Even as the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) works to continue operating despite a one-member board and a lack of administrative resources, industry attorneys say it still has the capacity to boost inspections of incidents involving using potentially hazardous chemicals from Trump-era levels, should officials choose to take that path.
Employers’ attorneys see OSHA’s newly announced national emphasis program (NEP) for COVID-19 as a major shift in the agency’s approach to the pandemic that could drive an immediate rise in enforcement, even as OSHA continues to weigh issuing an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus.
Employers are urging OSHA to use its impending emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 to standardize the nationwide approach to pandemic protections, by formally overriding state-level ETS rules and executive orders that have created a patchwork of workplace safety requirements against the coronavirus.
OSHA is launching a new enforcement “emphasis” program to tackle COVID-19 workplace exposures, bolstered with $100 million in funding for the agency through the newly enacted stimulus law that will in part assist the enforcement effort, amid suggestions that OSHA might delay an emergency safety rule for the virus.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has overturned a 2018 OSHA citation to a construction firm for falling hazards at a subcontractor’s worksite, holding that while the agency proved the company was a controlling employer at the site there was scant evidence that it was aware of the subcontractor’s violation.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has updated its guidance for employers to protect mine workers from COVID-19 infections but continues to weigh whether to issue a binding safety standard for the pandemic at mines, even as OSHA is widely expected to unveil such a rule within days.
OSHA identified more violations of fall-protection standards than of any other safety regulations in its fiscal year 2020 enforcement actions, according to preliminary figures from deputy agency enforcement chief Patrick Kapust, with the respiratory protection standard being the only pandemic-related policy in the “top 10” for citations.
Workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York are asking a federal appeals court to hold that even a binding OSHA COVID-19 standard would not preempt their claims that the retail giant violated state pandemic safety mandates, despite a district judge’s ruling that such protections are part of OSHA’s “primary jurisdiction.”
Republicans on a House appropriations panel used a recent hearing on worker-safety issues in meat and poultry plants to call for an increased focus on vaccinating workers in the sector against COVID-19 as a better strategy than a strict OSHA standard, signaling how conservatives could seek to counter the agency’s imminent rule.
Republicans on the House labor panel are urging OSHA to reach out to employers as it crafts a widely expected emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, warning that rules based on outdated science could have an “adverse impact” on workplace infection controls.
A Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) report faulting OSHA for reducing workplace inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for the agency to swiftly develop an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to control the spread of the virus among employees, according to a top House Democrat.
OSHA and public health groups are at odds over whether to pause the appeal of a court challenge to the Trump-era rollback of the agency’s 2016 recordkeeping rule, with the Biden administration vowing to review and possibly reconsider the action but plaintiffs in the suit saying they will not support more than a short-term stay.
A California superior court judge is rejecting industry calls for a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) COVID-19 worker health and safety emergency temporary standard (ETS) adopted last year, while also saying the plaintiff groups are unlikely to prevail on the merits of the case.
OSHA is floating the first update to its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) since 2012 -- a move that would more closely align the policy with current international guidelines for chemical labeling in the workplace and could also drive a new effort to incorporate those same requirements into EPA rules.
Employers say EPA’s finding that workers face “unreasonable risks” from the dye ingredient pigment violet 29 (PV29) rests in large part on misunderstandings of industrial hygiene practices, and they are urging the agency to work with OSHA and other safety regulators to address those flaws before crafting any rules based on its assessment.
Unions, worker safety groups and others are calling on the Biden administration to update public-health guidance on COVID-19 to explicitly acknowledge that the coronavirus spreads through aerosols -- a step they say would immediately lead to stricter workplace infection controls.
Unions and environmental groups are asking courts to overturn EPA’s findings on whether workers face “unreasonable risks” from a host of chemicals including asbestos and the solvent methylene chloride, even as the agency itself is wrestling with whether to craft new rules for the substances in addition to OSHA standards.
OSHA is expanding its whistleblower protection program under new statutory authority created in two laws enacted at the end of the Trump administration, including a statute that expanded prohibitions on money laundering and another that created a new anti-retaliation protection for antitrust cases.
A California state senator is advancing legislation to bolster California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) enforcement measures to protect workers from COVID-19, provide new tools to hold large employers accountable for workplace health and safety violations, and encourage workers to report unsafe working conditions while preventing employer retaliation.
House Democrats are pushing new legislation to reverse the landmark 2012 court ruling that imposed a strict six-month limit on OSHA’s enforcement of recordkeeping and reporting mandates, following release of a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that blames the decision for a dramatic enforcement drop.