The massive, deadly explosion Wednesday (April 17) at a West, TX, fertilizer plant is leading worker safety advocates to raise extensive concerns about OSHA's ability in a resource-tight environment to adequately inspect chemical facilities for process safety management issues.
September 17, 2026
Organized labor and other worker safety advocates continue to rail against a proposed rule by an Agriculture Department agency that would effectively speed poultry food safety inspection lines, saying the plan would have far-ranging implications on worker safety issues including ergonomics, lacerations and amputations.
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President Obama's nomination of Thomas Perez to head the Department of Labor will likely trigger debate over OSHA's enforcement strategy as the confirmation process gets under way on Capitol Hill this week.
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OSHA stakeholders see the Obama administration's proposed budget for the agency in fiscal year 2014 as making a significant difference for the functional capacity of the Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Programs (also known as OWPP), as the president proposes adding millions of dollars and several dozen investigators to the program.
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Labor advocates will push EPA to review the agency's existing significant new use rules (SNURs) for certain nanomaterials to ensure they sufficiently protect workers, in the wake of a new study by federal agency scientists suggesting some carbon nanoparticles increase the risk of cancer when used in conjunction with known carcinogens.
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OSHA is looking into the concept of combining its already-completed national refinery inspection program with its ongoing chemical facility inspection program, sources familiar with the issue tell Inside OSHA Online.
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Worker safety and health advocates are decrying proposals in President Obama's budget plan for NIOSH released Wednesday (April 10) that would ax two of the research agency's programs and cut its total discretionary budget by more than $53 million.
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President Obama proposed a fiscal 2014 budget on Wednesday (April 10) for OSHA that includes a sharp increase in funding for whistleblower enforcement efforts, while slightly pulling back on compliance assistance activities, and overall bumping up the agency budget by about $6 million, to just under $571 million.
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A bill pending in Congress that would require OSHA to issue an interim standard tackling combustible dust hazards while the agency continues the lengthy process of trying to promulgate a permanent standard has picked up support from a key worker safety organization.
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A key organization of workplace safety experts has joined the push in Maryland for legislation that would require the state to pre-qualify construction bidders for public sector projects based on their safety records.
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House Democrats are renewing their press for a package of mine safety measures that in a previous Congress emerged as a vehicle for broader OSHA reforms.
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California's hotel industry is pushing back strongly against a union-led effort to persuade Cal/OSHA to promulgate an ergonomics standard that would specifically apply to hotel room housekeepers, citing an extensive scientific study that business officials say demonstrates there are no risk factors triggered by housekeeper activities or tasks.
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A sweeping OSHA reform bill continues to pick up Democratic backing in the Senate, but observers say the measure remains unlikely to gain much traction this year even if parts of the bill are split off in a bid to pick up Republican support.
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OSHA has issued an extensive new guidance document for protecting emergency responders to combustible dust fires, a comprehensive effort to provide more information on accident response that comes in tandem with the agency's ongoing rulemaking to require measures to prevent such explosions.
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OSHA is ramping up its annual summertime campaign to combat heat illness, a key education and enforcement priority of the agency, a top OSHA official tells Inside OSHA Online.
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OSHA has begun a lengthy process of rethinking several policies related to its Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) program, including how to monitor independence of testing labs; how to expedite application processing; and how to handle the laboratory renewal process.
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A Cal/OSHA advisory panel is closely studying whether there is a need for a rulemaking to provide ergonomic protections to hotel room housekeepers, but the agency is far from what would be a groundbreaking move toward such an ergo regulation.
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Richard Fairfax, OSHA's career deputy assistant secretary and its top administrator of field operations, will retire at the beginning of May, the agency confirmed Wednesday (March 27) to Inside OSHA Online.
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Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) reintroduced the Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) on Friday (March 22), reinvigorating a legislative push that began several years ago to update the OSH Act with a slew of provisions expanding OSHA coverage and workers' and victims' rights.
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House Democrats are again pushing legislation to require OSHA to issue interim rules addressing combustible dust hazards.
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