Daily News

Labor attorneys say the OSHA review commission’s “landmark” ruling upholding the agency's use of General Duty Clause authority to address a fatal workplace violence incident is a precursor to OSHA issuing a workplace violence standard, and that until then, companies should take steps to avoid potential citation.

An OSHA workplace violence standard is “more than merely a possibility” because the agency has put such a policy on its regulatory agenda, Manesh Rath, a partner at Keller and Heckman, told the firm’s recent OSHA 30/30 webinar.

OSHA is considering expanding its so-called “lockout/tagout” safety standard governing excess energy in power equipment to allow control circuit type devices -- such as push buttons and selector switches -- to be used to shutter equipment and to extend the standard to robotic equipment, which is increasingly being used in manufacturing.

Appellate judges appear to agree with EPA lawyers that labor and other groups generally lack standing to challenge the agency's framework rule for evaluating risks of existing chemicals under the revised toxics law, but they left the door open to sue over officials' decision to preclude legacy uses from the scope of any evaluation.

OSHA appears poised to remain without a Senate-confirmed administrator for the foreseeable future after the Trump administration's long-delayed nominee, Scott Mugno, withdrew his name from consideration despite eased Senate rules that had been expected to ease his path to confirmation.

Worker advocates are urging OSHA to bolster protections for whistleblowers who report health and safety violations by speeding investigations of claims and supporting Democrats' proposals to improve protections, though a contractor says it would be more efficient to first identify whether some whistleblowers are just disgruntled employees.

On the eve of a key appellate hearing, EPA and environmentalists are sparring over the groups' standing to challenge one of EPA's framework rules for implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), responding to a court order that asks the parties to address the issue in the upcoming oral arguments.

OSHA has issued its long-awaited final rule amending a series of existing standards to remove or revise duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent requirements though, as expected, the measure drops an Obama-era plan to expand when OSHA’s so-called “lockout/tagout” safety standard applies to power equipment that is shut off for repairs.

A labor union attorney says environmental statutes' citizen suit provisions could give workers a powerful tool in their fight to reduce their exposures to hazardous chemicals, because laws such as the Clean Air Act impose much greater penalties for violations that increase exposures compared to workplace safety statutes.

The chairman and ranking member of a Senate governmental affairs committee panel are poised to introduce bills they say will make “surgical fixes” to the regulatory process by creating a test to ensure health and safety rules are effective via future retrospective reviews and providing more opportunity for early input on proposed measures.

Top House Republicans say they could agree to a compromise with Democrats on a bill to limit asbestos risks, though they say any deal will have to address concerns that a bill does not unduly limit production of chlorine used to treat drinking water and does not impose infeasible testing and other requirements on federal agencies.

An Arizona-based group is stepping up its effort to have a federal appellate court overturn the Congressional Review Act (CRA), the law Republicans and President Donald Trump used to repeal a suite of Obama-era worker safety policies issued by OSHA.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta says the Labor Department (DOL) is considering writing a new procedural rule that would limit OSHA and other entities' use of guidance documents to make policy in the wake of an Inspector General finding that the agency, during the Obama administration, did not take adequate steps when issuing guidance, opening it up to legal challenges.

EPA's recently finalized rule regulating renewed uses of asbestos expanded the number of applications subject to regulation but cut some of those applications from a related risk evaluation of existing uses, angering critics who say the agency is further narrowing any future toxics rule on existing uses and shows why a total ban on asbestos is needed.

Robert Sussman, a former EPA deputy administrator who is now counsel to the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), describes it as the “shrinking risk evaluation,” because of EPA's efforts to limit the uses of asbestos.

Under pressure from Democrats to quickly craft an OSHA standard on workplace violence in the health sector, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta acknowledged that DOL is behind schedule creating a special panel to consider small business concerns though he declined to commit to a series of requests for speedier and more aggressive action.

“The [small business review] panel that was slated to begin in January is being put together currently,” Acosta told the House Education and Labor Committee during May 1 testimony.

Farmworker advocates are pressing the Trump administration to preserve a provision of the Obama-era rule updating EPA’s farmworker protection standards (WPS) that limits pesticide spraying when bystanders are present, arguing the application exclusion zone (AEZ) is needed to protect nearby workers and bystanders.

Workplace safety lawyers say OSHA will have a “learning experience” from its recent high-profile loss in a review commission case undoing an agency General Duty Clause citation for a roofing firm employee’s death from heat stress, and that the agency will pursue similar cases in the future and build a more substantial legal argument for them.

“OSHA is going to do a better job next time around,” said Keller and Heckman associate John Gustafson on an April 24 webinar in the firm’s monthly OSHA 30/30 series to discuss the commission’s ruling.

As Congress returns from its two-week recess, labor groups are stepping up their calls for lawmakers to restore Obama-era OSHA rules that Republicans have reversed and craft new rules governing workplace violence, heat stress, chemical safety and other issues, though such legislation is unlikely to be considered in the GOP Senate.

Democratic leaders in the Senate are urging EPA to ban commercial uses of the paint stripper methylene chloride, saying the Trump administration's decision to limit its ban to consumer uses and merely consider requiring additional training for workers using the chemical leaves a vulnerable population at risk.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB)is urging EPA to reassess its 26-year-old study on the potential risks from refineries’ accidental releases of hydrofluoric acid (HF), citing two recent refinery fires as highlighting concerns over whether the facilities’ risk management plans (RMPs) are adequate to control unplanned HF releases.

Correction Appended

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, says his union opposes Democrats’ Green New Deal (GND) that promotes policies to tackle climate change, strengthen workplace health and safety standards, improve the environment, and boost jobs, striking a major blow against the plan that is already stalled in Congress.

During an April 23 event hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C, Trumka faulted lawmakers’ lack of consultation with the group on developing the plan.