A federal district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by worker safety advocates aiming to require a meatpacking plant to apply OSHA guidance for reducing exposures to COVID-19, but advocates are already pursuing a formal rulemaking petition seeking to force the agency to issue an emergency standard for such facilities.

Citing the respondent’s bankruptcy, appellate judges have rejected as moot OSHA’s suit that sought to reverse a ruling from the agency’s independent review panel that raised the bar for citing companies for “repeat” workplace safety rule violations, though the judges also vacated the underlying review panel ruling.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is poised to hear oral argument May 6 in a closely watched suit over a decision by OSHA’s review panel upholding an enforcement action against an Oklahoma refiner for alleged process safety management (PSM) standard violations, which industry says unfairly expands the scope of the PSM.

OSHA is ramping up its issuance of sector-specific guidelines for how a host of businesses including dentists, food and beverage providers, meatpacking plants and others can tackle workplace risks of COVID-19, though agency critics continue to push for binding emergency standards they say would better help reduce those risks.

OSHA is ramping up its issuance of sector-specific guidelines for how a host of businesses including dentists, food and beverage providers, meatpacking plants and others can tackle workplace risks of COVID-19, though agency critics continue to push for binding emergency standards they say would better help reduce those risks.

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has had to pause “several” open investigations into industrial incidents due to concerns over potential COVID-19 exposures and a lack of investigators, though top officials say they are seeking to hire new investigators.

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is rejecting the AFL-CIO’s criticism that OSHA is “missing in action” on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic because it has not issued an emergency temporary standard to protect health care workers and several other measures, with Scalia defending a host of voluntary OSHA responses to the crisis.

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is rejecting the AFL-CIO’s criticism that OSHA is “missing in action” on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic because it has not issued an emergency temporary standard to protect health care workers and several other measures, with Scalia defending a host of voluntary OSHA responses to the crisis.

President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) using the Defense Production Act to keep meat and poultry processors operating to maintain food supplies during the coronavirus pandemic is prompting legal and political pressure to enforce OSHA’s voluntary guidelines for protecting workers at the facilities who are at high risk of exposure.

President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) using the Defense Production Act to keep meat and poultry processors operating to maintain food supplies during the coronavirus pandemic is prompting legal and political pressure to enforce OSHA’s voluntary guidelines for protecting workers at the facilities who are at high risk of exposure.