Five Democratic senators are pushing the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to quickly craft a long-pending update to its silica standard in response to a recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that found its current policies to be “out of date” and insufficiently protective of workers’ health.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is proposing to formally adopt a set of 14 safety standards for electric motor-driven mining equipment and related accessories that were crafted by voluntary standard-setting groups -- a step industry says will pave the way for rapid adoption of updated, safer technology.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is revising its rules governing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the office, including adding more opportunities to “toll” the deadline for a response, and changing how it handles unpaid fees.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is among the contenders voicing interest in becoming labor secretary as President-elect Joe Biden begins to assemble his Cabinet, but industry and employer associations are warning Democrats that any nominee viewed as too far left could struggle to win confirmation in a closely divided Senate.
President-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Labor (DOL) transition team includes several Obama administration veterans along with union figures and California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) chief Doug Parker, bolstering predictions that OSHA will quickly return to Obama-era worker safety rulemaking priorities next year.
Unions plan to urge Democratic nominee Joe Biden to quickly strengthen OSHA’s enforcement program if he wins the Nov. 3 presidential election by arguing that it would be the most effective way to boost worker safety, while bracing for “an all-out assault on worker protections” if President Donald Trump wins re-election.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is reportedly pushing to head the Department of Labor (DOL) in a potential Biden administration, a role he could use to implement key provisions of his campaign platform from the Democratic presidential primary including a “workers bill of rights” that aims to improve workplace safety.
An attorney for labor unions suing over the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) line speed waiver program for swine slaughterhouses says the judge hearing the case appears poised to find that the rule is unlawful, but is giving no indication of whether she would vacate the policy or allow it to stay in force during a remand.
OSHA is revising its 2010 standards governing the use of cranes and derricks to add a host of exemptions for railroad work, reflecting both a 2014 settlement with the railroad industry and recent rulemakings by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that the agency says preempted its authority in many areas.
OSHA’s final revisions to beryllium worker exposure standards follow through on the agency’s proposal to “tailor” the rule’s application to the shipyard and construction industries, setting up potential legal battles with health and labor and industry groups that have said various aspects of the proposal lack a legal or scientific basis.