An asbestos-focused citizen group is urging the Biden administration to mandate steps to protect workers from the notorious carcinogen in its plans for sweeping upgrades to buildings and infrastructure nationwide, claiming that while OSHA and EPA have standards in place for the substance, few employers are actively following them.
September 17, 2026
An environmental whistleblower group claims Katherine Lemos, chair and sole current member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) rewrote the panel’s governing rules to “consolidate” her power at the expense of three pending nominees, and claims she has improperly spent CSB funds during her tenure.
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President Joe Biden has named three nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) including a former United Auto Workers (UAW) safety official, after labor and industry groups as well as the body’s own inspector general warned that CSB cannot continue to operate with a single member.
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A new analysis conducted by OSHA researchers and academics says EPA’s risk evaluation of methylene chloride undercounted workers’ deaths from exposure to products made with the chemical by almost 40 percent if not more, prompting calls from some of its authors as well as environmental groups for EPA to ban use of the solvent.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) acting regulatory chief is defending a proposed rule that critics say includes burdensome hazard assessment mandates for industry that could aid EPA’s chemical regulations, saying the new provisions merely codify existing guidance and require industry to take “reasonable” steps.
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The United Steelworkers (USW) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) are urging President Joe Biden to nominate new members to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and increase its budget, arguing that CSB’s current status as a one-person panel has rendered it “dysfunctional.”
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OSHA is extending the comment period on its proposed hazard communication standard (HCS) update, giving industry critics more time to build legal and policy cases against the rule after one attorney said it appears designed to aid EPA chemical evaluations by forcing many chemical companies to conduct elaborate new hazard analyses.
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The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which investigates releases of hazardous or toxic chemicals and other industrial incidents, will soon draw up a new board order as recommended by EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that oversees CSB, while embarking on a hiring push to bolster the ranks of its investigators.
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An industry attorney says chemical makers and users could soon face an “absurd,” onerous mandate to assess the hazards posed by chemicals they produce or use, not only in their own operations but in all possible downstream uses and combinations -- a duty he says could be aimed at supporting EPA’s risk evaluations of existing chemicals.
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A small business representative says that shortly before the presidential transition EPA risk managers signaled they were considering occupational exposure limits for uses of the acutely toxic solvent methylene chloride at levels more stringent than those set by OSHA and an occupational hygienists group, in an early marker for the forthcoming rule.
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