Chemical distributors are urging the Labor Department to roll back two Biden-era OSHA regulations and drop plans for finalizing two proposed rules, arguing they impose excessive compliance costs without improving worker safety and meet the requirements in a recent executive order aimed at reducing regulatory burdens.
September 17, 2026
Chemical industry groups are suing to overturn the Biden EPA’s rejection of their petition to reconsider its 2024 Risk Management Program (RMP) rule, part of a multi-pronged push by industry groups to rescind the facility-safety regulation.
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is retaining two EPA chemical assessment programs on its “high risk list” of programs susceptible to waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse, finding that its combined ratings of the programs that include assessments of chemical risks to workers remain “unchanged” from 2023.
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has approved President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) to head the Labor Department (DOL), clearing the way for a floor vote as other nominees that will oversee OSHA await their Senate reviews.
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House Democrats are pressing the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) for details on staffing cuts and funding holds at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to evaluate how these cuts may affect the agency’s role in supporting worker safety and compensation programs.
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Environmentalists are warning that the second Trump EPA’s expected rollback of the Biden-era Risk Management Program (RMP) rule may be vulnerable to a new round of litigation, much as it was in the president’s first term, because the administration is again “quite likely” to conduct a predetermined rulemaking process.
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Following the recent expiration of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) COVID worker-safety standard, a state lawmaker is introducing a bill that would continue prohibiting employers from preventing workers from wearing masks or respirators if it is safe.
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A newly published article by former OSHA official David Michaels highlights how newly available OSHA injury data can identify predictable risks, offering opportunities to improve safety standards, reduce workplace injuries, and prevent future harm by implementing more targeted and effective injury prevention strategies.
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Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Labor Department (DOL), is pledging to review a host of OSHA rules, including a Biden-era proposal setting safety standards for emergency responders as well as a plan to address workplace violence in healthcare settings.
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President Donald Trump is instructing OSHA and other agencies to develop a list of existing regulations that could be targeted for repeal if they meet one of over half a dozen criteria defined as inconsistent with administration policy, while also directing officials to use “enforcement discretion” not to implement many of those rules in the meantime.
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A coalition of environmental groups is again petitioning EPA to ban the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in refineries under TSCA, the latest in a series of so-far unsuccessful calls from environmentalists and federal investigators for EPA and OSHA to clamp down on the highly toxic substance that is used at dozens of facilities across the United States.
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President Donald Trump’s nomination of David Keeling to head OSHA is an indication that the agency will continue to enforce existing standards and will likely continue to address hazards under its General Duty Clause authority although it may seek changes to several Biden-era standards, experts say.
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House Democrats are raising alarm over the Labor Department’s (DOL) removal of documents from OSHA’s website, expressing concern about possible destruction of documents and DOL efforts to hide valuable information from the public.
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EPA is asking federal courts to stay for 120 days consolidated challenges to the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out chrysotile asbestos to limit workplace exposures and the new-chemicals “framework” rule governing how new chemical reviews are conducted while incoming Trump appointees determine how they want to proceed.
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President Donald Trump has nominated David Keeling, who has held occupational health and safety roles at Amazon and UPS, to become the new chief of OSHA, while selecting Wayne Palmer, who held Labor Department (DOL) positions in the first Trump administration, to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
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The newly formed Chlor-Vinyl Industry Alliance is spearheading efforts to engage downstream users of vinyl chloride in EPA’s upcoming TSCA risk evaluation of the chemical as part of an effort to provide what it says is vital scientific and industry expertise to the agency, including on worker exposure.
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Occupational exposure scientists are building on early data documenting construction painters’ exposure to PFAS with additional research aimed at developing a plan for reducing PFAS exposure and body burden for construction trades.
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An industry coalition is urging EPA to rescind key provisions of the Biden EPA’s “misguided,” “illegal” and “unnecessary” Risk Management Program (RMP) rule, calling for officials to take immediate steps to block its implementation while launching a new rulemaking that will permanently end the “regulatory whiplash” that has characterized the policy over the last decade.
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A federal district court has granted OSHA’s request to dismiss a California road district’s challenge to a controversial 2020 scaffolding policy, finding the district lacks standing to sue because it cannot demonstrate it was harmed by the policy.
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Amanda Wood Laihow, who recently served on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), has reportedly been appointed as OSHA’s deputy assistant secretary and could serve as the acting head of OSHA in the absence of a Senate-approved assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.
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