A National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel is backing the use of chemical dispersants to address oil spills but is urging federal regulators to improve their oversight of and data collection on the chemicals before the next major spill to ensure that future use of the substances does not adversely impact cleanup workers.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' currently unknown position on when courts should defer to EPA and other federal agencies' interpretations of their regulations will largely determine whether and to what degree the current standard remains, according to legal experts.
Labor advocates and their supporters in Congress are preparing to launch a long-awaited push aimed at better protecting workers from heat stress, with a public awareness campaign slated for later this month and legislation requiring OSHA to set a safety standard expected later this summer.
Homebuilders and other industry groups have amended their pending complaint challenging the anti-retaliation provisions in OSHA's recordkeeping rule to account for Trump administration rollbacks though their revised suit maintains most of the claims the groups made in their original complaint.
OSHA is promising to carefully scrutinize and document its decision-making before issuing regulatory guidance in response to a report from the Labor Department's Inspector General (IG) that found the Obama administration did not establish adequate steps for distributing regulatory guidance, opening the agency up to legal challenges.
Rejecting petro-chemical industry arguments, an OSHA review panel has upheld an enforcement action against an Oklahoma refiner for alleged process safety management (PSM) violations, a ruling that industry officials say “dramatically” expands the PSM rule's applicability to boilers and other “interconnected” units even if hazardous chemicals are not present in sufficient quantities.
The Labor Department (DOL) has begun implementing a recently enacted data management law that requires agencies to better share and manage data, a move that observers say will allow OSHA and other agencies to bolster inspections and enforcement to target employers who have multiple violations across the different agencies.
The Trump administration is once again proposing to increase the budget for EPA's toxics office, a rare bump up for an EPA program, as it works to implement the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), an effort that is a priority to industry and agency leaders as they gain insight on the resources needed to operate the new program.
Supreme Court justices at March 27 oral argument appeared unlikely to completely overturn a key precedent granting deference to OSHA and other federal agencies' interpretations of their regulations, though several of the justices appeared open to the Trump administration's call to narrow the deference.
OSHA is considering grandfathering older trucks from any new standards it may develop as it works to update its long-time industrial truck safety rules, an approach the agency says it is considering as it works to limit any potential new costs to employers.