EPA has finalized long-anticipated updates to the Risk Management Program (RMP), with several changes that aim to toughen the proposal issued in 2022 -- including a new mandate that a broader list of facilities now required to perform a safer technology alternatives analysis (STAA) adopt at least one of its recommendations, a win for environmentalists who argued that such upgrades should not be voluntary.
Industry groups and unions are raising sharply contrasting arguments on OSHA’s pending final rule to allow worker representatives to take part in enforcement “walkaround” inspections even if they are not employed at the site, with employers calling the rule “unconstitutional” and demanding it be scrapped while labor groups are strongly backing it.
OSHA’s proposed safety standard for emergency responders includes a call for information on claims that firefighters face health risks from toxic, long-lasting chemicals known as PFAS that are used as water- and oil-proofing agents in their protective gear -- the latest step in a long-running debate on that question.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved tough new worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction and general industry sectors to take effect next year, codifying a proposal that had already been held up as a potential model for other states and federal OSHA, which is weighing updates to its own lead policies.
Republicans on the House Workforce Committee are renewing their attacks on OSHA’s rulemaking to revive an Obama-era policy allowing worker representatives to take part in enforcement “walkaround” inspections even if they are not employed at the site, charging that the rule “interferes in labor-management relations” as the White House has begun reviewing the final policy.
Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) are again petitioning OSHA for an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers in extreme heat exacerbated by climate change, arguing that the spike in heat-related injuries and illnesses during the summer of 2023 shows the need for immediate action ahead of the agency’s long-pending permanent rule.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun review of OSHA’s final rule expected to revive an Obama-era policy allowing worker representatives to take part in enforcement “walkaround” inspections even if they are not employed at the site, despite warnings from industry that the regulation is legally vulnerable.
Chemical-sector groups are urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to loosen a long-awaited update to OSHA’s hazard communication standard (HCS) governing safety labels for toxic, flammable and otherwise dangerous chemicals, focusing on claims that the 2021 proposal adds unneeded complexity and data-gathering burdens.
OSHA is set to publish its long-anticipated proposal setting health and safety standards for “emergency responders” in the Feb. 5 Federal Register, kicking off a 90-day public comment period more than a month after the agency posted the rule online.
Chemical-sector and other industry groups are urging EPA to loosen a host of new worker-safety requirements in its proposed reworking of Trump-era TSCA rules governing two persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals that they say would be too restrictive, saying the agency should instead defer to occupational-safety “professionals” on what protections are needed.