The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has quickly competed its review of OSHA’s draft request for information (RFI) that could help open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is dropping its appeal of a federal district court’s order for the board to issue by February a final rule requiring accidental release reporting from chemical facilities, reaffirming the board’s plan released this spring to comply with the order’s timeline.
Cal/OSHA is continuing to advance its proposal to set a much more stringent airborne lead exposure limit for construction and other workers, following a compromise among state lawmakers to set a Sept. 30, 2020, deadline for the agency’s standards board to adopt the new risk level.
AUSTIN, TX -- A top EPA waste official is vowing that the agency will soon send for White House pre-publication review its final rule to undo Obama-era changes that tightened facility safety risk management plan (RMP) requirements, a surprise move refuting environmentalists’ suggestions that the rollback was “dead in the water."
Labor and other advocates are strongly criticizing EPA’s risk evaluations for a common solvent and a largely phased-out flame retardant for what they say is a gross understatement of the risks that workers face from exposure to the chemicals, in part because the agency assumes workers will use protective equipment.
A former Labor Department (DOL) regional solicitor is blaming the U.S. opioid crisis in part on President George W. Bush’s backing of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolution that scrapped Clinton OSHA workplace ergonomics standards, saying the rules could have prevented many injuries that may have been treated with opioids.
House Democrats’ bill to ban uses of asbestos appears to be advancing after state officials opened the door to a longer phase-out period for chlorine producers, but few involved in talks on the bill are discussing prospects that implementing any ban will eventually drive the sector to use an alternate technology that uses perflourinated chemicals.
EPA is facing a possible suit from environmentalists after the agency rejected claims that a modified Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) significant new use rule (SNUR) for use of a specific chemical lacks adequate protections for oilfield workers that are exposed to the substance and any formaldehyde that may be associated with it.
After months of delay, OSHA has formally submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a draft request for information (RFI) that could eventually open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.
Following criticism that EPA was unnecessarily rushing to complete the first 10 risk evaluations required by the revised toxics law by the end of the year, the agency’s toxics chief says officials will use the additional six months the law allows to complete the studies but they are still aiming to complete all peer reviews by the December 2019 deadline.
Major industry groups including the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, several livestock sector organizations and others are fighting OSHA’s bid for a federal court to dismiss their suit alleging the agency’s recordkeeping policy rollback rule does not go far enough.
A pending suit over EPA’s denial of environmentalists’ petition seeking to require reporting of asbestos uses under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is testing plaintiffs’ ability to use remedies in both the toxics law and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to challenge such denials, potentially expanding plaintiffs’ litigation options.
The Trump administration is asking a federal district court to dismiss consolidated lawsuits filed by Democratic attorneys general (AGs) and other critics of OSHA’s rollback of Obama-era electronic reporting and recordkeeping requirements, arguing the plaintiffs lack legal standing and the agency is allowed to “change its mind” on policies.
Federal and local officials are stepping up calls for the Trump administration to strengthen oversight of the use and storage of hydrogen fluoride (HF) by dozens of refiners in the wake of a series of industrial incidents at several facilities across the country that have raised safety concerns for employees and adjacent communities.
Cal/OSHA’s standards board has adopted first-time emergency rules to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, which employers in California must implement by early August and which could serve as a model for other states that lack such measures and are also experiencing increasing numbers and intensity of fires due in part to climate change.
In a move that seeks to bolster the lagging deregulatory agenda at OSHA and other agencies, President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Eugene Scalia, a former Labor Department (DOL) solicitor, to replace exiting Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is countering the latest legal argument against President Donald Trump’s “2-for-1” deregulatory order that requires OSHA and other agencies to repeal two existing rules for every new measure, arguing that labor and other plaintiffs suing over it have failed to show any concrete evidence that it caused any regulatory delays or other “harms."
EPA is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to transfer industry’s challenge over the agency’s recent ban of consumer sales of the paint-stripping chemical methylene chloride to the 2nd Circuit, where environmentalists and labor groups previously filed their own challenges to EPA’s rule.
Bolstering prospects for a bill banning the manufacture and use of asbestos, a group of Democratic attorneys general (AGs) is supporting the bill while agreeing with GOP lawmakers and industry groups that the legislation may have to give more time for producers of chlorine used for water treatment to transition to non-asbestos methods.
Cal/OSHA is advancing for formal rulemaking first-time regulations to prevent indoor heat illness among workers across an array of job sectors, drawing concerns and recommendations from both labor representatives and employers, who suggest that other states could eventually follow California’s lead.