A recently published study suggests that existing California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) standards for heat-related illness (HRI) do not adequately protect the state’s agricultural workers and recommends reforms similar to those labor groups and others are seeking in their petition for an OSHA heat standard.
September 17, 2026
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is facing competing pressures on how to rework its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) into what is expected to become a permanent rule, including from some of its standards board members and labor unions who want more stringent protections, and from employers seeking more flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.
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OSHA’s new general-industry guidance tightening recommendations for face coverings in the workplace is drawing a mixed response from employers’ attorneys, with some praising the agency for aligning its policy with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while others say the precise scope of the guide is still unclear.
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OSHA is seeking a $1.3 million fine against a Massachusetts contractor over a Feb. 24 accident that killed two workers, in the latest step of its push to bolster enforcement against repeat, willful and severe violations of safety standards.
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Environmental groups are urging EPA to draw on OSHA data on workplace chemical exposures in its newly announced “tiered” reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), alongside arguments that officials should tighten their current plans for the rule in order to generate new data that could aid OSHA and other agencies.
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is crafting a five-year action plan to improve the efficacy of personal protective equipment (PPE) for first responders after a meeting where speakers from several public-safety agencies warned of problems with their gear including thermal stress and integrity after exposure to disinfectants.
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OSHA has updated its COVID-19 guidance to recommend face coverings for workers at indoor work sites in areas with “substantial or high transmission” of the disease regardless of vaccination status, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guide aimed at stemming the more-contagious “Delta” coronavirus variant.
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Over the objections of labor unions and other groups, a federal appellate court has granted Biden administration requests to remand Trump-era evaluations of the flame retardant cluster known as HBCD as well as the solvent 1,4-dioxane, clearing the way for officials to redo the analyses without necessarily addressing petitioners’ legal claims.
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The sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka leaves the country’s largest labor group at a potential crossroads just as it is in position to help shape OSHA policymaking and other Labor Department actions in the Biden administration, as well as to make a renewed push for congressional passage of several longstanding worker-safety bills.
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The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a think tank that aims to bolster protections for “low- and middle-income workers,” is urging Congress to step up fiscal year 2022 funding for OSHA as part of a broader push to boost resources for “worker protection agencies,” just as the Senate is ramping up debate on its FY22 appropriations bills.
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A top official at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says the sheer number of engineered nanomaterials in use has made targeted toxicity testing impractical despite a reporting mandate forcing agencies to focus on identifying analogues they can use as the basis for risk assessments.
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Employers’ attorneys say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new move to tighten its COVID-19 guidance following a wave of infections by the “Delta” virus variant has created fresh uncertainty on whether vaccinated workers should be required to wear face coverings, and are pushing OSHA to provide an answer.
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OSHA’s Midwest Region V is tightening enforcement of a host of standards for workers who clean mobile storage tanks used in rail and truck shipping, saying 97 safety incidents and 23 deaths suffered by workers in the sector since 2016 are enough to justify a formal regional emphasis program (REP).
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An alliance of worker groups, environmentalists and others is petitioning OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for heat illness even though the agency has begun to craft a permanent rule on the subject, arguing that the years-long regulatory process is too slow to protect workers from heat waves driven by climate change.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has struck down OSHA’s citation against a New Jersey construction company for a 2017 accident that the agency claimed violated lockout/tagout requirements in its construction safety standard, taking a narrow view of the “maintenance” work that triggers those provisions.
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Amazon and workers suing the online retailer over COVID-19 infection dangers are sparring in appellate court over whether regulators’ withdrawals of pandemic orders and workplace safety guidance based on the success of vaccinations have rendered moot pending litigation over employers’ alleged failure to comply with those mandates.
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The House has passed, largely along party lines, a sweeping fiscal year 2022 spending bill that includes a $100 million budget increase for OSHA, setting the stage for Democrats to seek common ground with Senate Republicans on a bill that can clear the filibuster before current funding levels expire at the end of September.
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Republican senators at a July 29 hearing suggested President Joe Biden’s three nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) appear to lack the qualifications to investigate chemical industrial accidents, echoing industry concerns that they have no specific experience in the field and potentially foreshadowing a confirmation battle.
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OSHA is asking stakeholders to weigh in on a host of issues it says will inform the first-ever update to its 1971 safety standard for mechanical power presses, including whether to expand the rule to cover currently-excluded hydraulic and pneumatic presses, and whether to use an industry consensus standard as a basis for the revision.
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The waste management industry is cautioning EPA on its plans to make environmental justice (EJ) a key focus in expected revisions to a Trump-era chemical facility safety rule, warning that if the agency expands the rule to incorporate EJ considerations, then it must find a balance to ease burdens on businesses.
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