California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are providing more explanation for their insistence that “exclusion pay” be omitted from the agency’s long-term COVID-19 worker-safety standard -- in part by telling Inside OSHA that adding it would unacceptably delay adoption of the rule -- amid a fiery backlash from unions and members of the agency’s standards board.
September 18, 2026
EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)’s annual report on management challenges facing the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) says vacancies at top staff positions as well as in three of the panel’s five seats remain threats to its work, especially after rule changes that bar the board from functioning with a single member.
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EPA has denied industry requests to extend comments on its proposed overhaul of the risk management plan (RMP) rule mandating safeguards against spills and releases of hazardous substance at many facilities, rejecting claims by several trade associations that 60 days is not enough time to fully analyze the “complex” proposal.
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EPA has denied industry requests to extend comments on its proposed overhaul of the risk management plan (RMP) rule mandating safeguards against spills and releases of hazardous substance at many facilities, rejecting claims by several trade associations that 60 days is not enough time to fully analyze the “complex” proposal.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is demanding that agency staff add “exclusion pay” requirements into a pending final long-term COVID-19 worker-protection standard, further escalating the controversy over the decision by top officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration to cut those mandates over unions’ objection.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is demanding that agency staff add “exclusion pay” requirements into a pending final long-term COVID-19 worker-protection standard, further escalating the controversy over the decision by top officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration to cut those mandates over unions’ objection.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is demanding that agency staff add “exclusion pay” requirements into a pending final long-term COVID-19 worker-protection standard, further escalating the controversy over the decision by top officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration to cut those mandates over unions’ objection.
Date:
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is demanding that agency staff add “exclusion pay” requirements into a pending final long-term COVID-19 worker-protection standard, further escalating the controversy over the decision by top officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration to cut those mandates over unions’ objection.
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The non-profit outlet ProPublica is reporting chlor-alkali firms have long exposed workers to high chrysotile asbestos levels, including violations of OSHA’s permissible exposure limit (PEL), potentially undercutting the industry’s argument that it should be exempt from a proposed EPA rule banning use of the notorious carcinogen.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) has released its potential final COVID-19 worker-protection rules, including revisions to the prior draft’s controversial definition of “close contact” but maintaining the removal of mandatory “exclusion pay” for employees -- a move already drawing fire from labor unions that urged officials to reinstate the provision.
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