OSHA has published a new slide presentation that the agency hopes will advance injury and illness prevention programs with employers, a move that comes as the agency works toward a small business review of a controversial proposed rule that would require such programs in workplaces.
September 17, 2026
OSHA is moving forward aggressively on a rule to address workplace combustible dust hazards, a top OSHA official says, while also acknowledging the many challenges involved in the controversial proposed regulation.
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OSHA has no intention of backing off its longstanding support for voluntary protection programs (VPP), despite stakeholder concerns that the agency under the current administration may pull back resources for the initiative, OSHA official Jordan Barab tells Inside OSHA Online in an exclusive interview.
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President Obama's nominee to lead the Department of Labor is winning votes of confidence from congressional Democrats, but Republicans are already questioning the nomination and characterizing it as divisive.
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The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will be revisiting recommendations it made to OSHA and key industry and labor groups on how to tackle fatigue and process safety management issues in the petrochemical industry that came out of the board's probe of the 2005 fire and explosion at the BP Texas City Refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 180.
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The chemical industry is again pressing the National Toxicology Program (NTP) to allow the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to complete its review of the 2011 listings of styrene and formaldehyde before issuing a new Report on Carcinogens (RoC), in comments criticizing NTP's proposed new analyses for the next RoC as overly simplistic.
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The Senate on Thursday (March 14) voted down an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) to a short-term spending measure that would have resulted in a $4 million boost to OSHA and headed off an Obama administration plan to cease funding for two NIOSH programs.
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Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) has reintroduced a bill to codify OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), launching another legislative effort to solidify the program as part of the agency's mission.
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OSHA intends to focus on a diverse cluster of issues ranging from workplace violence to health hazards and is developing a new Field Operations Manual (FOM) for industrial hygiene, the agency's top enforcement administrator told lawyers and OSH stakeholders at a legal conference in California, according to sources at the meeting.
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The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed significant new use rules (SNURs) for some 37 chemicals, including more than a dozen nanomaterials, requiring greater worker protections than the agency's past SNURs for other carbon nanotubes, a change labor groups and federal occupational health and safety officials have been seeking, according to a source with a safe technology group.
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OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which the agency initiated in 2010 to more forcefully crack down on employers with egregious non-compliance, made progress in the first 18 months but has encountered some challenges, including the transitory nature of some construction employers that makes it difficult to follow up and track the companies, the agency says.
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A new report from Congress' investigative arm sharply criticizes OSHA's oversight of its own enforcement efforts, saying the agency needs to standardize its audit practices and better use data from its audits, and suggests the agency apply the level of oversight to state plans that it applies to the enforcement of federal standards.
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Two Maryland state lawmakers have filed a bill -- pushed by the advocacy group Public Citizen -- to weigh the safety records of construction companies seeking state work as a prequalification in the bidding process.
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Federal budget officials say OSHA will take a hit of roughly $28 million in spending cuts through the remainder of fiscal 2013 as long as sequestration remains in place.
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Public Citizen is launching a campaign to pressure OSHA to consider stronger worker protections in the health care sector -- including an expansion of the bloodborne pathogen standard and addressing ergonomic issues -- with details to emerge in the coming months, a source with the group tells Inside OSHA Online.
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Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD), ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, on Tuesday (Feb. 26) decried Republicans' move to block a Democratic measure to replace the budget sequester.
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A federal judge has dismissed in large part an American Chemistry Council (ACC) lawsuit claiming the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) failed to provide documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), ruling that research data ACC requested on a study the department used to classify formaldehyde as a carcinogen is publicly available.
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Washington insiders are bracing for across-the-board funding cuts to go into effect March 1 for at least one month while lawmakers work toward a government funding measure to replace the continuing resolution that expires at the end of March and also address the sequester.
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OSHA has gained White House backing to reprogram agency funding in order to avoid furloughing workers if the budget sequestration kicks in March 1, agency chief David Michaels states in an internal memo, obtained by Inside OSHA Online.
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Worker safety advocates have launched a petition campaign urging the White House to release OSHA's proposed silica rule for public comment, which would be the next crucial phase in moving the controversial regulation forward.
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