OSHA has finalized a year-old interim rule that set out procedures for handling whistleblower complaints under the 2019 Taxpayer First Act (TFA) that created anti-retaliation protections for employees who report potential tax fraud and other violations, largely adopting the model it set out in the interim measure.
Federal appellate judges appeared skeptical of claims that OSHA’s safety standard for crane assembly and disassembly should not apply to preparatory steps prior to dismantling the equipment during March 7 oral argument over a 2016 accident where a worker was seriously injured when a crane touched a live power line during that preliminary phase.
OSHA is pushing back against an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that faulted its handling of OSH Act complaints, including claims that officials do not adequately consider testimony from witnesses or complainants in enforcement, saying it is based on a third-party audit that used an unrepresentative sample and misunderstood the agency’s processes.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is scheduled to hear debate over whether to amend its workforce safety rules for farming equipment to allow automated tractors and other machines to operate independently in the field, amid pushback from labor and worker-safety groups that say the move would heighten injury and death risks.
The long-delayed challenge to OSHA’s Trump-era rollback of electronic recordkeeping mandates is set to move forward after a federal appeals court lifted its long-standing stay on the suit, backing safety advocates’ argument that the Biden administration’s repeated delays of a rule to reinstate the requirements undermine the rationale for pausing the case.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) appeals board has issued what the agency is calling a “precedential” decision affirming that provisions of water at outdoor worksites must be “as close as practicable” to the areas where employees are working to encourage frequent consumption, bolstering the state’s heat-danger protections.
A federal district court has rejected South Carolina’s bid to block OSHA from enforcing its long-standing directive for state plans to match federal OSH Act minimum and maximum penalties, including annual inflation adjustments, holding that language in the 2022 adjustment renewing the mandate was not a new action and thus not subject to judicial review.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has again upheld an OSHA workplace violence citation that designated a healthcare facility and its management firm as a “single employer” for purposes of OSH Act enforcement, just as a federal appeals court is weighing its use of that test in a prior case targeting the same management company.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) chief Jeff Killip acknowledged that the agency continues to struggle to carry out enforcement amid a 30 percent staff vacancy rate during his recent confirmation hearing, while highlighting his agency’s work on indoor heat worker-safety rules and outreach to both vulnerable employees and businesses to improve performance.
Employer attorneys are raising alarms on OSHA’s quiet announcement that it plans to reinstate a controversial Obama-era policy known as the “Fairfax Memo” that allowed third parties such as union representatives to accompany OSHA officials on inspections -- even of non-union worksites.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has issued a pair of decisions that affirm OSHA’s approach to identifying heat dangers, scrapping an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) rulings that held its long-standing approach failed to show hazard to workers, but the panel is also setting a high bar for “feasible” abatement methods.
South Carolina is pointing to OSHA’s latest inflation adjustment to enforcement penalties as fresh justification for its ongoing court challenge to the mandate for states to match those increases each year, saying the rulemaking repeats that directive and is ripe for judicial review.
Unions, worker-safety groups, environmentalists and tribes are petitioning OSHA to strengthen its injury and illness reporting mandates for oil spill response workers, arguing that the sector should be carved out from broad exclusions for cold and flu to ensure that employers report symptoms of potentially serious chemical exposures that may “mimic” the viruses.
Members of the California legislature have introduced a bill that would reimburse employers’ costs for complying with the state OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) COVID-19 worker-safety standard in 2023 and 2024 through a new tax credit, with support from agriculture groups that have attacked the standard as unnecessary, overly burdensome and costly.
Newly introduced California legislation would require the state’s OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to adopt standards requiring employers in “all industries” besides healthcare to draft workplace violence prevention plans as part of existing injury and illness prevention programs, in an effort to accelerate such requirements.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) has missed its target to unveil the final version of a long-pending update to requirements for first-aid kits for general industry and construction companies, triggering a new comment process and drawing criticism from at least one member of the agency’s standards board, along with employer and worker-safety representatives.
OSHA plans to “modernize” its long-standing Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) that recognize employers for instituting workplace protections above what regulations and consensus standards require, and is seeking input on a range of possible changes -- from incentives for joining to assessment methods and a potential “tiered” approach.
OSHA is backing off its 2022 proposal to scrap its prior approval allowing Arizona to operate an OSH Act state plan, saying state officials have taken “significant actions to address” concerns that drove the withdrawal push, including tying their employer penalties to federal levels and easing procedures to adopt emergency standards mirroring those the agency issues.
OSHA is gaining new authority to issue visas to victims of certain alleged crimes including forced labor, obstruction of justice and human trafficking, further expanding the Biden administration’s efforts to protect undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation when they report workplace violations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) affirmed OSHA’s citation against Walmart for a violation of its safety standard for items stored “in tiers,” after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned an earlier decision where the panel applied a narrower reading of the rule to say it did not apply to the retailer’s facility.