OSHA's standards division is pushing ahead with efforts to propose a new rule designed to cut down on worker exposures to beryllium as soon as this year, officials say, tackling an issue that OSHA has tried to address for decades and which has been the subject of advocate petitions to OSHA.
September 17, 2026
OSHA has issued a final rule broadening an exemption for digger derricks used in the electric utility business from requirements in the agency's 2010 cranes and derricks standard.
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A group of House Republicans on Friday (May 24) demanded that the White House explain why the Obama administration has so far failed to produce a spring regulatory agenda for federal agencies that was due in April, saying the delays are causing substantial regulatory uncertainty for employers.
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Construction safety advocates are preparing to call on the Obama administration to draft an executive order that would require agency procurement officers to complete a worker health and safety checklist for bidders on federal building contracts.
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NIOSH chief John Howard says the agency is working aggressively to develop science to bolster OSHA rulemaking -- especially in areas such as recommended exposure limits (RELs) for hazardous chemicals found in the workplace, which support development of OSHA's mandated permissible exposure limits (PELs) -- even as the research agency faces resource constraints and potentially looming budget cuts.
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Construction experts advising OSHA on safety issues hope to persuade the agency to reverse plans to eliminate a fall protection rule requiring written training certification.
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A key OSHA advisory group on construction safety and health issues is urging the agency to scrap its plans to extend by three years a requirement in the cranes and derricks standard for crane operator certification under the final rule, and to move as quickly as possible on any amendments to the standard.
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OSHA intends to press on with two of its key outreach and education campaigns -- preventing heat illness and promoting fall protection measures -- even though the agency is faced with an increasingly tight budget and difficult decisions about where to allocate funds, agency chief David Michaels said Thursday (May 23).
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OSHA is reaching out to agencies across the federal government in an effort to train staffers who are responsible for federal workers' safety and health, rolling out a range of training programs in areas including ergonomics, fall protection, hearing conservation, confined spaces, and distracted driving.
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House appropriators on Tuesday (May 21) approved top-line spending amounts for each of 12 appropriations bills for fiscal 2014 -- including a 22 percent cut to Labor, HHS and Education funding -- while also rejecting a Democratic proposal to replace the across-the-board sequestration cuts.
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OSHA has become entangled in a congressional probe of the IRS and what critics describe as the tax agency's “targeting” of conservative groups in its review of requests for tax-exempt status, with one Republican lawmaker questioning why OSHA inspected the business of a tea party organizer in Texas not long after she filed such an application with the IRS.
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A key occupational safety group has taken its case directly to President Obama that OSHA should move forward on issuing a proposed injury and illness prevention program rule (I2P2), citing the recent disastrous explosion in West, TX, as demonstrating the need for workplaces to have comprehensive safety and health programs.
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A Washington think tank focused on progressive policies in the vein of “New Democrats” has issued a policy memo backing the creation of an independent commission to review federal regulations in an effort to cut unnecessary red tape and costs to business.
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Worker safety and health advocates are pressing OSHA to revisit its enforcement guidelines for pursuing cases under the OSH Act general duty clause, citing high numbers of incidents in areas where the agency may not have specific standards but where they say OSHA has an obligation to act.
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Organized labor says a recent report from AFL-CIO on workplace fatalities finds progress by OSHA in some areas -- particularly its beefing up of whistleblower law enforcement -- but serious shortfalls in other areas, perhaps most notably the lack of discernible movement on new safety and health standards.
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Labor secretary nominee Thomas Perez has been approved by a Senate committee, but Republicans continue to sharply criticize the president's pick and are signaling a bruising floor debate on confirmation.
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A national worker advocacy group has come out with a new report decrying the number of worker fatalities in North Carolina, blaming what it calls “lax enforcement” and “weak fines” by the state OSHA plan.
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State and local officials in Texas have launched a criminal investigation into the disastrous fire and explosion last month at a fertilizer plant in West, TX, that left 15 dead and hundreds injured, along with massive property damage.
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NIOSH supporters are urging House appropriators to maintain funding for the research agency at the fiscal year 2012 level, pushing back against an Obama administration proposal to reduce spending on key NIOSH programs. But an industry attorney argues that in many instances the agency is undertaking activities that are not central to its core mission of providing science to support OSHA rulemaking.
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Two senior House Democrats are calling on the Obama administration to cooperate with the European Union in creating a new universal standard on workplace safety and worker rights in light of a recent building collapse at a Bangladeshi factory that killed more than 1,000 workers.
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