Daily News

OSHA is urging a federal court in Texas to dismiss a small business group's lawsuit seeking to block its 2013 memo interpreting federal law as allowing union representatives to accompany agency inspectors onto non-unionized work sites, arguing plaintiffs have failed to show harm, and that the agency's interpretation is entitled deference.

Industry attorneys, including a former George W. Bush OSHA chief, expect that President-elect Donald Trump will significantly reduce OSHA enforcement efforts, by limiting future penalty increases, tightening the window for repeat violations, and putting the agency's severe violator enforcement program (SVEP) on the “chopping block.”

OSHA has issued guidance detailing steps small construction firms must take to comply with the agency's final rule strengthening its silica standards, signaling agency plans to advance the rule's implementation despite an industry legal challenge and expected pushback from President-elect Donald Trump's administration and Republican lawmakers.

Environmentalists are pressing departing Obama administration officials to strengthen EPA's upcoming final rule revising its facility safety regulation even as the measure faces a growing threat that the next Congress, backed by President Donald Trump, will eliminate the rule under privileged processes guaranteed by the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

Several industry attorneys say President-elect Donald Trump will likely seek to roll back many OSHA rules issued under the Obama administration, though it is unclear when Trump's administration will start that effort and which of the wide range of tools it will employ, given Trump's lack of specific statements on OSHA during the campaign, and other priorities.

Trump's campaign promise to drastically cut federal regulation puts his administration on a collision course with the Obama OSHA, which industry has faulted as overly-aggressive in issuing costly and unnecessary new rules.

President-elect Donald Trump's experience as a real estate developer makes OSHA a likely early target for the new administration's efforts to roll back regulation, including a possible moratorium on new rules, efforts to repeal recently-issued ones, and return to a Bush-era focus on workplace safety compliance assistance over increased regulation, according to an industry attorney.

At press time, Trump had clinched the White House though some remaining vote tallies were outstanding.

OSHA is asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the recent three-judge panel ruling that vacated the agency's controversial 2015 policy narrowing an exemption from its process safety management (PSM) standard for retailers.

In a Nov. 7 petition for rehearing en banc, OSHA argues the panel's ruling “fundamentally misapprehends” OSHA's authority to interpret its standards and conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

OSHA is widely expected to appeal the recent federal court ruling that it unlawfully targeted a poultry processing plant for an expanded inspection, opening the door to a broader precedent that would either give companies new authority to resist broader inspections, according to industry, or affirm the agency's discretion to protect workers, labor advocates say.

OSHA and labor unions are praising EPA's proposed rule seeking to align EPA requirements for new uses of industrial chemicals with strict OSHA measures, but a chemical industry group argues that EPA's proposed language goes farther than OSHA's own requirements and should be curtailed.

A federal district court has blocked OSHA's plan for an expanded inspection of a poultry processing facility because the agency's sectoral enforcement program arbitrarily and unfairly targeted the plant for inspection beyond the circumstances of a reported incident -- a ruling that could limit OSHA inspection authority under its emphasis programs.

Industry groups are citing a series of rulings from courts within the 5th Circuit blocking Obama administration priorities on immigration, sex discrimination and procurement to urge a federal judge in Texas to grant their requests for a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking OSHA's new worker injury reporting rule.

EPA is facing calls from lawmakers, labor groups and the vehicle equipment manufacturers to use its new regulatory authority under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to classify asbestos, flame retardants and several other controversial chemicals as the first 10 high priority chemicals to target under the law to better protect workers and others.

OSHA has submitted for White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review a draft request for information (RFI) that will seek data from the public to help determine whether the agency should craft a violence-prevention standard for the healthcare sector, a measure congressional Democrats and labor unions are seeking.

The outcome of next month's election could bring vastly different outcomes for OSHA oversight with a Hillary Clinton administration likely advancing new and existing rulemakings, while a Donald Trump administration would likely seek to repeal recently issued rules and revert to a Bush-era focus on compliance assistance over new rules.

OSHA has issued new guidance for implementing controversial anti-retaliation provisions of its worker injury and illness reporting rule, clearing the path for the rule's enforcement, but industry attorneys say the new advice does little to resolve concerns raised in litigation over the rule, signaling efforts to block it will continue.

A senior Justice Department (DOJ) official says prosecutors implementing a recent policy aimed at leveraging environmental laws to impose stiffer penalties for workplace violations are eyeing companies’ internal environmental management systems (EMS) and safety cultures while crafting settlements to ensure future compliance and improve attitudes toward worker safety.

The federal court ruling blocking OSHA and other agencies from implementing an executive order requiring consideration of safety and other labor law violations in federal procurement decisions could boost lawmakers' efforts to gut the policy, but also suggests the rule is on shaky legal footing and so congressional action may be unnecessary, industry lawyers and other observers say.

OSHA and EPA are planning to soon issue long-promised guidance to assist facilities in assessing whether inherently safer technologies (IST), like safer chemicals or processes, would reduce risks of facility accidents and worker injuries, underscoring that federal officials will likely forgo requiring that facilities use those safety measures in future rules.

The Texas federal court hearing arguments on whether to block an administration policy requiring agencies to weigh firms' labor law violations in awarding federal contracts has given parties in the suit time to file additional briefs in the case, leaving the door open to a ruling before the policy takes effect Oct. 25.

 Judge Marcia Crone of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas held an Oct. 21 hearing in Plano, TX, on plaintiffs' emergency request for an injunction blocking the rule pending litigation.

OSHA has issued recommendations to help employers craft safety and health programs to help reduce worker injuries and illnesses, voluntary approaches that complement OSHA's recently-issued rules seeking to compel safer workplaces by publicizing company injury data or weighing labor violations in federal contracting decisions.