Labor advocates are urging the Trump administration to withdraw a plan to increase line speeds at hog processing plants after a study found “significant limitations” in the data underlying the plan, findings that could also bolster an expected lawsuit from critics who charge the proposal is “arbitrary and capricious” and would increase worker injuries.
Bolstered by a recent ruling, Public Citizen and other health groups are asking a federal court to find the Trump OSHA violated federal law when it delayed mandates for employers to submit detailed 2017 worker injury and illness reports and order the agency to “require and accept” the data that the Obama administration had required by July 2018.
Two House Democrats responsible for funding the Labor Department are urging officials to craft by next April a “comprehensive strategy on enforcement” to address concerns about child labor safety in the agriculture sector after a recent watchdog report found the sector is responsible for a disproportionate number of child labor fatalities.
Two House Democrats responsible for funding the Labor Department are urging officials to craft by next April a “comprehensive strategy on enforcement” to address concerns about child labor safety in the agriculture sector after a recent watchdog report found the sector is responsible for a disproportionate number of child labor fatalities.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has found a small decrease in the rate and number of workplace fatalities and injuries in 2017 but the data show a continued spike of 25 percent or more in workplace deaths in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector, as well as fatalities due to falls and overdoses.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has found a small decrease in the rate and number of workplace fatalities and injuries in 2017 but the data show a continued spike of 25 percent or more in workplace deaths in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector, as well as fatalities due to falls and overdoses.
A coalition convened by NIOSH has outlined plans for a broad research agenda aimed at improving worker safety in the oil and gas extraction industry amid signs that while drilling activities have increased significantly, drillers may not be willing to invest in safety technologies and programs as fuel prices remain low, cutting into industry profits.
Echoing concerns raised by a 2017 congressional watchdog report, a top House Democrat is urging OSHA to investigate whether a Texas poultry plant violated the agency's sanitation standard and to conduct inspections “where compliance offices speak not only with management, but workers and their representatives.”
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing federal health agencies to study the health effects of occupational exposures to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on firefighters and others in future studies on the chemicals, expressing disappointment that the agencies recently precluded the subjects from an ongoing investigation.
Public Citizen and other health groups are preparing to file a motion asking a federal judge to quickly order the Trump OSHA to require employers to submit detailed 2017 worker injury and illness reports as required by a now-delayed Obama-era rule after the judge rejected agency efforts to dismiss the case and upheld the groups' standing to sue.