Daily News

OSHA, EPA and other state and federal agencies are taking steps to protect healthcare and other workers against potential exposure from the deadly coronavirus, including OSHA’s suggestion that some existing standards might apply to preventing occupational exposure and EPA issuing guidance on using disinfectants to help limit the spread of diseases.

But some lawmakers are warning that OSHA’s current rules are inadequate to protect against the respiratory disease and are calling on the agency to quickly issue an emergency standard directly addressing the virus.

Even as EPA rolls back its facility safety rules, the White House is proposing to eliminate fiscal year 2021 funding for two key chemical safety programs -- the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, worrying industry officials who fear the plan will undermine protections.

The National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) said that while it generally supports administration efforts to roll back rules, it is concerned the administration is proposing to eliminate the two programs.

OSHA’s budget faces a slight cut from $581.2 million down to $576.8 million in President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2021 funding proposal, but the plan also includes small targeted funding increases for a host of agency programs including enforcement, compliance assistance, whistleblower programs, and more.

EPA will “probably” do a supplemental risk evaluation on legacy uses of asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), according to the agency’s toxics chief, in an effort to address the recent appellate decision requiring officials to assess such uses while not delaying work agency staff have already done analyzing asbestos' ongoing uses.

Facing legal and administrative deadlines, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has finalized a first-time rule that mandates reports from chemical facilities in the wake of accidental chemical releases, despite industry claims that the rule is unnecessary or that the board should rely on other accident reports that facilities submit to other federal entities such as EPA or OSHA.

EPA is defending its first-time toxics rule banning consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride from dual challenges filed by a chemical industry group and a coalition of labor and environmental groups, charging the industry claims fail on the merits while the coalition’s arguments are “unripe” and “unreviewable.”

Pressure is mounting on Congress to put aside partisan differences and reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program before it expires in April, pressure that is likely to rise in the wake of EPA’s rollback of its related Risk Management Plan (RMP) program.

A federal district court judge at a recent hearing questioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its justification for not including worker safety provisions in its revised swine slaughter facility inspection rule, according to a Public Citizen attorney who is suing over the rule for failing to protect against increased risks to facility workers.

A federal appeals court is slated to hear arguments this spring in a case in which OSHA is challenging a decision by its review panel that raised the bar for when the agency can cite a company for “repeat” violations of workplace safety requirements and impose stricter penalties than for non-repeat “serious” violations.

EPA has declined to seek en banc rehearing of the recent appellate ruling that requires the agency to consider chemicals’ “legacy uses” in its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) evaluations, and a spokesman says the agency is now considering issuing supplemental analyses for some already issued evaluations to account for the court’s requirement.

Senators are warning that the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) risks losing its quorum when one of its two current member’s terms expires next week and are calling for the Senate to quickly vote on a pending Trump administration nominee, though the vote appears to have stalled amid partisan wrangling.

EPA has released preliminary lists of thousands of companies that may have to cover the costs of assessing the next 20 chemicals the agency will begin evaluating this year under the revised toxics law, leaving companies wondering how much of the up to $1.35 million per chemical they will be charged when the list is finalized.

An Oklahoma refiner is urging a federals appeals court to scrap an OSHA review panel’s decision upholding an agency enforcement action against an Oklahoma refiner for alleged process safety management (PSM) standard violations, a finding that industry officials say unfairly and “dramatically” expands the PSM rule’s reach.

EPA has found that the once-common solvent carbon tetrachloride does not pose unreasonable risk to directly exposed workers or the environment, though other workers may face risk, says a just-released draft assessment the agency conducted under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The finding will likely renew debate over whether the agency is adequately assessing risks of already regulated uses, especially for directly exposed workers given that the agency assumes they use personal protective equipment (PPE).

The California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved new rules requiring employers to give workers injury and illness prevention program documents within five days upon request, over industry objections that compliance could be difficult and calls from farmworkers and labor unions to expand and strengthen the rules.

Major industry groups are seeking to intervene on EPA’s behalf in litigation brought by environmentalists and a labor union challenging the agency’s rollback of Obama-era Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety mandates, an action the industry groups may need should President Trump lose re-election and the next administration abandons its defense of the rollback.

A federal appeals court judge says a psychiatric hospital faces a “tough argument” to make in its appeal of a penalty OSHA imposed under its General Duty Clause authority for not adequately addressing workplace violence, doubting the facility’s claim that the lack of a specific agency directive of how to reduce the hazard violates due process.

Correction Appended

Litigation filed by food workers unions over the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) revised swine slaughter facility inspection rule is testing whether the department has a duty to protect workers, with the challengers saying the rule is unlawful because it does not offer such protections while USDA says it is not subject to such a mandate.

OSHA has issued a final rule that hikes by almost 2 percent the cost of civil penalties it will impose when enforcing against employers for violations of its policies, a move that may result in increases in total penalties imposed as part of a broader effort by OSHA to increase enforcement.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) proposed accidental chemical release rule is drawing competing criticisms, with environmentalists and other advocacy groups saying it weakens reporting mandates to the point of being “useless” while industry entities claim it risks subjecting companies to “inappropriate enforcement.”

Various groups outlined the attacks in written comments filed ahead of CSB’s Jan. 13 deadline for public input on its Dec. 12 proposed rule, with the board scrambling to finalize the measure by Feb. 5 under a court order.