California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved a petition asking the agency to develop an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from exposure to crystalline silica in “engineered stone fabrication shops,” citing a current “crisis” where a growing number of workers are developing advanced silicosis, a serious lung disease.
Republicans on the House COVID-19 committee have opened an investigation of OSHA’s development and implementation of its now-abandoned COVID-19 vaccination rule, probing how the standard came to be and requesting extensive documentation and communications from the agency to investigate “any wrongdoing by government officials.”
EPA’s proposed TSCA rule on carbon tetrachloride (CTC) is drawing heavy criticism from environmentalists, with one key advocate saying the plan is fatally flawed because it proposes only worker protections rather than banning uses of the solvent, meaning it fails to protect fenceline communities whose exposures may increase under some safety measures.
Employer and industry groups are making last-ditch efforts to convince California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials to ease key sections of the agency’s proposal to strengthen worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction sector and general industry, ahead of an upcoming vote by a divided standards board on the measures.
Chemical industry groups are warning that thousands of facilities could face increased risk of terrorist attacks after the Senate adjourned for its summer recess without approving pending House legislation reauthorizing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security program for two years before its authority expired July 27.
Prompted by a White House call, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a heat hazard alert reminding employers they have a legal duty to protect workers from high heat while also re-upping pledges to step up enforcement of such measures but worker safety advocates say those actions do not go far enough and are renewing their calls for OSHA to issue an interim heat standard while it works on a permanent regulation.
Facing a looming July 27 deadline, Congress appears poised to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security program for two years, after a key senator agreed to support a House bill that fell short of his push for a longer five-year extension.
Senate health committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with more than 100 Democrats, are pressing OSHA to quickly adopt a strict heat protection standard, arguing in part that such a measure is needed to preempt states like Texas that are curbing local efforts to protect workers from stifling heat, which has already resulted in several worker deaths.
OSHA recently posted a slew of new regulatory interpretation letters offering responses to employers’ and industry professionals’ questions on matters such as the categories of chemicals considered “associated with” formaldehyde gas, occupational noise exposure standards, shipment of hazardous materials and silica dust exposure control methods.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has upheld OSHA’s enforcement citation for a 2016 accident where a crane being prepared for dismantling touched a live power line, rejecting the employer’s argument that safety standards for crane “disassembly” do not apply to preparatory steps leading up to taking the machine apart.
Major unions are criticizing EPA for excluding organized labor from stakeholder discussions on its pending TSCA methylene chloride rule, warning that the failure to consult them led to significant omissions in the proposal’s workplace protections compared with OSHA standards -- even as they praise the agency’s strict occupational exposure limits for the solvent.
OSHA is proposing to formally require that construction employers ensure their personal protective equipment (PPE) fits workers, reviving an Obama-era plan that the agency originally advanced through the Standards Improvement Project (SIP) but dropped from that process when it drew industry opposition.
EPA has unveiled a proposed TSCA risk management rule for carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) that would allow uses that it says represent “essentially all” annual production of the solvent to continue indefinitely if facilities meet strict new worker protection mandates -- as well as a bar against increasing air emissions to surrounding communities.
OSHA has unveiled its final rule re-establishing electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates for many employers, largely standing behind the 2022 proposal while narrowing several sector-specific exclusions that unions and their allies criticized in public comments.
OSHA has announced a new, three-year national emphasis program (NEP) aiming to ramp up inspections and enforcement at warehouses, processing facilities, distribution centers and high-risk retail establishments, following what the agency says is a dramatic increase in their injury rates since 2013.
OSHA has sent a final rule expected to re-establish Obama-era electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates to the Federal Register for publication, appearing to cut off long-stayed litigation over the Trump administration’s rollback of those requirements while setting the stage for a potential court challenge from employers.
Republican leaders on the House homeland security committee are backing a bill to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program into 2025, just weeks ahead of its expiration on July 27, even as a bipartisan Senate coalition is seeking a five-year extension instead.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will publish its long-awaited proposed update to its 50-year-old standards for silica dust in the July 13 Federal Register, starting a 45-day public comment period and setting dates for two in-person public hearings.
Trade groups and chemical firms used recent meetings with White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials to raise in-depth scientific critiques of the occupational exposure limit EPA floated last year for carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 or CTC), just days before OMB cleared the agency to propose a TSCA risk management rule for the solvent.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has issued a new report urging OSHA to craft a “comprehensive outreach plan” to improve employers’ handling of explosive chemicals and reactive hazards, as well as renewing long-standing calls to tighten safety standards for those substances, following a 2020 explosion that killed a worker.