Two employer attorneys are pointing to several aspects of OSHA inspections where they say companies could either contest the agency’s approval of “third-party” worker representatives under a controversial new rule or limit their access to job sites, previewing potential case-by-case disputes that could run parallel to broader litigation over the policy’s legality.
December 16, 2025
Daily News
Top officials at the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) used the agency’s latest public business meeting to tout its recent progress on accident investigations, while previewing plans to make incident reports and related information more easily accessible to the public through improved online access and communication.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) plans to exempt local and state correctional facilities from its sweeping new indoor heat worker-safety rules and resubmit the regulatory package to state administrators for approval, after state finance officials warned the agency they plan to reject the prior version over its economic impacts.
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EPA has issued its final TSCA “framework” rule governing risk evaluations of existing chemicals, aiming to broaden the scope of its reviews and codify several controversial Biden administration policies including its rejection of a Trump-era approach to considering workers’ use of personal protective equipment (PPE), despite several industry groups’ claims that the new method is unlawful.
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Mining-sector employers and unions alike are backing the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) newly tightened standards for respirable crystalline silica (RCS), but both say implementation remains a key question, with one union urging strict enforcement while a trade group says the agency should align its approach with OSHA’s own silica rule.
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Chemical industry groups, labor unions and a prominent public health group have filed separate petitions asking four different appellate courts to review EPA’s final TSCA risk management rule phasing out ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, setting up a high-stakes lottery to determine which court will ultimately hear the precedent-setting case.
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OSHA has posted online injury and illness tracking data from 2023 that employers provided as part of the first compliance cycle for its electronic recordkeeping and reporting rule earlier this year, a move the agency says will allow stakeholders to identify safety hazards though the agency is not yet providing its own analysis of the reports.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has denied a Texas contracting firm’s bid to overturn an OSHA trench-safety citation under the “unpreventable employee misconduct” (UEM) doctrine, backing the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) application of a four-part test for employers to invoke that defense.
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EPA has preliminarily determined that many activities that disturb legacy asbestos -- such as demolition of older buildings that were constructed with the material -- pose “unreasonable risk” to workers and others, potentially triggering new TSCA rules to protect them, according to a draft of the agency’s long-awaited “part 2” evaluation of the mineral.
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The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has released its final update to 50-year-old standards for respirable crystalline silica (RCS), with more stringent reporting and monitoring mandates compared to a 2023 proposal, although it also extends compliance deadlines for operators, particularly those at smaller mines.
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Environmentalists and their allies say EPA’s recently finalized updates to its Risk Management Program (RMP) rule leaves out many measures they believe are necessary to ensure it covers all facilities at risk of accidental releases, in particular because the agency rejected calls to expand the list of chemicals whose use at a site triggers RMP requirements.
“Safeguards are only helpful where they’re applicable,” Dena Adler, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) at New York University, told Inside OSHA by email.
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A bill advancing in the California Legislature would require California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to amend its hospital violence-prevention rules to require that facilities maintain metal detectors at certain entrances, and implement a number of supporting security measures.
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Republican lawmakers are continuing their push-back against EPA’s draft risk evaluation of formaldehyde, with a new letter warning the agency that a potential workplace exposure limit is too stringent and could jeopardize a range of industrial sectors, while also raising concerns that any rule based on the review could conflict with Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) policies.
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House Republicans have introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that seeks to roll back EPA’s controversial rule tightening many aspects of its risk management program (RMP) for chemical facilities, teeing up a statutorily mandated vote on the repeal in the coming weeks.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) on March 29 filed H.J. Res. 123, which if passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the President would scrap EPA’s recent RMP rule.
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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved OSHA’s final rule updating the hazard communication standard (HCS) that governs safety labels for toxic, flammable and otherwise dangerous chemicals, after employers and trade groups warned that the 2021 proposal would massively expand data-gathering requirements.
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OSHA has released an FAQ document that aims to clarify implementation details for its controversial rule allowing worker representatives to take part in “walkaround” inspections even if they are not employed at the site under review, including how non-unionized workers can select representatives and steps employers can take to avoid disclosure to outsiders.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials say they are still “committed” to strong implementation of existing indoor heat protections and ongoing efforts to bolster them, despite the likely forthcoming rejection by state administrators of a sweeping set of more stringent rules adopted by the agency’s standards board last month at a chaotic meeting.
“We remain committed to implementing the indoor heat regulations and ensuring workplace protections. We are exploring all options to implement additional protections, including working with the legislature,” says an agency spokesperson.
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EPA has formally published its TSCA chrysotile asbestos rule, starting a 60-day clock for potential court challenges and a rolling series of compliance deadlines for industries to phase out the mineral -- starting with bans on new imports or installation of several asbestos-based products that are now set to take effect in late November.
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EPA will use an industry “workshop” next month to unveil standard “occupational exposure scenarios” (OES) developed by staff to assess potential worker exposures as part of its TSCA risk evaluations of existing chemicals -- a move that could help address industry complaints that those reviews greatly overstate occupational risks.
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Critics of OSHA’s controversial rule to allow worker representatives to take part in enforcement “walkaround” inspections, even if they are not employed at the site under review, say changes to the final version did little to address their concerns, and one employer attorney says court challenges are now “all but guaranteed.”
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