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.
September 17, 2026
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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