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.
September 17, 2026
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Labor advocates and environmental groups are asking an appeals court to review EPA's recent Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule that bans consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride, attempting to broaden the ban to include workplace exposures.
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Congressional Democrats are renewing their long-standing push to reinstate, and update Obama-era policies aimed at barring federal contract awards to contractors with poor worker safety records after they were rescinded by Republicans and President Donald Trump.
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A National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel is weighing the Defense Department's (DOD) approach to developing an occupational exposure limit for DOD personnel exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) in the workplace -- an effort the department launched after finding OSHA and EPA exposure limits differed greatly.
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The White House has completed review of a draft final rule that will remove or revise duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent safety and health standards though the measure is not expected to include an Obama-era plan to expand when OSHA’s safety standard applies to power equipment that is shut off for repairs.
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EPA has expanded the number of renewed asbestos uses for which manufacturers would have to seek agency approval though its final significant new use rule (SNUR), issued under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), still falls short of calls from some states and environmentalists for even broader restrictions or a total ban.
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Complicating Trump EPA plans to rollback Obama-era facility safety rules, industry lawyers are warning that the agency faces constitutional challenges over its plan to retain provisions that require companies to hold a public meeting to disclose data on an incident, saying the mandate helps potential plaintiffs and seeks to regulate by “shaming.”
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EPA is floating its rule governing chemical use and other data industry must submit in 2020 under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a measure that include provisions aimed at reducing reporting burdens which industry groups had failed to win when a negotiation collapsed in 2017 in part over an overlap with OSHA.
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Senate Republicans have begun approving Trump administration nominees for the Labor Department under new rules that limit debate, suggesting they may soon confirm the president's long-time pick to lead OSHA, though the move is frustrating Democrats who say the GOP is unfairly blocking two of their nominees for labor panels.
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Citing EPA’s failure to account for the chemical hazards to which firefighters are exposed, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is sponsoring its own research to study the risks posed by chemicals in the per- and polyfluoroakyl substances (PFAS) class, which were widely used in firefighting foam.
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At the request of Congress, NIOSH is seeking comment on the feasibility of creating a national mesothelioma registry, an effort the agency says could help improve prevention and treatment of workers' exposure to asbestos -- the main pathway to contracting the fatal disease.
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A National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel is backing the use of chemical dispersants to address oil spills but is urging federal regulators to improve their oversight of and data collection on the chemicals before the next major spill to ensure that future use of the substances does not adversely impact cleanup workers.
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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' currently unknown position on when courts should defer to EPA and other federal agencies' interpretations of their regulations will largely determine whether and to what degree the current standard remains, according to legal experts.
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EPA has finalized significant new use rules (SNURs) on 13 new chemicals using an approach intended to speed up reviews but which environmentalists and others oppose, setting the stage for a likely first-time suit on how EPA addresses new chemicals and protects workers under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
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