Daily News

OSHA has again delayed anti-retaliation provisions of its controversial new worker injury and illness reporting rule after a federal court in Texas said it needed additional time and briefings from the parties to weigh the agency's push to limit the scope of a possible future injunction against the rule that industry plaintiffs are seeking.

OSHA has sent for White House review a final rule clarifying that companies have a continuing obligation to record their employees' injuries and illnesses, a change in its record-keeping regulations that industry critics charge would unlawfully circumvent an appellate ruling limiting the statute of limitations, and that will almost certainly draw a legal challenge.

EPA has sent for White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) pre-publication review its final revised facility safety rule, signaling that the agency will likely issue the rule before the end of the administration despite EPA having to overhaul its rule to account for a recent court ruling that vacated OSHA's related policy expanding its related facility worker protection rule.

Builders and security firms have filed an emergency request urging a federal court in Texas to block an administration rule and related OSHA guidance that requires agencies to weigh firms' labor law violations in procurement decisions, saying they are seeking to block the policy before it takes effect later this month.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has settled an enforcement action against a Texas petrochemical facility, bringing steep fines for Clean Air Act violations in a case that began with an OSHA investigation of a fatal accident and highlighting the benefits of an almost year-old DOJ policy aimed at leveraging environmental laws to impose stiffer penalties for workplace violations than OSHA would otherwise be able to win.

A coalition of builders and security firms is suing the Obama administration over its efforts to implement an executive order on weighing labor law violations in procurement decisions, arguing that OSHA guidance and an accompanying federal rule on the policy are unlawful and violate employers' constitutional protections.

A recent federal appeals court ruling striking down an OSHA policy broadening the reach of its process safety management (PSM) rule to retailers will likely force EPA to ease its proposed risk management plan (RMP) rules governing thousands of facilities in the sector because EPA relied on the vacated OSHA policy for upgrading the facilities' regulatory classification.

A federal appeals court is allowing two health groups that provided data supporting OSHA's final rule strengthening its silica standards to participate in the complex litigation challenging the rule as amici curiae supporting the agency.

Industry officials are urging OSHA to revise draft guidance documents for assisting facilities in complying with the agency's facility worker protection rule, arguing the guides inappropriately and unlawfully suggest new safety mandates for data collection or good engineering practices, though a firefighters' group is seeking to strengthen the documents.

OSHA and EPA are encouraging facilities to voluntarily conduct “root cause analysis” to identify underlying problems that may be the cause of industrial facility accidents or near accidents, suggesting the agencies are likely to require such studies in pending facility safety rules where they have already proposed or floated such approaches.

United Steelworkers (USW) is weighing a petition urging OSHA to eliminate an exemption from its facility worker safety rule after an appeals court ruling striking down the agency's 2015 memo narrowing the exemption, arguing the ruling leaves workers at risk and will slow agency efforts to address hazards at retail and other facilities.

OSHA is seeking public input on a proposed rule revising a variety of existing standards, including several for assessing potential health impacts to workers from chemical exposures and noise on the job, as part of the agency's fourth push under a 2011 executive order calling for limiting duplicative, unnecessary, or conflicting regulations.

OSHA and several industry groups are battling over whether and how broadly a federal court should block enforcement of the agency's controversial worker injury electronic reporting and recordkeeping rule, a development that could complicate the litigation as it proceeds.

In recent filings in the lawsuit, Texo ABC/AGC et al. v. Perez, OSHA argues that plaintiffs only recently requested that any injunction be nationwide, objects to such a broad request and asks the court to allow additional briefing before it grants any injunction.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is urging EPA to tighten its proposed rule overhauling the agency's industrial facility accident prevention program by requiring that certain facilities use inherently safer technologies (IST) such as alternative chemicals or process changes, arguing that the rule as drafted fails to adequately improve safety.

Although Boxer is urging EPA to put forward a stricter version of its proposed rule, agency officials have suggested that is not likely.

Industry attorneys expect that OSHA will challenge the recent appellate ruling that vacated its 2015 policy that subjected more fertilizer retailers to its process safety management (PSM) rule, noting that the decision limits OSHA's ability to interpret its standards, and will bolster employer challenges to enforcement actions before the agency's review commission and in courts.

Industry officials have updated a 1975 study that forms the basis of OSHA and EPA risk values to protect workers and others from cancer as a result of inhaling hexavalent chromium (Cr6), finding that the new data shows significantly lower risks than the earlier version.

The new data could help industry soften ongoing work by EPA to reassess the compound's risks though it is not clear whether industry will also seek to soften OSHA's existing standard.

EPA has extended by one month -- from Sept. 26 to Oct. 26 -- the comment deadline on its proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulation to align its rules on significant new uses of chemicals with OSHA standards, after industry stakeholders asked for more time to provide their input.

Striking a blow to the Obama administration's efforts to bolster facility safety, a federal appeals court has vacated OSHA's controversial 2015 policy narrowing the exemption from its process safety management (PSM) standard for retailers, finding the agency unlawfully issued the memo expanding the reach of its facility worker protection rule without public input.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel preparing advice on how OSHA should bolster recordkeeping and reporting requirements for employee illnesses and injuries is wrestling with what factors to include in any broader program, including expanded considerations of the cost of injuries and illnesses, worker demographics and work conditions, such as harmful exposures.

EPA's recent assessment of the human health risks of ammonia, a substance used to produce fertilizer, detergent and other products, adopts a risk value that is far more stringent than limits that OSHA and NIOSH have published to protect workers and which industry urged EPA to adopt though it is slightly weaker than EPA's 1991 standard.