A workplace safety lawyer says OSHA could seek to cite employers for failing to comply with EPA's planned TSCA workplace exposure limits for several chemicals given the "very clear" intersection of the two agencies' missions, but will face several key legal questions if it tries to invoke "reach-over" authority to directly enforce TSCA mandates.
September 17, 2026
The Supreme Court has accepted a second case challenging the longstanding Chevron doctrine requiring deference to OSHA and other agencies’ readings of ambiguous laws, and will hear it “in tandem” with an already-pending suit from which Justice Ketanji Brown has recused herself, allowing the full court to weigh in and avoiding the possibility of a 4-4 tie.
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Nine trade groups are asking EPA to initiate a pre-proposal small-business review of its hotly anticipated formaldehyde rule even before finishing the risk evaluation the policy will be based on, saying that unusual step would help ensure small employers are aware of the rulemaking process and can prepare for -- or help avert -- strict new workplace limits.
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OSHA has sent a long-pending final rule to update its chemical hazard communications standard (HCS) for White House review, after industry groups warned the proposed version would require them to gather a “vast” amount of new information on such substances -- and even support more stringent policies from other agencies.
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The contracting company challenging OSHA’s standard-setting power as unconstitutional is seeking en banc review of the case, both renewing its arguments that the OSH Act violates the Supreme Court’s non-delegation doctrine and saying a panel decision upholding the law created a new and possibly “ruinous” mandate that the agency “must” regulate workplace dangers.
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A broad coalition of employers and trade groups is raising yet more objections to OSHA’s proposal to allow compliance officers inspecting a workplace to bring worker representatives on walkarounds even if they are not affiliated with that firm, saying the rule will conflict with other agencies’ authority while also creating major difficulties for inspections.
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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed its review of EPA’s proposal to regulate trichloroethylene (TCE), setting the stage for renewed debate on which of two potential workplace exposure limits the agency should apply after a years-long clash over the solvent’s potential links to fetal heart defects.
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Groups representing sheriffs and other first responders are again urging lawmakers to reauthorize the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, warning that allowing it to lapse has increased terrorism risks and limited collaboration between local emergency services.
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OSHA is clashing with the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) after it found the agency needs to do more to mitigate high injury and illness rates among warehouse workers, refusing to directly respond to recommendations and slamming OIG’s methodologies for the audit instead.
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Major unions are asking EPA to reconsider its proposed TSCA rule that would allow employers to continue active uses of carbon tetrachloride (CTC) with stricter worker protections, arguing both that the agency has overlooked some applications of the solvent entirely and that it should ban those where it “lacks evidence” firms can meet a strict exposure limit.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill that would have required household domestic service employers to comply with all California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) rules beginning in 2025, citing potentially exorbitant costs and the general unfairness of subjecting households and families to regulations intended for conventional businesses.
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OSHA is launching a new initiative to bolster enforcement and compliance with its rules governing respirable crystalline silica (RCS) to protect workers in the engineered stone fabrication and installation industries by prioritizing federal inspections of worksites where workers are exposed to high levels of silica dust.
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OSHA chief Doug Parker used a Sept. 27 House hearing to warn lawmakers against an increasingly-likely government shutdown, arguing that a lapse in appropriations will hamstring the agency’s enforcement work including a new silica initiative, while also seeking to defend its regulatory agenda against attacks by Republican panel members.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials have released a revised emergency temporary standard (ETS) for crystalline silica exposure in “engineered stone fabrication shops,” aiming to approve the rule in December amid what they say is a “crisis” in which a growing number of workers are developing advanced silicosis, a serious lung disease.
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EPA has sent its final rule overhauling the risk management program (RMP) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review, setting the stage for what is expected to be a slew of changes to facility-safety requirements addressing emergency preparedness, regulatory definitions and extreme weather planning, among others.
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su can continue in her position because provisions in federal law establishing Department of Labor (DOL) positions preempt time limitations in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act on how long a federal official can serve in an acting capacity.
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Two attorneys are warning that both employers and OSHA itself face an “incredible burden” from the agency’s proposal that would allow third parties to accompany compliance officers on inspections even when they do not work for the company -- particularly when deciding who qualifies as an “authorized representative” of non-union employees.
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The Justice Department is urging the Supreme Court to preserve the Chevron doctrine, which grants OSHA and other agencies discretion to reasonably interpret ambiguous statutory language, warning that such a rollback would send a “convulsive shock” to the legal system and create “cascading uncertainty” for agency decisions.
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Trade groups and companies say EPA’s proposed TSCA rule for carbon tetrachloride (CTC) rests on an illegally strict workplace exposure limit, and improperly cuts OSHA out of the rulemaking process despite a statutory mandate to consult with peer agencies before treading into areas they regulate, among a host of other attacks.
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An employer attorney says companies, especially small businesses, are likely to push OSHA for greater flexibility in its upcoming heat-danger standard after the agency quietly released a lengthy list of “potential options” for its proposal including a range of possible heat-control requirements, temperature thresholds and training mandates.
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