A public interest group that keeps close tabs on OSHA enforcement activity sharply called into question the agency's citation and penalty practices, saying “lax” procedures have allowed safety problems to run rampant without holding employers fully responsible, in the wake of a grain elevator blast in Kansas that killed six workers in late October. But OSHA -- which currently has a grain elevator emphasis program under way -- has not yet released details of its probe of the incident, nor made public any plans to cite the Kansas employer.
September 17, 2026
University research funded through a NIOSH program has found that workers on so-called “green” construction projects face greater exposure to hazards as well as new potential dangers, a conclusion that researchers say could provide the impetus for further studies. OSHA recently took steps to pursue the larger issue of green jobs, offering information to the public about possible work site risks.
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A key public interest group is pressuring OSHA to use the general duty clause of the OSH Act to enforce limits on resident physician work hours to battle fatigue and related hazards, after the agency denied the group's petition for formal regulatory action on the issue for the second time in a decade and deferred to an outside accrediting group. The organization, Public Citizen, also wants OSHA to ramp up enforcement of whistleblower laws to counter retaliation against doctors who lodge safety and health concerns over lengthy work periods.
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OSHA chief David Michaels says the agency will unveil “as soon as possible” a new directive that implements a years-old pledge to extend its 2002 revised fall protection requirements on communications tower construction to also cover tower maintenance, responding to new pressure from House Republicans to bring the enforcement policies in line, according to documents obtained by Inside OSHA Online. The tower erectors industry has urged OSHA for years to allow hoisting during tower maintenance operations, as the 2002 directive allowed for new communications tower construction.
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Key stakeholders watching OSHA's longtime effort to bring permissible exposure limits (PELs) in line with current scientific evidence told Inside OSHA Online that they expect little or no progress on updating the limits before the end of this presidential term, though using the general duty clause as a stopgap continues to be discussed.
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OSHA has sent its draft final rule on hazard communication to the White House for review, the last internal step leading to possible issuance of the long-awaited rule that will align U.S. labeling and reporting requirements with the globally harmonized system of chemical classification and labeling (GHS). OSHA observers say the effort to align the U.S.
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OSHA has invoked what sources call a rarely used provision of its Field Operations Manual (FOM) in a bid to collect data from all of its regional offices and state plans on ergonomics-related claims. The move follows a string of worker complaints against Hyatt hotels around the country, the agency response to which may be unprecedented, sources say.
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OSHA appears to be taking a tougher inspection stance toward the hotel industry, not only with high-profile cases such as the string of ergonomics investigations at Hyatt hotels, but with a Local Emphasis Program (LEP) targeting the issue, legal sources tell Inside OSHA Online. The agency also indicated to House Republicans that it has fielded complaints involving Hyatt beyond ergo, including bloodborne pathogens, recordkeeping, and slips, trips and falls, and is querying all of its regions and state plans about potential similar complaints.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a rule package that requires industry to test a score of high production volume (HPV) chemicals while, for the first time, restricting some new uses until industry provides relevant toxicity data -- an approach that EPA says it plans to take with other HPV test rules despite opposition from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to a similar approach for flame retardant chemicals. The move comes as OSHA continues to work on a long-awaited hazardous chemical communication rulemaking to bring U.S.
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Home builders are asking OSHA to put off implementing a September memo from agency chief David Michaels to regional administrators directing them to enforce the agency's new, stricter policy on fall protection until the policy is reviewed under the president’s executive order (EO) to reduce regulatory burdens on small business. The agency had not answered by Tuesday (Oct. 25) but said it is reviewing the request, an industry official told Inside OSHA Online.
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Occupational safety and health advocates are pressing lawmakers to preserve, at the very least, existing funds to pay for training as NIOSH came out with a new report that predicts a wide gap between future employer demand for OSH experts and the availability of qualified professionals.
Supporters say the report, issued Thursday (Oct. 20), shows in particular a need to retain funding for NIOSH’s Education and Research Centers (ERCs), which the Obama administration targeted for zero funding in its fiscal 2012 budget request.
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The Labor Department and key House Republicans are battling over whether OSHA's investigation of ergonomics complaints at the Hyatt Hotels chain violates agency policy by wading into what the lawmakers view as a labor dispute, according to sources and letters obtained by Inside OSHA Online.
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OSHA Rejects Senator's Call For Two-Year Delay In New Fall Protection Policy, But Offers Flexibility
OSHA has turned down a request from a Democratic senator for a two-year delay in rolling out the agency's tougher fall protection policy in residential construction, instead opting to give good-faith employers some extra time to comply and the possibility of reduced penalties, according to sources and documents obtained by Inside OSHA Online. The agency's new fall protection policy had generated interest from Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) as well as home builders from Nebraska, who met recently with OSHA chief David Michaels, Sen. Mike Johanns (R), and others to air their concerns.
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House Democrats are pressing a bill that would seek to prevent the “misclassification” of employees as self-employed or contract workers, as one piece of a much larger set of recommendations to the joint congressional panel tackling deficit reduction. Sources say the legislative effort mirrors a DOL-wide initiative that could lead to OSHA enforcement in some cases where workers classified as contractors are not afforded safety and health protections.
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OSHA says new guidelines developed by an organization of state health officials on providing referrals on possible job site hazards to federal OSHA will be useful in identifying hazards to “underserved” workers, and says it provided input as the guidelines were crafted. The group drafted the guidelines following meetings OSHA held last year with state and local regulators to discuss ways to leverage each others' worker safety efforts.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) concluded that a temporary employment agency worker was, for OSHA enforcement purposes, an employee of the company that operated a multi-employer site, in a case that continues testing the legal issues surrounding how broadly OSHA can define the term “employee.” But the commission turned down the Labor secretary's argument that employees of an on-site contractor were also the cited company's employees.
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California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed legislation requiring that health care facilities maintain safe patient handling programs to protect health care workers from muculoskeletal disorders (MSD), in what organized labor calls a key victory and possibly a further impetus for federal action. Hospitals resisted the move at first, but worked with lawmakers to craft a bill that ultimately excluded some documentation requirements that unions had sought, according to a source.
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OSHA chief David Michaels told GOP lawmakers the agency will provide the data they are seeking on how OSHA has approached its rulemaking effort to address crystalline silica exposures, but only when the proposed rule comes out. At the same time OSHA has shown no inclination that it will slow up the regulatory process by issuing an advance notice of the proposal prior to moving forward with a proposed rule, as House Republicans have sought along with their call for a range of information about the regulatory effort.
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An industry group is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite its draft risk assessment for acrylonitrile (AN), a key ingredient in plastic, arguing that the current document is biased, fails to take into account several relevant studies and follows a “theme of quantitative ultraconservatism that is not scientifically justified.” The comments come as OSHA -- which has an existing permissible exposure limit for acrylonitrile -- looks at updating numerous PELs.
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Injury and illness prevention programs (I2P2), OSHA's proposed new silica standard, and the agency's recently rolled-out change in stance to tighten requirements for fall protection in residential construction are three key issues that House Republicans are targeting in an effort to clamp down on OSHA's policy and regulatory agendas. As GOP members pressed agency officials on those issues at a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday (Oct. 5), the agency defended its efforts, and organized labor and a public interest group said OSHA should be more aggressive in tightening its regulatory grip.
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