Daily News

The AFL-CIO is defending its suit aiming to force OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for protecting workers from COVID-19 infection, arguing that the agency’s preferred strategy that combines non-binding guidance with pre-existing authorities like the general duty clause “stands the OSH Act on its head."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected a suit challenging OSHA’s past decisions that extended existing safety standards to new industry sectors without formal rulemaking, issuing a ruling that upholds the agency’s worker eye-washing requirements for construction sites.

OSHA and industry groups are urging federal appellate judges to reject the AFL-CIO’s suit seeking a short deadline for the agency to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) protecting workers from COVID-19, arguing that existing rules already provide enforceable standards for employers to prevent workplace infections.

OSHA’s newly issued alert outlining steps employers can take to encourage social distancing in the workplace, including maintaining space between workers and isolating sick employees, could preview the agency’s forthcoming guidance for how businesses can safely reopen under loosened state pandemic orders.

Lawmakers at a May 28 House hearing on the Trump administration’s coronavirus response sparred over whether OSHA needs to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for protecting workers from infections, previewing arguments that could arise in labor unions’ pending lawsuit to force issuance of an ETS.

Industry attorneys are predicting that employers will face major difficulties implementing OSHA’s new guidance on when their employees’ COVID-19 infections qualify as work-related and thus subject to reporting requirements, with one law firm calling the policy a “disappointing” shift from the agency’s prior stance.

Former Obama OSHA chief David Michaels says that with little chance of OSHA issuing binding rules on how to protect workers from COVID-19, employers should develop safeguards collaboratively with their workers to ensure full participation in those measures.

Appellate judges at recent oral argument in a closely watched case over the scope of OSHA’s process safety management (PSM) standard gave little indication of how they plan to rule, as members of the three-judge panel all appeared to wrestle with several aspects of the highly complicated case.

President Donald Trump is ordering OSHA and other agencies to launch a new deregulatory push to help drive an economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic, issuing an executive order that urges agency heads to scale back existing rules, make permanent temporary waivers, and take other steps that may bolster employment and recovery.

OSHA is vowing to increase in-person inspections as states move to loosen restrictions on business operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replacing its interim guidance on investigating claims of workplace violations related to the disease with a plan to ramp up its enforcement actions as local conditions allow.

The AFL-CIO is seeking a court order for OSHA to swiftly craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for protecting workers from COVID-19 infections, arguing that the agency’s decision to rely on non-binding guidance and existing rules rather than crafting a new coronavirus policy is an “abdication of statutory responsibility.”

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says a just-released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that calls for strengthening cybersecurity protocols in a federal chemical facility safety program underscore what he says is a need to reauthorize an enhanced versions of the program.

A senior EPA toxics official says the agency is preparing to issue in the next month a series of unilateral orders against some submitters of new chemical use notifications, though the official says the moves will be done carefully to target unresponsive companies in a way that is being supported by industry.

State attorneys general (AGs) from 19 states and the District of Columbia are urging OSHA to tighten and make binding its guidance for how to reduce COVID-19 exposure risks at meatpacking plants, warning President Donald Trump that his order to keep the facilities open will boost infections without stricter mandatory requirements.

Stakeholders are warning that OSHA faces a wave of impending whistleblower complaints about unsafe workplaces as businesses in some states begin to reopen after months of limited operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are urging the agency to devote more resources to processing virus-related complaints.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is rejecting calls by Republicans and the business community to give employers liability protection from suits stemming from harmful workplace exposures to COVID-19 while renewing efforts to enact new OSHA requirements, which she says will provide liability protection if employers comply.

As EPA prepares to revise its rule governing fee requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the agency is also considering proposals from industry and other stakeholders for additional waivers and flexibilities that go beyond the three categorical exemptions that the agency has made the primary focus of the rulemaking.

While the agency announced March 25 that it planned to amend its 2018 rule to create fee waivers for three categories of parties, it also indicated it was open to additional ideas for easing the fee requirements.

EPA is clarifying that its plan to exempt “byproducts” from its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) fee rule extends to formaldehyde that is produced as a byproduct, an action that could significantly narrow the universe of firms that the agency had preliminarily identified as having to contribute fees to cover the cost of its formaldehyde evaluation.

House Democrats plan to make another push for an OSHA emergency infectious disease standard in their next round of COVID-19 legislation, with the top lawmaker on the labor committee arguing that a binding standard is necessary for states to responsibly reopen nonessential businesses.

A federal district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by worker safety advocates aiming to require a meatpacking plant to apply OSHA guidance for reducing exposures to COVID-19, but advocates are already pursuing a formal rulemaking petition seeking to force the agency to issue an emergency standard for such facilities.