OSHA is clashing with the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) after it found the agency needs to do more to mitigate high injury and illness rates among warehouse workers, refusing to directly respond to recommendations and slamming OIG’s methodologies for the audit instead.
OSHA chief Doug Parker used a Sept. 27 House hearing to warn lawmakers against an increasingly-likely government shutdown, arguing that a lapse in appropriations will hamstring the agency’s enforcement work including a new silica initiative, while also seeking to defend its regulatory agenda against attacks by Republican panel members.
Two attorneys are warning that both employers and OSHA itself face an “incredible burden” from the agency’s proposal that would allow third parties to accompany compliance officers on inspections even when they do not work for the company -- particularly when deciding who qualifies as an “authorized representative” of non-union employees.
Trade groups, congressional Republicans and attorneys are outlining arguments against OSHA’s proposal allowing third parties to accompany compliance officers on inspections even when they do not work for the company involved, ranging from claims that it is legally invalid to calling it the result of “regulatory voodoo.”
OSHA has reached a company-wide enforcement settlement with the discount-retail giant Dollar Tree that includes regular inspections of its stores and an immediate $1.35 million penalty, following a years-long series of citations for what the agency repeatedly said was a persistent pattern of safety violations across the company.
OSHA is proposing to reinstate and codify a controversial Obama-era guidance allowing third parties such as union representatives to accompany agency officials on inspections even when they do not work for the employer under review, saying the expanded approach will bolster worker representation in OSH Act enforcement.
OSHA has signed an enforcement settlement with the pharmacy giant Rite Aid that will require new worker protections against bloodborne pathogens at “approximately 370” stores in two states, after the agency found violations of that standard at a Niagara Falls, NY, location in 2022.
The train operator involved in the Feb. 4 train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, OH, has reached a settlement with OSHA and its own union to resolve four citations issued regarding worker safety violations and hazards, agreeing to add new medical surveillance and emergency response training, among other commitments.
A Georgia construction company will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to review a case where an administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld an OSHA citation for fall-protection violations by a subcontractor under the firm’s control, based on a finding that it exercised “no care” as the controlling employer at its job site.
OSHA recently posted a slew of new regulatory interpretation letters offering responses to employers’ and industry professionals’ questions on matters such as the categories of chemicals considered “associated with” formaldehyde gas, occupational noise exposure standards, shipment of hazardous materials and silica dust exposure control methods.