Following the lead set by OHSA’s effort to bolster enforcement, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is ramping up its worker safety compliance efforts, raising the civil penalties that it can impose against mine owners, and touting the fact that compliance outreach efforts have led to a major drop in annual mining fatalities.
OSHA’s budget faces a slight cut from $581.2 million down to $576.8 million in President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2021 funding proposal, but the plan also includes small targeted funding increases for a host of agency programs including enforcement, compliance assistance, whistleblower programs, and more.
OSHA has issued a final rule that hikes by almost 2 percent the cost of civil penalties it will impose when enforcing against employers for violations of its policies, a move that may result in increases in total penalties imposed as part of a broader effort by OSHA to increase enforcement.
Senators by unanimous consent on Jan. 9 approved the nominations of Cynthia Atwood and Amanda Laihow as members of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), clearing the path for the panel to resume its long-stalled work on reviewing a host of contested OSHA workplace citations and penalties.
Citing recent OSHA advice, a management-side attorney is urging employers to assess whether their workers face potential hazards from the widespread use of headphones to listen to music even though there is no OSHA standard prohibiting it.
Cal/OSHA officials are determining whether to bolster workplace safety enforcement and education efforts to address rising workplace-related fatalities, especially for “high-hazard work” and Latino employees, after recently reporting that 422 Californians died on the job in 2018, an increase over prior years.
Acting OSHA chief Loren Sweatt is touting the agency’s efforts to ramp up inspections while also pursuing “innovative” outreach efforts to employers to inform them about compliance with agency rules, saying that overall enforcement at the agency is “headed in the right direction.”
New OSHA data shows a slight uptick in total inspections in fiscal year 2019, but a former top Obama official is faulting the agency for declining inspection levels compared to the end of the previous administration, saying that even though inspections rose to 33,401 compared to 32,023 in FY18, overall inspection levels have plunged during the Trump administration.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) plans a “hard” push next year to advance in the Senate just-passed House legislation that would force OSHA to issue workplace violence standards for the healthcare and social service sectors, saying the more than 30 Republicans backing the House bill suggest it could attract similar bipartisan support in the Senate.
The House appears poised to approve legislation that would force OSHA to quickly issue workplace violence standards for the healthcare and social service sectors, with Democratic and GOP lawmakers discussing potential compromises to bolster the bill’s support, even as the measure faces a White House veto threat.