Enforcement

OSHA has released a new regulatory interpretation letter outlining its test for when a worker's injuries in a traffic accident are considered “work-related” and subject to the agency’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements, warning employers that injuries sustained outside of a “normal commute” are recordable.

A new federal circuit court ruling appears to set a more demanding standard for OSHA to show that an employer could “reasonably foresee” worker misconduct, in a decision that aims to clarify a “confusing patchwork” of precedent on where the burden of proof lies in cases dealing with the adequacy of an employer’s safety program.

Attorneys say the Supreme Court’s stay of OSHA’s COVID-19 vaccine standard both forces the agency to use the general duty clause as its primary tool to enforce pandemic safety measures, and creates new hurdles for those efforts -- though it could also open the door to a separate rule based on the emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare workers.

OSHA is raising its civil penalties for violations of the OSH Act and regulatory standards by 6.2 percent to account for inflation -- the largest such adjustment in recent memory and one industry attorneys are warning could lead to an even sharper spike in total fines as the agency looks to step up enforcement action across the board.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) appears to be raising the bar for rejecting employers’ appeals of OSHA enforcement actions when they miss litigation deadlines or otherwise fail to follow required procedures, holding in a new order that appellants must be allowed to show a “good faith effort” at participating in proceedings.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is beginning an audit of OSHA’s response to a rise in “severe” worker injuries at retailers’ warehouse facilities that the watchdog says is a “consequence” of the COVID-19 pandemic, following months of claims by labor groups that the facilities have failed to provide accident protections.

A new decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) holds for apparently the first time that road construction companies must adopt fall-protection measures for employees working from the backs of moving vehicles, but the panel took no clear position on what abatement methods the employers must use.

OSHA is pushing back two major deadlines for public input until early 2022 -- extending both the public comment period for its call for comments to inform a long-awaited heat illness standard, and the nomination deadline for new members to its Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH).

Two OSHA-related nominees won key Senate votes Dec. 2, as lawmakers voted to confirm Larry Turner as the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new Inspector General (IG) just hours after members of the labor committee backed Susan Harthill’s nomination to join the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) will review a case that could set a new precedent for how it deals with situations where an employer “disregards” deadlines to participate in an appeal, while the Senate labor committee is poised to vote on President Joe Biden’s nominee to the panel as soon as Dec. 2.