A coalition of labor unions, a nonprofit organization and a personal protective equipment manufacturer are pushing back on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) efforts to dismiss litigation over cuts to a federal worker safety agency, defending the members’ standing to bring the suit and the specific claims they make.
Despite Senate pressure to quickly propose a workplace-violence standard, OSHA says in its latest Unified Agenda of regulatory actions that a proposal date is “to be determined,” and the agency is also not committing to a timeline for finalizing a heat injury and illness standard, though it is still looking to do so.
A House appropriations panel has advanced a fiscal year 2026 spending bill that includes the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), although it contains a smaller-than-requested reduction to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Several key worker-safety bills in the California Legislature are advancing for imminent floor votes, while others -- including one that would have required a study on Cal/OSHA’s chronic staff-vacancy problems -- have stalled for the year.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is contemplating new actions to reduce worker exposure to crystalline silica in the stone-fabrication sector -- in response to alarming increases in cases of silicosis, and deaths from the disease -- including stronger enforcement of safety rules and support for legislation requiring criminal charges against negligent shop owners.
The Labor Department (DOL) is defending an OSHA citation that ExxonMobil failed to properly record the mental health diagnosis of an employee following a December 2021 explosion and fire at the company’s Baytown, TX, complex, telling a federal appeals court the agency’s actions are clearly supported by the OSH Act.
Pennsylvania coal mine operators and a former Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) attorney are criticizing the agency’s plan to curtail district managers’ authority to mandate roof-collapse prevention measures, with the operators raising concerns about the plan’s impacts and the attorney saying it misstates the purpose and process of roof control plans.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking to dismiss litigation brought by labor unions and Democratic states that aims to halt massive staffing cuts at a federal worker-safety agency, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing and the courts lack jurisdiction to hear the claims.
EPA is asking the 5th Circuit to grant another 90-day abeyance in legal challenges over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) while it reconsiders workplace exposure limits in the rule, although EPA says it is “prepared to proceed” if the court denies its request.
Mining industry safety-training experts are backing the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) plan to remove discretionary authority that allows agency district managers to require additional safety measures beyond those specified in regulation, but are urging MSHA to bolster the administrative record for the proposed rule.
West Virginia coal miners are urging a federal district court to reject the Justice Department’s (DOJ) latest bid to dismiss litigation challenging staffing cuts at a key federal workplace safety agency, arguing the Trump administration has not met its burden for dismissal and is relying on Supreme Court rulings that are not relevant.
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) is urging the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to retain safety standards for the use of trolleys in mines, arguing the technology used to transport mined ore and coal as well as personnel is still used in at least one mine.
OSHA is extending by 60 days the comment period on 20 proposed rules that are part of a Trump administration regulatory reform package, granting a request from labor unions and other stakeholders for more time to evaluate proposed changes to rules relating to respirator standards and other safety requirements.
Labor and worker rights advocates are urging the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MHSA) to “withdraw” its proposal seeking to remove duplicative requirements for inspection and maintenance of aerial tramways, arguing it would eliminate inspections mandates and compromise miners’ safety.
A federal district court in West Virginia is allowing a coal miner’s lawsuit challenging staffing cuts at a key federal workplace safety agency to continue, allowing the plaintiff to file a second amended complaint that effectively moots the federal government’s repeated efforts over the past few months to get the case dismissed.
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) and Biden-era OSHA Administrator Doug Parker are urging the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to drop its proposal to remove what the agency says are duplicate requirements for maintaining and inspecting drilling equipment in mines, arguing the proposal violates the law.
Cal/OSHA is announcing monetary and other penalties against a food-production company in the San Joaquin Valley following the employer’s guilty plea on two misdemeanor counts after being criminally charged in connection with the 2020 deaths of two workers who were exposed to nitrogen gas at the company’s plant.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is urging a Wisconsin grain milling company to respond to unresolved safety recommendations the board issued in 2023 following a 2017 fatal accident at one of the company’s facilities that resulted in criminal convictions against two of its managers.
The National Mining Association (NMA) is urging the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to expand its regulatory reform package of 19 proposed rule changes to include two additional measures, arguing the agency also needs to change accident reporting and approval of electric motor-driven mine equipment.
Labor unions are urging the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to provide additional options under its proposed hazard communication rule to allow miners rather than mine operators the choice of how to receive such materials, arguing a shift to electronic-only access will pose a barrier to some miners.