 spending bill for the Labor Department that would raise the agency’s budget by $100 million from current levels, exceeding the White House’s request by over $10 million and turning focus to the Senate, which has yet to begin its appropriations process for the coming year.

OSHA is formally proposing to grant Massachusetts’ application for OSH Act authority to enforce workplace safety standards for state and local government employees following years of quiet negotiations, clearing a path for the Bay State to become the seventh with state-plan authority only for government workplaces.

California lawmakers continue to advance a bill that would strengthen California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) worker-safety standards for heat and wildfire smoke despite opposition from industry and business groups, though proponents have recently softened the measure to delay its deadline for the agency to propose new limits by about a year.