Daily News

OSHA has signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that aims to deepen information-sharing and cooperative enforcement efforts between the two agencies, with a particular focus on whistleblower protections.

The Oct. 31 agreement sets out general procedures for OSHA and NLRB to refer information on potential violations of the OSH Act or National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) between one another, whether it comes from worker complaints or the agencies’ own investigations.

In an early sign of how EPA will defend its TSCA proposal phasing out uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), the agency is arguing in supporting documents that less-stringent alternatives backed by industry groups would be impractical -- including a statement that the rule’s short-term worker protections are not “feasible” over the long term.

The agency posted dozens of documents supporting its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) TCE rule to an online docket when it formally published the proposal in the Oct. 31 Federal Register.

Environmentalists are pushing to toughen EPA’s final risk management program (RMP) rule in a series of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) meetings while warning that the agency is working too closely with industry on the policy, including one source who says it has shown trade associations the regulation, but not citizen groups.

OSHA has sent a long-promised proposal to update its safety standards for emergency responders for White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review -- a move that means the plan will likely miss its November target but could see release by the end of the year or in early 2024, more than 16 years after it was first announced.

The proposed rule went to OMB on Oct. 30, according to the White House’s website, starting an interagency review process that is usually targeted for 90 days but can take more or less time depending on the specific policy at issue.

The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to launch a discretionary audit in fiscal year 2024 to determine whether OSHA has remedied what the watchdog office said were deep flaws in its pandemic-era enforcement program in a report issued less than a year ago.

OIG announced the upcoming project as part of its FY24 audit workplan, released on Oct. 26.

The Department of Justice is touting new jury convictions and guilty pleas under both the OSH Act and Clean Air Act in its years-long prosecution of a Wisconsin milling company and several of the employer’s current and former officials over a 2017 explosion that killed five workers.

In a case that threatens long-time practices at OSHA and other agencies, Republican state attorneys general (AG) and industry groups are urging the Supreme Court to uphold the appellate ruling that found that Congress’ creation of administrative law judges (ALJs) for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violates key constitutional provisions.

Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is setting a quick timeline for the House to mark up individual appropriations bills, forcing lawmakers to vote on a bill that seeks to slash funding for OSHA and other agencies in fiscal year 2024 while prompting new warnings from Democrats over a possible government shutdown next month.

Johnson was elected speaker in an Oct. 25 vote with the support of all 220 Republicans in attendance, surpassing the 215 total that required to win.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is accepting a slew of recommendations from the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) based on an audit faulting many areas of its inspection and enforcement work, agreeing to increase reporting transparency, update mine status criteria and inspection tools and improve system controls.

EPA’s proposed TSCA rule for trichloroethylene (TCE) avoids taking a definitive stance on the long-simmering debate over contested research linking it to fetal heart defects, proposing a worker exposure limit based on that effect but also a less-stringent alternative that uses other effects, though even that option is much tougher than OSHA’s limits.

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are defending their proposal to strengthen worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction and general industry sectors from ongoing attacks by employer and industry groups, touting the science behind stringent new health-risk thresholds and arguing that industry has overstated their likely compliance costs.

Employer attorneys are raising concerns that OSHA’s upcoming revisions to the Hazard Communication Standard, or HazCom, will impose an array of new and unpredictable burdens for the chemical industry on an international scale, most prominently a mandate to gather data on “any hazards” substances may cause.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is asking a federal court to formally bar EPA from using the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM) contested peer review of the agency’s draft formaldehyde risk assessment in any of a litany of applications, including as support for strict workplace exposure limits under TSCA.

A workplace safety lawyer says OSHA could seek to cite employers for failing to comply with EPA's planned TSCA workplace exposure limits for several chemicals given the "very clear" intersection of the two agencies' missions, but will face several key legal questions if it tries to invoke "reach-over" authority to directly enforce TSCA mandates.

The Supreme Court has accepted a second case challenging the longstanding Chevron doctrine requiring deference to OSHA and other agencies’ readings of ambiguous laws, and will hear it “in tandem” with an already-pending suit from which Justice Ketanji Brown has recused herself, allowing the full court to weigh in and avoiding the possibility of a 4-4 tie.

Nine trade groups are asking EPA to initiate a pre-proposal small-business review of its hotly anticipated formaldehyde rule even before finishing the risk evaluation the policy will be based on, saying that unusual step would help ensure small employers are aware of the rulemaking process and can prepare for -- or help avert -- strict new workplace limits.

OSHA has sent a long-pending final rule to update its chemical hazard communications standard (HCS) for White House review, after industry groups warned the proposed version would require them to gather a “vast” amount of new information on such substances -- and even support more stringent policies from other agencies.

The contracting company challenging OSHA’s standard-setting power as unconstitutional is seeking en banc review of the case, both renewing its arguments that the OSH Act violates the Supreme Court’s non-delegation doctrine and saying a panel decision upholding the law created a new and possibly “ruinous” mandate that the agency “must” regulate workplace dangers.

A broad coalition of employers and trade groups is raising yet more objections to OSHA’s proposal to allow compliance officers inspecting a workplace to bring worker representatives on walkarounds even if they are not affiliated with that firm, saying the rule will conflict with other agencies’ authority while also creating major difficulties for inspections.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed its review of EPA’s proposal to regulate trichloroethylene (TCE), setting the stage for renewed debate on which of two potential workplace exposure limits the agency should apply after a years-long clash over the solvent’s potential links to fetal heart defects.