OSHA continues to bolster its oversight of industrial facilities through inspections under a 2017 National Emphasis Program (NEP) and data-sharing with EPA enforcement officials, despite the agency's decision to shelve a planned strengthening of its process safety management (PSM) rule, according to industry attorneys.
A senior Trump administration official says EPA is planning a significant rollback of an Obama-era facility safety rule, arguing against significant disclosure of facility data that the original rule requires and backing the Labor Department's lead in process safety.
Chemical industry attorneys are urging EPA to accelerate its plan to undo Obama-era changes tightening the risk management plan (RMP) facility safety program, after the agency opted against appealing a court ruling that scrapped the Trump administration's delay of the revisions and reinstated looming compliance deadlines.
California’s attorney general (AG) is strongly defending the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB) role in investigating accidents and recommending workplace safety and other rules, while backing CSB's push for a broad subpoena to investigate a refinery explosion, amid the Trump administration's calls to scrap the agency.
Labor and food safety groups are warning they will sue the Trump administration if it allows additional poultry processing plants to qualify for waivers from its line-speed inspection rules under a newly announced plan to expand the existing waiver program, in part over concerns that the waivers will increase workplace safety risks.
A public interest group is calling for stepped up enforcement of EPA administered industrial facility safety rules that require disclosure of facilities' data after a federal court expedited compliance with an Obama-era rule strengthening the agency's accident prevention program, even as the Trump administration seeks to roll the rule back.
Appellate court judges have again granted environmentalists' request to force quick implementation of an Obama-era rule tightening facility safety requirements, expediting its ruling that struck down a Trump administration effort to delay the rule's effectiveness by almost two years while the agency considers whether to undo the stricter mandates.
As floodwaters from Hurricane Florence threaten industrial facilities in the Carolinas, the City of Houston, House Democrats, and former EPA staff are strongly opposing the Trump administration's rollback of an Obama-era rule strengthening EPA's facility accident prevention program, arguing it would make facilities more vulnerable to flooding.
State and environmentalist petitioners are reiterating their request for an appellate court to compel the agency to quickly implement an Obama-era update to the agency's facility accident prevention rule, arguing that accidents are occurring regularly, and that the court already found the Trump administration's delay causes harm.
Senate Republicans have introduced a bill to reauthorize a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility safety program that would streamline compliance for certain facilities, but rejects calls from House Democrats and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to bolster the disclosure of facility data to first responders.