Corporate officers could be held criminally at fault if they fail to disclose serious product defects that put workers or consumers in danger, under legislation that a Senate Democrat has re-introduced, with the bill drawing praise from safety activists who contend the OSH Act and OSHA are too weak to effectively bring alleged willful violators to prosecution.
Development of a global workplace safety and health management standard, which took a major step forward at a meeting of technical experts last month in Geneva, could help raise the profile of OSHA compliance as employers strive to meet international consensus standards on worker health, a U.S. participant says.
Agricultural industry officials are weighing a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's revised farm worker protection standards (WPS), with possible arguments including that the agency failed to adequately assess the rule's costs and benefits, though an industry source says groups are also seeking agency advice for implementing the new requirements.
A powerful coalition of agribusiness trade groups urged House lawmakers Wednesday (Oct. 7) to pressure OSHA into reversing course on a controversial interpretation of the agency's rule to prevent chemical process disasters, just as congressional Republicans took OSHA to task for a field guidance they say vastly expands the rule's reach without any formal avenue for public feedback.
OSHA took a key step forward in its regulatory plan to require larger companies to electronically report workplace injuries and illnesses, with the data later being posted to an online database, by sending the rule for White House review -- a clear signal OSHA fully intends to issue the rule while time remains in the Obama administration.
OSHA should continue strengthening the heavily burdened whistleblower protection program, partly by better monitoring effectiveness and setting performance metrics, the Labor Department's internal watchdog says -- conclusions backed by OSHA, even as the agency finds fault with some of the findings in a new report.
Employer representatives are urging White House budget officials to review OSHA policy regarding enforcement deadlines for labeling chemicals under the hazard communication (hazcom) standard, as they say the rule does not give companies enough time to meet the regulations' complex data collection requirements.
OSHA's new inspection weighting system, which assigns numerical values to different types of inspections in an effort to better allocate tight enforcement resources, partly aims to help field staff devote time to probes in areas lacking specific OSHA standards, such as ergonomics, according to an internal agency memo obtained by Inside OSHA Online.
Agriculture workers are getting new protections from toxic chemicals to align with other industries, as the Environmental Protection Agency finalized changes to its pesticide worker protection standards (WPS), including backing advocates' calls to bar anyone under age 18 from handling pesticides -- despite objections from industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
OSHA charges that an Illinois recycling company overexposed workers to lead and cadmium and violated several of the agency's standards, with proposed fines totaling $114,800 -- action that comes as worker advocacy groups call attention to safety and health issues in the recycling industry in general, with chemical exposures from breaking down electronics a central concern.
Federal chemical safety experts called on DuPont to put what they consider safer process and building designs in place at the chemical giant's insecticide plant in La Porte, TX, while continuing to probe last fall's deadly release of methyl mercaptan on the site, but as yet have not released any potential OSHA recommendations.
Preliminary data show fall protection leads the top 10 categories of most-cited alleged violations of the OSH Act in fiscal 2015, with hazard communication, scaffolding, respiratory protection and lock-out/tagout rounding out the top five areas where field investigators found non-compliance, the National Safety Council said.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, putting regulatory reform at the front and center of his GOP presidential campaign, wants to pursue policies that could raise obstacles to new OSHA standards by freezing progress on any new rules under a new White House until political appointees are in place, and cutting off avenues like “sue and settle,” in which parties can force an agency's hand in issuing new regulations.
Groups pressing for stricter chemical plant safety regulations are criticizing a recent settlement resolving the Environmental Protection Agency's probe into a fatal 2008 explosion at Bayer CropScience, arguing the agreement's provisions are inadequate to prevent future disasters, even if they were included in a revised safety rule.
GOP senators on the government oversight panel led by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) are demanding OSHA refrain from using new guidance documents to enforce broader positions regarding several aspects of chemical safety regulation, saying the agency did not follow required administrative procedure in issuing the guidance, according to a letter sent Tuesday.
A bill with potentially long-term impact on OSHA rules that have stood for a decade or more has a real shot at consideration, congressional observers say, as regulatory reform efforts intensify on Capitol Hill and worker safety advocates voice concerns that at least some measures to restrain the rulemaking agencies will get floor votes.
A key Senate panel on government oversight will formally request that OSHA rescind several guidance documents that have far-reaching implications for the agency's rule designed to prevent chemical disasters, and then go back to the drawing board with a public rulemaking process, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) tells Inside OSHA Online.
Government experts urge hospitals to put in place more stringent safety measures than earlier sought for workers donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for patients who may or are confirmed to have Ebola, beefing up federal recommendations at the same time OSHA works to reduce dangers from infectious agents in general.
President Obama's lieutenants are blasting Republican appropriators for including policy riders in spending bills for fiscal 2016 that would block the administration's moves on several workplace policies as well as health and environmental issues, as they called for compromise ahead of a looming fiscal deadline.
OSHA has decided to extend by 30 days the time period to comment on a planned rule designed to overcome a court decision holding that OSHA's statute of limitations applies to the discrete occurrence of an injury or illness not being properly recorded, even if the log remains inaccurate within the five-year retention period.