OSHA is issuing an interim final rule establishing new procedures for how it will investigate complaints of retaliation against whistleblowers who disclose information or assist in investigations of their employers’ allegedly illegal tax-related conduct, the first in a series of planned rulemakings to bolster protections for whistleblowers.
Labor unions are urging Oregon’s worker-safety agency to strengthen its recently proposed permanent heat illness prevention standard by eliminating several key exemptions they say provide businesses with too much flexibility over worker conditions, while at the same time federal OSHA has begun weighing feedback on its own national heat stress rulemaking.
Labor unions are urging Oregon’s worker-safety agency to strengthen its recently proposed permanent heat illness prevention standard by eliminating several key exemptions they say provide businesses with too much flexibility over worker conditions, while at the same time federal OSHA has begun weighing feedback on its own national heat stress rulemaking.
President Joe Biden is directing OSHA to update guidance to employers on how to protect workers from COVID-19 as part of his newly announced plan to transition the country from a pandemic to an endemic approach to combating the virus, prompting fresh questions about how OSHA’s COVID-19 enforcement policies could shift in the coming weeks.
President Joe Biden is directing OSHA to update guidance to employers on how to protect workers from COVID-19 as part of his newly announced plan to transition the country from a pandemic to an endemic approach to combating the virus, prompting fresh questions about how OSHA’s COVID-19 enforcement policies could shift in the coming weeks.
Worker safety advocates say the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) new report urging the Biden administration to account for climate and environmental justice (EJ) risks in an upcoming update to its risk management program (RMP) facility safety rule bolsters their longstanding calls to restore and strengthen the Obama-era version of the rule, especially as scientists see climate risks growing.
OSHA says it expects to publish a suite of new and updated heat stress-prevention products in the coming months, with outreach targeted at minority and non-English-speaking workers, while aiming to release additional materials later this year based on feedback from a new advisory panel.
Members of an OSHA advisory panel are expressing support for the agency’s preliminary plans to begin incorporating broad risk-based safety frameworks in its guidance documents and rulemakings, but are cautioning officials to first conduct outreach to inform employers about the new model before developing enforcement materials.
Members of an OSHA advisory panel are expressing support for the agency’s preliminary plans to begin incorporating broad risk-based safety frameworks in its guidance documents and rulemakings, but are cautioning officials to first conduct outreach to inform employers about the new model before developing enforcement materials.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a slew of new research on the effectiveness of workplace COVID-19 controls, including those related to masking and distancing, with advice that could bolster the case for tough new safety measures in OSHA’s permanent COVID-19 standard for the healthcare sector.