South Carolina is defending its latest challenge to OSHA’s mandate for states to match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing courts should not force it to “bet the farm” by provoking an enforcement action before suing over the policy, and that time spent on a prior case should not count against the statute of limitations.

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has issued a new rule governing its internal operations that curtails the power an individual board member can exercise as the only Senate-confirmed member of the panel, in an apparent effort to avoid a repeat of the period in 2020-21 when a single appointee operated as a “quorum of one.”

EPA is proposing new workplace exposure limits for the solvent perchloroethylene (PCE) in several sectors that would be over 100 times stricter than OSHA’s current standard, but would allow employers in some sectors to continue using it indefinitely, including those who use the chemical to manufacture alternatives to climate-warming refrigerants.

OSHA is asking employers, workers and their advocates to weigh in on how it can help cement workplace safety and health as a “core value” at businesses nationwide, in what agency standards and guidance chief Andrew Levinson says will be a major focus over the coming years.

A federal appeals court has rejected an Ohio construction company’s claims that OSHA unfairly cited it for safety and training violations after a 2018 incident where a crane arm fell and struck a worker, holding that the agency’s allegations were supported by “substantial evidence” and that the employer had “fair notice” of the claims against it.

A federal appeals court has rejected an Ohio construction company’s claims that OSHA unfairly cited it for safety and training violations after a 2018 incident where a crane arm fell and struck a worker, holding that the agency’s allegations were supported by “substantial evidence” and that the employer had “fair notice” of the claims against it.

EPA is poised to propose its TSCA rule governing the solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) after a draft version cleared White House review on June 1, an action that comes less than two months after the agency released its methylene chloride plan and could show how broadly it intends to apply that rule’s strict approach to worker protections.

EPA is poised to propose its TSCA rule governing the solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) after a draft version cleared White House review on June 1, an action that comes less than two months after the agency released its methylene chloride plan and could show how broadly it intends to apply that rule’s strict approach to worker protections.

The California state Senate has passed a controversial bill to require employers to include workplace violence-prevention measures in their existing employee-safety plans -- an effort driven by dissatisfaction with the pace of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) rulemaking to establish a first-time workplace violence prevention standard for sectors outside healthcare.

Andy Levinson, head of OSHA’s directorate of standards and guidance, told a May 31 National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) meeting that the agency is “on the cusp” of initiating a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) consultation for its nationwide heat standard, just hours before the panel approved its own recommendations on the rulemaking.