A coalition of environmental groups is again petitioning EPA to ban the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in refineries under TSCA, the latest in a series of so-far unsuccessful calls from environmentalists and federal investigators for EPA and OSHA to clamp down on the highly toxic substance that is used at dozens of facilities across the United States.
The newly formed Chlor-Vinyl Industry Alliance is spearheading efforts to engage downstream users of vinyl chloride in EPA’s upcoming TSCA risk evaluation of the chemical as part of an effort to provide what it says is vital scientific and industry expertise to the agency, including on worker exposure.
Ahead of a key advisory committee meeting, employer and industry groups are stepping up complaints that California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are inappropriately proposing to add a plethora of new requirements to an existing workplace violence-prevention standard, though agency staff maintain they are properly carrying out the law that required the rules.
OSHA is dropping its plan to develop a final rule on occupational exposure to COVID-19 in healthcare setting, noting the lack of a public health emergency and saying any ongoing risk would be better addressed by a rulemaking addressing infectious diseases more broadly.
OSHA has appointed three new members to the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) and reappointed a fourth, ensuring the 12-member panel is fully staffed although it is uncertain whether the incoming Trump administration will utilize the committee tasked with crafting policy recommendations.
Employers are growing apprehensive about ensuring they are complying with California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) stringent new worker-safety standard for lead exposure in the construction and general industry sectors because they say the agency has not yet issued key guidance documents, even though the new rules went into effect Jan. 1.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has adopted final, permanent standards to protect fabricated stone workers from exposure to crystalline silica despite continuing pushback from industry leaders, who claim that dozens of onerous new requirements and likely uneven enforcement will penalize businesses that are adequately protecting employees.
EPA has proposed a safety rule for pigment violet 29 (PV29) that would require facilities to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to workers who could be exposed to its dry-powder form, but in a break from its other risk-management policies, the agency is not setting an exposure limit for the chemical or seeking to ban any of its uses.
The Biden OSHA could advance as many as four rules ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, according to its new regulatory agenda, including a long-awaited proposed infectious disease safety standard, fall protection mandates for elevated walking surfaces, and several statute-specific whistleblower protection procedures.
EPA has issued a final TSCA risk management rule for the solvent carbon tetrachloride (CTC) that sets strict new worker-protection requirements for many applications of the chemical while allowing industry to continue most if not all of those current uses, while extending key compliance deadlines from what it proposed last year.