A Senate panel that examines regulatory concerns plans in an upcoming hearing to look closely at the Labor Department's use of agency guidance documents, including by OSHA, to carry out policy, committee sources tell Inside OSHA Online, as lawmakers probe an issue that often causes friction between OSHA and the regulated community.
OSHA must shortly decide whether to give stakeholders more time to comment on the agency's planned rule to reverse the impact of a court decision striking OSHA's legal stance that inaccurate injury or illness logs renew the statute of limitations period every day they are in error within the five-year retaining period.
Progressive groups want lawmakers to turn back a provision attached in the 11th hour of committee talks on fiscal 2016 Labor Department spending legislation that mandates an independent study of the epidemiological data underpinning OSHA's controversial proposed silica rule, along with another small business review -- but the fight may be irrelevant in the hectic closing weeks of September, with Congress barreling toward a possible government shutdown.
Congressional Republicans are girding for a long fight with the Obama administration over possible citations of labor laws, including the OSH Act, to franchisors and other companies engaged in so-called “joint employer” relationships with small businesses like chain restaurants using a new controversial new standard for shared liability.
OSHA policy under the Obama administration and what House Republicans view as flawed enforcement and rulemaking will continue to be targeted as part of the GOP's oversight role during the remaining months of this Congress, according to Rep. John Kline (R-MN), who is retiring at the end of next year.
Industry sources say OSHA has been consulted regarding possible changes to the Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) for industrial accident prevention, and while EPA says the review is still on track, advocates are concerned officials may miss an announced September deadline for proposing revisions.
Vanessa Sutherland, the new chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and a former federal regulator, says she is already forging ties with top OSHA officials to talk about current and future policy recommendations that could help shape the regulating body's approach to facility safety.
OSHA has drafted early regulatory text creating new standards aimed at protecting emergency responders that brings into play elements similar to those in injury and illness prevention programs -- the first iteration of what officials hope will evolve, with stakeholder help, into an actual proposed rule in the coming years.
OSHA has successfully pursued a civil contempt order against a small Maine construction employer over his alleged refusal to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in OSH Act fines, as the agency comes under pressure to take the toughest enforcement actions possible against what safety and health activists regard as bad actors -- but the owner accuses OSHA of simply continually harassing him.
John Howard will stay on as NIOSH director, becoming the longest serving chief of the occupational research institute that serves as sister agency to OSHA, federal health officials said Tuesday.
OSHA strongly signaled its continued intent to stem ergonomics problems at poultry plants using every angle possible -- inspections, fines and warnings to the industry -- most recently by issuing citations against a Delaware chicken supplier and then following up months later with a series of “hazard alert letters” calling for voluntary measures.
House Republicans will lose a persistent critic of Obama administration labor policies who has tried to impede an increasingly active OSHA agenda when Rep. John Kline (MN) steps down from Congress after 2016.
A GOP-led House plan to zero out funding for OSHA's Susan Harwood training grants next year and launch a new round of evaluations to see if existing recipients should still get money has the Labor Department ginning up opposition to the effort, which sources say grows out of Republicans viewing the program as union- and activist-driven.
An industry attorney is pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency's assertion in a recently released vapor intrusion guidance that it has "broad authority" to protect workers from indoor air contamination, arguing the agency's position lacks legal backing and tries to compensate for weak OSHA exposure limits.
Nurses' representatives are pressing hard for health care employers to use an OSHA-developed model to reduce the potential for workplace violence, including a set of engineering controls, as the agency comes under increasing pressure from labor groups to take an enforcement approach to cutting violence risks.
Corporate franchise advocates are seeking a wide swath of documents and information from OSHA regarding its internal decision-making and any enforcement direction imposed by the national office on field staff to carry out the current OSHA policy on determining the joint employer status of businesses.
NIOSH continues to press for “prevention through design” solutions to reduce safety and health risks through early preventive measures, urging employers to weave the concept into their business models and producing a new guide to help companies understand how to put such an initiative in place.
OSHA chief David Michaels says a new Obama administration policy to screen employers for alleged past OSH Act and other labor law violations and use that as a factor in awarding federal contracts has been written to proactively help employers get into OSHA compliance, not simply freeze them out of federal business, a view contrary to industry's worries that the policy will be used as a heavy-handed enforcement tool.
Labor Department lawyers have drafted a policy for OSHA to determine whether a joint employer relationship exists between franchisors and franchisees that includes several key tests, including an analysis of “economic realities,” according to an internal document obtained by Inside OSHA Online.
A judge in throwing out OSHA's citations against a Texas shipbreaking operation criticized the agency in unusually strong language as he reversed the penalties, finding agency officials had acted “recklessly” by misrepresenting their intent to abide by an agreed-upon 60-day abatement period stemming from an earlier round of inspections and lengthy litigation.