Daily News

OSHA is touting a $1.5 million settlement in a criminal enforcement case centered on a worker’s 2016 death by crushing at an Alabama auto-parts plant, including a three-year judicially mandated timeline for the firm to improve hazardous energy control measures at the facility.

The firm ALJoon LLC pleaded guilty on Nov. 9 to a single charge of willful violation of an OSHA standard, resolving a criminal prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama over the death of employee Regina Allen Elsea.

Oregon has formally enacted its emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, broadening several requirements from a proposed version floated earlier in the fall and becoming the fourth state to advance targeted worker protection standards amid the pandemic, with compliance deadlines starting as soon as Dec. 7.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is proposing to formally adopt a set of 14 safety standards for electric motor-driven mining equipment and related accessories that were crafted by voluntary standard-setting groups -- a step industry says will pave the way for rapid adoption of updated, safer technology.

New OSHA data on its COVID-19 enforcement shows the agency is most often citing employers for violating respiratory protection standards but rarely invokes the general duty clause, even as OSHA is claiming that it can use that authority to mandate distancing, face coverings and other measures not required in regulation.

The California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) standards board is poised to adopt an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from COVID-19 amid 11th-hour calls by employer and industry groups to ease some requirements, and as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is ratcheting up restrictions on the public and businesses in response to soaring infections.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is revising its rules governing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the office, including adding more opportunities to “toll” the deadline for a response, and changing how it handles unpaid fees.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is readying a proposal that would codify its waiver program allowing poultry slaughterhouses to raise their maximum line speeds, setting the stage for the latest step in a long-running clash between the Trump administration and worker groups over the safety implications of higher speeds.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is among the contenders voicing interest in becoming labor secretary as President-elect Joe Biden begins to assemble his Cabinet, but industry and employer associations are warning Democrats that any nominee viewed as too far left could struggle to win confirmation in a closely divided Senate.

During a Nov. 11 CNN interview, Sanders responded to questions on whether he would lead the Department of Labor (DOL) if offered the post by saying, “If I had a portfolio that allowed me to stand up and fight for working families, would I do it? Yes, I would.”

President-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Labor (DOL) transition team includes several Obama administration veterans along with union figures and California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) chief Doug Parker, bolstering predictions that OSHA will quickly return to Obama-era worker safety rulemaking priorities next year.

Biden’s office on Nov. 10 named a 23-member “agency review team” for DOL that will be responsible for assessing the department’s operations, coordinating with current staff and setting policy priorities for the incoming labor secretary and deputies, including an OSHA chief.

Attorneys representing employers are warning their clients to prepare for a rapid increase in OSHA enforcement and regulation as part of a broader realignment of the Department of Labor expected under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration following Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

President-Elect Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election sets up a quick reversal of several Trump OSHA policies including the agency’s decision not to craft an enforceable COVID-19 safety standard, along with likely moves to bolster its enforcement program and revive Obama-era rulemaking efforts.

OSHA has issued new guidance on how to use workplace ventilation systems to reduce exposures to the coronavirus, including efficiency targets for air filters and recommendations for fan use -- potentially adding specificity not only to its own policies but also to state ventilation mandates that have been criticized as too vague.

Employers’ attorneys are raising “numerous potential concerns” with California’s expected COVID-19 workplace safety standard, previewing potential comments they could file on companies’ behalf once the state releases a formal proposal, or issues they could argue in future litigation over a final rule.

A federal district judge has rejected Amazon workers’ suit over alleged violations of New York COVID-19 protections at a warehouse in the state, holding that OSHA has “primary jurisdiction” over the issue in a decision that underscores states’ limited authority to enforce more-stringent protections than the federal government.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is tasking several state agencies with enforcing new COVID-19 workplace-safety mandates, a response to OSHA’s refusal to craft a binding standard for the virus and a model for other states that lack delegated OSH Act worker safety program authority to nonetheless enact binding pandemic rules.

OSHA has issued new COVID-19 guidance for long-term care workers that outlines protective steps employers should take in order to avoid enforcement under the agency’s respiratory protection standard, the latest example of the agency’s use of existing rules and sector-specific guides to shape firms’ responses to the pandemic.

Unions plan to urge Democratic nominee Joe Biden to quickly strengthen OSHA’s enforcement program if he wins the Nov. 3 presidential election by arguing that it would be the most effective way to boost worker safety, while bracing for “an all-out assault on worker protections” if President Donald Trump wins re-election.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is reportedly pushing to head the Department of Labor (DOL) in a potential Biden administration, a role he could use to implement key provisions of his campaign platform from the Democratic presidential primary including a “workers bill of rights” that aims to improve workplace safety.

In general, Sanders has been a supporter of robust labor protections across the board, which would likely lead to a more aggressive OSHA as well as stronger policies from other DOL offices.

A federal appeals court is backing OSHA’s argument that its process safety management (PSM) standard covers not just equipment that contains high hazard chemicals (HHCs) but anything “connected” to those devices such as boilers, rejecting an Oklahoma refinery’s argument that the rule is ambiguous and should be read narrowly.

Employers’ attorneys are expecting the COVID-19 pandemic to remain OSHA’s top issue regardless of how the Nov. 3 presidential election ends, but are weighing the potential for a shift in the agency’s approach if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins and orders the creation of an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus.