Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) are again petitioning OSHA for an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers in extreme heat exacerbated by climate change, arguing that the spike in heat-related injuries and illnesses during the summer of 2023 shows the need for immediate action ahead of the agency’s long-pending permanent rule.
September 16, 2026
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun review of OSHA’s final rule expected to revive an Obama-era policy allowing worker representatives to take part in enforcement “walkaround” inspections even if they are not employed at the site, despite warnings from industry that the regulation is legally vulnerable.
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The Supreme Court’s pending decision on the future of the Chevron doctrine could imperil thousands of rules from OSHA and other agencies that have relied on the doctrine since it was first articulated in 1984, experts say, though the scope of the decision, expected in June, and its precise effects, will depend on how it is written.
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The federal district judge hearing litigation over an EPA formaldehyde assessment that employers fear could drive strict workplace limits lobbed skeptical questions at all attorneys involved at a hearing on the parties’ dueling requests to either dismiss the suit or immediately block all use of the contested document, showing few hints on his plans for the case overall.
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Chemical-sector groups are urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to loosen a long-awaited update to OSHA’s hazard communication standard (HCS) governing safety labels for toxic, flammable and otherwise dangerous chemicals, focusing on claims that the 2021 proposal adds unneeded complexity and data-gathering burdens.
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An employer seeking to overturn OSHA’s power to craft “necessary or appropriate” safety standards is asking the Supreme Court to take up its case, renewing its claims that the OSH Act’s language is too vague to survive under the “nondelegation” doctrine but adding for the first time that even a clear grant of such “major” authority would be unconstitutional.
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EPA is telling a federal district court that its plan to defer to the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS)’ peer review of a draft risk assessment of formaldehyde in its TSCA evaluation that could support new workplace limits on the chemical does not help industry’s suit over the NAS process, saying trade groups still have shown no harm to their members.
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OSHA is set to publish its long-anticipated proposal setting health and safety standards for “emergency responders” in the Feb. 5 Federal Register, kicking off a 90-day public comment period more than a month after the agency posted the rule online.
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Chemical-sector and other industry groups are urging EPA to loosen a host of new worker-safety requirements in its proposed reworking of Trump-era TSCA rules governing two persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals that they say would be too restrictive, saying the agency should instead defer to occupational-safety “professionals” on what protections are needed.
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Attorneys are urging employers to begin preparing to comply with California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) landmark indoor heat worker-safety rules expected to take effect July 1, saying the agency is likely to make the standards an immediate area of “emphasis” for enforcement despite their complex and lengthy suite of requirements.
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Without a public announcement, OSHA has updated its nearly 30-year-old enforcement handbook for the process safety management (PSM) standard, adding dozens of interpretations the agency previously set out in responses to stakeholders’ letters questioning various aspects of the rule’s meaning or application.
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Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su used a Jan. 26 event to back Democrats’ latest iteration of a bill that would set a strict deadline for OSHA to enact its long-delayed workplace violence standard for the healthcare sector, despite the agency’s failure to even set a target for a proposal some eight years after beginning the rulemaking process.
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As the Supreme Court moves to require clearer congressional authorization for OSHA and other agencies to regulate, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers is considering options for expanding Congress’ oversight of administrative rulemakings, including creating a new Congressional Office of Regulatory Review.
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EPA chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff told GOP senators during a Jan. 24 hearing that the agency will ease its approach to calculating workplace existing chemical exposure limits (ECELs) when risk evaluations would support limits below “background” levels -- a move that could partly address employers’ arguments that its proposals so far have been unachievably strict.
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Republican leaders for the House Energy and Commerce Committee are urging EPA to withdraw and repropose its upcoming Risk Management Program (RMP) rule update, charging that the proposed version conflicts with OSHA and other agencies’ responsibilities, goes beyond Congress’ explicit mandates, and raises security concerns among things.
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In the aftermath of a series of fires at renewable fuel refineries that led to at least one worker suffering critical burns, the United Steelworkers (USW) is petitioning California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to develop an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would subject those facilities to the same tough worker-safety rules the state applies to petroleum refineries.
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The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the fate of OSHA and other agencies’ deference under the Chevron doctrine is almost certain to drive reams of new litigation and result in conflicting circuit decisions, legal observers say, given widespread expectations the justices will overturn or significantly cabin the doctrine.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is renewing efforts to seek a compromise with federal OSHA over the state’s long-pending, controversial proposal to adopt updated federal fall-protection safety standards for residential frame construction, but federal regulators are expressing doubt over proposed alternatives aimed at easing employer burdens.
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Lawmakers and industry groups that support the lapsed Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program are warning that states could create a “patchwork” of substitutes for the federal initiative following introduction of one such bill in Nebraska, adding urgency to their steady calls for Congress to pass a reauthorization.
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At least four conservative justices on the Supreme Court appear open -- if not eager -- to overturn the 40-year-old principle of Chevron deference, though their success hinges on whether they can convince at least one more of their colleagues to join them in striking down the doctrine that requires courts to defer to OSHA and other agencies’ reasonable interpretations of vague statutory text.
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