Setting a precedent for federal policymakers, Cal/OSHA is revising a draft proposal to expand its healthcare industry workplace violence prevention rules to all general industry, after reviewing comments from stakeholder groups that include opposition by employer representatives.
Environmental and labor groups are suggesting they will sue the agency if it proceeds with its proposed training program for commercial users of paint-stripping products containing methylene chloride, charging the agency has failed to justify its approach after the Obama administration found the chemical posed unreasonable risks to workers.
The House Education and Labor Committee has approved on bipartisan lines a bill that would set speedy deadlines for OSHA to adopt standards aimed at limiting workplace violence in the healthcare and social service sectors, though the measure faces limited prospects in the Republican-controlled Senate which is unlikely to consider the bill.
Democratic state attorneys general (AG) and other groups are urging a federal court to vacate the Trump administration’s rule rolling back OSHA’s electronic reporting and record-keeping requirements, arguing the rollback is not justified, is “plagued” by errors and otherwise violates administrative law.
EPA has approved an alternative disposal method for asbestos-containing pipe under the agency’s air toxics rules for asbestos, despite a labor group’s concerns that the new practice might not comply with OSHA requirements.
A Senate panel is gearing up for a new round of debate on reauthorizing the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, but senators signaled during a June 4 roundtable that while they agree on the need for a long-term extension, they remain divided over how much flexibility to provide.
Labor unions and other groups challenging the Trump EPA’s framework rule on how the agency evaluates existing chemicals under the revised toxics law say that ongoing risks from legacy and other uses of substances currently being assessed show that they have standing to challenge the rule’s provision allowing the agency to preclude such uses from assessments.
California lawmakers are advancing legislation that would specify an early 2020 deadline for Cal/OSHA to adopt a much tighter airborne lead exposure limit for workers, and establish that a blood-lead level of 20 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dl) or higher is a serious violation triggering Cal/OSHA investigations.
A Texas refiner is petitioning a federal appellate court to review a controversial ruling from OSHA’s review panel that industry attorneys say “dramatically” expands the agency’s process safety management (PSM) rule's applicability to boilers and other “interconnected” units.
As it weighs how and whether to adopt Obama-era worker injury and illness electronic reporting requirements, Cal/OSHA is facing questions over whether it has adequate resources to establish the infrastructure required for such a system, which could prove to be a deciding factor in whether the state opts to pursue a formal rulemaking.
A chemical industry trade association is suing EPA over its first-time Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ban on consumer uses of paint-strippers containing methylene chloride, charging the measure goes too far by unintentionally limiting access to some commercial uses even though it does not intend to.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Group (ADAO) is urging EPA to perform a strict assessment of asbestos’ human health risk, citing in part findings by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and others that there is no safe level of exposure to the toxic mineral as some fear EPA will soften its analysis.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear oral argument Aug. 5 in public interest groups’ challenge to the constitutionality of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), teeing up a decision that could limit or even block lawmakers’ ability under the 1996 law to revoke rulemakings from OSHA and other agencies.
Over the objections of a broad industry coalition, a California Senate panel has advanced a controversial bill that would require Cal/OSHA to strengthen its standards should it find that the Trump administration has weakened any equivalent federal OSHA standards below levels that were in place at the end of the Obama presidency.
Environmentalists say the Trump administration’s just-announced monthslong delay of its self-imposed deadline for finalizing a rollback of an Obama-era rule tightening facility safety Risk Management Plan (RMP) requirements may suggest the plan is “dead in the water” as it signals ongoing legal doubts about undoing the changes.
EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) is urging the agency to halt proposed rollbacks of an Obama-era rule strengthening safety requirements at industrial facilities as well as its risk assessment of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO), warning that the efforts could increase public health risks for poor and minority communities.
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.
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.