California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is preparing to soon release an updated version of its controversial COVID-19 worker safety emergency temporary standard (ETS), drawing fears from employers’ attorneys that the state will ramp up enforcement of the rule even as the contours of the update remain unclear.
Chemical industry safety groups are pushing back against advocates’ calls for EPA to expand its Risk Management Plan (RMP) chemical facility safety rule to include the substance ammonium nitrate and to account for climate change impacts, charging that such changes would be statutorily unworkable, redundant and could worsen supply-chain issues.
OSHA is preparing to open a new public comment period and hold at least one hearing to aid its development of a permanent version of the 2021 COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare facilities, after vowing in court filings to complete work on that rule before the end of the year, according to a source familiar with the matter.
OSHA is issuing an interim final rule establishing new procedures for how it will investigate complaints of retaliation against whistleblowers who disclose information or assist in investigations of their employers’ allegedly illegal tax-related conduct, the first in a series of planned rulemakings to bolster protections for whistleblowers.
Labor unions are urging Oregon’s worker-safety agency to strengthen its recently proposed permanent heat illness prevention standard by eliminating several key exemptions they say provide businesses with too much flexibility over worker conditions, while at the same time federal OSHA has begun weighing feedback on its own national heat stress rulemaking.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a slew of new research on the effectiveness of workplace COVID-19 controls, including those related to masking and distancing, with advice that could bolster the case for tough new safety measures in OSHA’s permanent COVID-19 standard for the healthcare sector.
OSHA head Doug Parker says the agency is not formally withdrawing its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector but will not enforce the rule while a union-led lawsuit plays out, spurring outrage from labor advocates who are urging the agency to ramp up protections and implement a permanent standard for healthcare workers.
OSHA’s deputy director of standards and guidance says the agency’s push to promulgate a final COVID-19 standard for the healthcare sector in “six to nine months” will likely alter the timeline for some related rulemakings it outlined in the fall unified agenda, including both its proposed workplace violence and infectious disease standards for the industry.
Environmentalists are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “act now” to expand its chemical facility safety rule, particularly to include ammonium nitrate, arguing that a recent fire at a North Carolina fertilizer plant serves as a “wake up call” for the need to bolster protections against future disasters.
OSHA is proposing the first update since 1998 to its safety standard for industrial powered trucks, aiming to align design and manufacturing requirements with modern consensus standards as part of a broader effort to revamp a slew of outdated regulations, including a provision that would allow it to use guidance rather than rulemaking for future updates.