A top TSCA official says EPA’s pending rule banning use of chrysotile asbestos is not “indicative” of how it will regulate workplace exposures and other risks from chemicals under the reformed toxics law, telling stakeholders to look instead at upcoming rules for several solvents, starting with methylene chloride, as a better model for the future.

Seeking to ramp up OSHA enforcement, House appropriators have approved a fiscal year 2023 spending bill for the Labor Department that would raise the agency’s budget by $100 million from current levels, exceeding the White House’s request by over $10 million and turning focus to the Senate, which has yet to begin its appropriations process for the coming year.

OSHA is formally proposing to grant Massachusetts’ application for OSH Act authority to enforce workplace safety standards for state and local government employees following years of quiet negotiations, clearing a path for the Bay State to become the seventh with state-plan authority only for government workplaces.

California lawmakers continue to advance a bill that would strengthen California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) worker-safety standards for heat and wildfire smoke despite opposition from industry and business groups, though proponents have recently softened the measure to delay its deadline for the agency to propose new limits by about a year.

California lawmakers continue to advance a bill that would strengthen California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) worker-safety standards for heat and wildfire smoke despite opposition from industry and business groups, though proponents have recently softened the measure to delay its deadline for the agency to propose new limits by about a year.

OSHA is floating a wide range of ways to tighten its decades-old lead exposure standards, including stricter medical removal requirements or even strengthening the permissible exposure limit (PEL) that forms the basis for many of the rule’s provisions, and is also asking stakeholders to weigh in on using state-level proposals in California and Washington as models.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), ranking member on the Senate’s environment committee, used a June 22 hearing to warn EPA’s chemicals chief that her office is “drifting” into territory better regulated by OSHA, arguing that it should stay away from addressing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other worker protection measures.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), ranking member on the Senate’s environment committee, used a June 22 hearing to warn EPA’s chemicals chief that her office is “drifting” into territory better regulated by OSHA, arguing that it should stay away from addressing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other worker protection measures.

OSHA intends to issue its long-term healthcare industry standard for preventing COVID-19 infections in September, according to the agency’s newly updated unified agenda of future regulatory actions, while other key rulemakings are being delayed by months or more from their previously announced targets.

OSHA intends to issue its long-term healthcare industry standard for preventing COVID-19 infections in September, according to the agency’s newly updated unified agenda of future regulatory actions, while other key rulemakings are being delayed by months or more from their previously announced targets.