EPA has released a draft TSCA evaluation of the flame retardant tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), finding that nine of 20 uses the agency considered contribute to unreasonable risk from the “whole chemical” and floating a workplace limit for airborne exposures -- measures that if finalized could support broad regulation under the toxics law.
September 17, 2026
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has published a pair of reports in the space of a week that call for OSHA to craft new safety standards, with one recommending the agency enact a nationwide safety rule for workers who deal with liquid nitrogen and another broadening its past calls for a rulemaking on combustible dust.
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The head of California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is touting a new staff recruitment initiative by an outside firm as a fresh effort by the agency to help fill the estimated 35 percent of positions at the agency that are considered vacant, while acknowledging that the lack of employees is hurting several Cal/OSHA programs -- including enforcement of worker-safety rules.
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OSHA’s latest regulatory agenda says it intends to advance several long-promised rules in either the final days of 2023 or early 2024, including updated safety standards for powered industrial trucks and elevated walking surfaces, even higher-profile rulemakings such as those for heat danger, workplace violence and infectious diseases remain on uncertain timelines.
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EPA staff are weighing whether individual industrial sectors can “effectively administer” stringent workplace chemical exposure limits as they craft the agency’s ongoing raft of TSCA risk management rules amid a barrage of objections from industry that the proposals are too strict, according to one source with knowledge of the toxics program’s work.
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OSHA has reached a settlement with the National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG) to resolve a long-stalled challenge to the agency’s 2016 rulemaking that overhauled fall-protection standards to limit workers' slips, trips and falls, setting alternative compliance approaches and limited waivers for the sector.
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The semiconductor industry is urging the White House to limit workplace safety provisions in EPA’s upcoming TSCA rule for the solvent n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) to codifying the sector’s existing practices, arguing that those safeguards already reduce exposures to near zero.
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South Carolina is doubling down on its arguments that a pending Supreme Court case over the Administrative Procedure Act's (APA) statute of limitations could ease its challenge to OSHA's mandate for states to match annual increases to federal OSH Act penalties.
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A Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel that OSHA convened to gather input on its long-awaited heat safety standard has issued a report laying out a wide range of recommendations for the rulemaking, such as flexibility for employers to tailor worker protection plans to their sectors and generous exemptions for small companies.
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Administrative law experts say they expect the Supreme Court will issue a narrow ruling in litigation seeking to limit agency adjudications via administrative law judges (ALJs), tamping down expectations that the case, focused on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), could have sweeping implications for OSHA and other agencies.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) staff are developing stakeholder reports that will aim to justify their pending proposal to strengthen worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction and general industry sectors, including a claim that the tighter requirements would avoid 31 deaths and hundreds of job-related illnesses over 10 years.
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Conservative justices on the Supreme Court appear sympathetic to claims that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) use of administrative law judges (ALJs) violates the 7th Amendment right to a jury trial, but during Nov. 28 oral argument they wrestled with how to craft a new test for the practice amid fears that a broad ruling could upend review of OSHA and other agencies’ enforcement actions.
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An industry attorney is highlighting novel language in EPA’s proposed TSCA rule for the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) that requires companies to limit worker exposures only “to the extent possible” as evidence that its occupational exposure standard is unworkably strict, underlining likely objections to the policy from trade groups and employers.
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OSHA is urging a federal district court to reject any link between South Carolina’s latest suit over the federal mandate for states to match their annual penalty increases to federal OSH Act penalties and a pending Supreme Court case that could greatly extend the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) statute of limitations for rule challenges.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is proposing to exempt short-term “incidental” exposures from its proposed first-time employee-safety rules for heat illness prevention at indoor worksites, but employer groups that sought the change are now calling on the state to expand it further, saying the current version is highly limited and fails to address their concerns.
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The Labor Department (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has again identified worker safety issues among the top “management challenges” facing the department in its annual report on those high-priority issues, and is recommending a slew of new actions at both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
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Statistics showing an increase in workplace deaths for miners in fiscal year 2023 are sparking concern from industry lawyers over how the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will respond, though one attorney says it is uncertain that the agency has funds and resources for new training or enforcement initiatives.
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The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Jan. 17 in a pair of linked suits that could overturn or sharply limit the long-standing Chevron doctrine that gives deference to OSHA and other agencies on their “reasonable” interpretations of ambiguous statutory text.
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Unions and their allies, including elected Democrats, are supporting OSHA’s proposal to allow compliance officers inspecting a workplace to bring worker representatives on walkarounds even if they are not affiliated with that employer, arguing that the policy will bolster workers’ rights while seeking relatively minor changes to the agency’s text.
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The House has overwhelmingly approved a Republican-backed bill extending funding for several agencies including OSHA through Feb. 2, but the chamber adjourned Nov. 15 for the Thanksgiving holiday without voting on a full-year funding bill for the Labor Department (DOL) in a sign that lawmakers are still struggling with fiscal year 2024 appropriations.
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