A court-appointed amicus curiae is urging the D.C. Circuit to reject the Labor Department’s (DOL) efforts to reverse several decisions from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) that spurned the DOL secretary’s changes to health and safety citations in enforcement settlements with mining companies.
OSHA is weighing whether to seek rehearing of an 8th Circuit ruling that found the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) preempts OSHA from regulating worker safety around railcars, telling the court the decision “raises significant and complex issues concerning the respective responsibility of OSHA” and FRA.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is recommending that U.S. Steel conduct a siting evaluation and ensure that all documented facility siting hazards are mitigated even before the board completes its investigation of a fatal explosion at a Pennsylvania coke facility that is not subject to OSHA rules.
Multiple labor unions, along with environmental and public health groups, are urging key members of Congress not to reopen TSCA for further reforms that might weaken the law beyond reauthorizing EPA’s user fee authority, as they charge the chemical industry is lobbying legislators to weaken worker protections.
Employer-focused attorneys say they expect California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to take additional and more aggressive enforcement actions in the coming year, including a potential new focus on criminal prosecutions, as a result of the agency recently filling long-vacant inspector and other positions.
The D.C. Circuit’s recent ruling that presidents can remove at will members of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lays the groundwork for a potential similar ruling regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), experts say.
OSHA is confirming in a new Federal Register notice that Tennessee OSHA (TOSHA) has assumed authority over worker safety and health of non-federal employees performing work at former Energy Department (DOE) facilities in the state, adding new details to a pair of OSHA-DOE agreements on transferring such authority.
A petition to California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board seeking a ban on artificial stone slabs containing more than 1 percent crystalline silica to prevent more cases of the deadly lung disease silicosis is sparking new debate over whether a ban is appropriate or if state officials should substantially ramp up enforcement of worker-safety standards.
Two recent press releases highlight the Trump OSHA’s focus on publicizing preventable harms to workers, noting citations and fines to companies that repeatedly, and in one case willfully, failed to protect workers, even as some observers expect such releases, viewed by critics as “regulation by shaming,” to become even less common.
A federal district court judge is ordering the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce within 10 days an administrative record explaining its decision earlier this year to essentially shut down a key federal workplace-safety agency, saying HHS has to date produced nothing that explains its actions.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has amended regulations governing its operations, organization and management in order to improve their function, better reflect CSB’s mission and clarify procedures involving public meetings, according to a recent Federal Register notice.
A Louisiana-based oil and gas drilling specialty contractor is asking the D.C. Circuit to vacate an OSHA citation stemming from a 2022 accident where a pipe ruptured at a gas well in South Texas, arguing that an accident, by itself, is not enough to establish a violation of the General Duty Clause.
A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit during Dec. 11 oral argument grappled with how to resolve a paper company’s challenge to OSHA enforcement citations where there are apparent deficiencies with the administrative law judge (ALJ) decision on appeal but potential limits on how the court can address them.
OSHA is touting its use of “letters of interpretation” over the past year as a way “to ensure the consistent and transparent application of federal workplace safety and health standards,” saying the “letters provide clear explanations that support compliance and training requirements, helping to keep America’s workers safe and healthy.”
The labor union representing correctional officers at a federal prison in Illinois is pointing to OSHA’s recent citation of the facility for its failure to ensure employees are not inadvertently exposed to lethal drugs when opening mail, in order to highlight what it says is a potentially fatal risk at similar facilities nationwide.
A pair of Texas produce groups is renewing an industry effort to have federal courts declare that Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine when it authorized OSHA to issue whatever workplace safety standards it deems “reasonably necessary or appropriate,” with a legal strategy that is likely to increase the chances of a Supreme Court ruling.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has announced plans to revise the Biden-era silica rule, drawing cautious optimism from industry groups that are challenging the rule in court that the changes could resolve their issues, although the groups say MSHA has not yet provided any details to be certain.
EPA is proposing a revised occupational exposure value (OEV) for formaldehyde that shifts the focus from a chronic exposure scenario to one that aims to protect against acute effects as well as other long-term effects, such as cancer, although the revised OEV is still more stringent than OSHA’s 1992 permissible exposure limit (PEL).
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are examining if they can work with law enforcement and health officials in several counties to expand enforcement and bring criminal charges against stone fabrication shop owners who are violating worker-protection standards, as the state continues to see a troubling increase in cases of the deadly lung disease silicosis.
OSHA has extended through Dec. 4 the deadline for employers to respond to citations that were issued right before or during the government shutdown, explaining that shutdown days do not count toward the law’s 15-day period to contest citations.