Worksafe, a California-based employee-advocacy group that often weighs in on workplace safety issues, has filed what appears to be the first formal lawsuit over EPA’s final overhaul of the TSCA “framework” for risk evaluations of existing chemicals, underlining the focus unions and worker advocates are placing on the agency’s chemical-safety program.
The United Steelworkers (USW) is signaling that it will seek to formally defend elements of EPA’s TSCA chrysotile asbestos rule that industry groups are seeking to loosen or overturn, in one of the first substantive moves of what could be a precedent-setting legal battle over the landmark regulation.
OSHA has released its final rule updating the hazard communication standard (HCS) that governs safety labels for toxic, flammable and otherwise dangerous chemicals, including a redone version of its requirement to address hazards posed by chemicals’ downstream uses after employers argued that the original language would impose massive new burdens on them.
The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is sending litigation over the Biden administration’s landmark TSCA rule phasing out uses of chrysotile asbestos to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit -- the same court that overturned the agency’s first attempt to ban asbestos more than 30 years ago when it drastically narrowed EPA’s authority to regulate existing chemicals.
California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would prohibit, beginning July 1, 2026, the sale and use of firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE) containing intentionally added PFAS, and that would require state regulators to align worker-safety rules with a future national standard for PFAS-free firefighting gear.
EPA has finalized its TSCA risk management rule for the solvent methylene chloride that top officials say will be a model for future chemical policies under the reformed law, maintaining the strict workplace exposure limit in its 2023 proposal while lengthening phaseout deadlines for some uses and adding a de minimis threshold sought by industry.
EPA has issued its final TSCA “framework” rule governing risk evaluations of existing chemicals, aiming to broaden the scope of its reviews and codify several controversial Biden administration policies including its rejection of a Trump-era approach to considering workers’ use of personal protective equipment (PPE), despite several industry groups’ claims that the new method is unlawful.
Chemical industry groups, labor unions and a prominent public health group have filed separate petitions asking four different appellate courts to review EPA’s final TSCA risk management rule phasing out ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, setting up a high-stakes lottery to determine which court will ultimately hear the precedent-setting case.
EPA has preliminarily determined that many activities that disturb legacy asbestos -- such as demolition of older buildings that were constructed with the material -- pose “unreasonable risk” to workers and others, potentially triggering new TSCA rules to protect them, according to a draft of the agency’s long-awaited “part 2” evaluation of the mineral.
Republican lawmakers are continuing their push-back against EPA’s draft risk evaluation of formaldehyde, with a new letter warning the agency that a potential workplace exposure limit is too stringent and could jeopardize a range of industrial sectors, while also raising concerns that any rule based on the review could conflict with Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) policies.