The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is pressing OSHA to step up enforcement on traumatic injuries after the Labor Department’s (DOL) annual report on worker deaths from sudden trauma for 2021 found an 8.9 percent increase from the prior year -- a rise the group says should be “unacceptably high” for the agency.
September 17, 2026
Labor groups are urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to tighten OSHA’s final safety standard for COVID-19 exposure in healthcare workplaces beyond the emergency requirements the agency imposed in 2021, focusing in particular on calls to exceed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for the pandemic.
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The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has released its report on a 2019 accident at a butadiene production facility in Texas, recommending that both the operator and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) strengthen their policies for the chemical to prevent similar incidents, just as EPA is evaluating its risks under TSCA.
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An industry group is urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to block EPA from placing strict TSCA limits on methylene chloride use in order to protect workers from exposure, arguing that a tough rule lacks scientific support and risks cutting off domestic manufacturing of several key products.
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A new report from the labor-environmental group BlueGreen Alliance (BGA) finds safety data sheets (SDS) OSHA requires to list chemicals’ toxic or hazardous properties are often erroneous, including several EPA has targeted for regulation -- which the group says undercut industry arguments that OSHA rules will protect workers from exposure.
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A top official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce used a recent White House meeting to reiterate claims that OSHA is violating the law by crafting a final COVID-19 safety standard for healthcare facilities based on its expired emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the sector, in a preview of possible legal challenges facing the imminent rule.
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The just-released fiscal year 2023 omnibus spending bill includes a $20 million funding increase for OSHA, with nearly all of its programs in line to receive at least a small boost, though the overall increase is far below the nearly $90 million the Biden administration sought.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved final COVID-19 worker-safety rules, despite ongoing unease among key stakeholder groups -- including labor representatives unhappy that an “exclusion pay” requirement was left out of the standard, and employers who fear that mandate will return in a future rule for general infectious diseases.
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OSHA is citing Amazon for 14 alleged recordkeeping and reporting violations as part of its high-profile investigation into reported safety issues at the retail giant’s warehouses -- the first public action it has taken since the Justice Department (DOJ) became involved in the inquiry, which the agency says is “ongoing” and could produce more citations.
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OSHA’s advisors are floating several areas where they could urge the agency to take a broad approach in its upcoming heat danger standard, such as by tailoring protections for a wide range of job conditions and expanding the list of health risks the rule could address.
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The Senate has confirmed former EPA chemicals chief Steve Owens as chairman of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and former California utility regulator Catherine J.K. Sandoval as the panel’s third member, moving it a step closer to full strength after years of shorthanded operations.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is saying an administrative law judge (ALJ) was wrong to assume OSHA’s preferred method to abate workplace violence at a Colorado healthcare facility was “feasible” without reports from the company, reinforcing what the panel says is a high bar to make an adverse inference based on lack of financial data.
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The White House is preparing to hold the first in a series of stakeholder meetings on EPA’s precedent-setting draft TSCA risk management rule for the solvent methylene chloride, with labor unions and a key industry group in line to make their cases for a strict or lenient approach before the agency releases a formal proposal next year.
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Democrats are poised to release their own proposed “omnibus” fiscal year 2023 spending bill for OSHA and other agencies on Dec. 12, signaling a possible impasse in negotiations with Republicans on a deal amid a GOP push to cut non-defense spending following Democrats’ passage of a massive party-line spending bill earlier this year.
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OSHA has sent its long-term COVID-19 safety standard for healthcare facilities to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, moving the rule to the final stage of its administrative process after months of delay -- though the timeline for final action remains unclear at best.
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OSHA is touting its latest in a series of enforcement actions against Dollar General over allegations of widespread unsafe conditions, such as faulty emergency exits at the retailer’s stores, even after the agency agreed to drop a court action designed to enforce what it said was an “informal settlement” stemming from an earlier round of citations.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is easing requirements in its final proposed update to first-aid kit requirements for general industry and construction firms pertaining to the type of container required, but is maintaining a mandate to check the kits weekly despite employer representatives’ continued opposition.
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EPA has submitted its TSCA proposal to regulate use of the solvent methylene chloride to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), setting the stage for what a top toxics official said will be a model for future chemical rules designed to protected both workers and the general public from chemical exposures.
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A California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) advisory committee and agency staff are poised to finalize joint recommendations to state lawmakers for policies to protect the health and safety of privately employed household domestic service workers, as well as voluntary guidelines for the sector targeting both workers and employers.
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OSHA is opening new rounds of nominations to its advisory committees for worker safety in the maritime and construction sectors ahead of term expirations for the full rosters of both panels this spring, as the agency is also preparing to fill four spots on its influential National Advisory Committee on Safety and Health (NACOSH).
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