OSHA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are weighing an update to a 1994 agreement encouraging USDA food safety inspectors to report chemical hazards to OSHA, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last year noted gaps protecting workers, and advocates are pressing for new research on chemical hazards.
A former senior OSHA official is faulting a softening in tone in the agency's announcements of workplace safety violations, arguing that strong language is necessary to maximize the deterrent effect of OSHA enforcement actions, though industry attorneys long opposed the Obama-era press release policy as unnecessary “regulation by shaming."
OSHA has issued a proposed rule revising an Obama-era update to the agency's injury and illness recordkeeping program that would require employers to report only summary information to the agency, citing fears of disclosure of worker injury data under public records law, though labor groups are already challenging Trump administration efforts to curtail the Obama-era rule.
OSHA has issued a proposed rule revising an Obama-era update to the agency's injury and illness recordkeeping program that would require employers to report only summary information to the agency, citing fears of disclosure of worker injury data under public records law, though labor groups are already challenging Trump administration efforts to curtail the Obama-era rule.
In a new final agenda for construction safety research, a coalition convened by NIOSH is backing labor groups' calls for prioritizing research on protecting workers from falls and during natural or man-made disasters, while also softening past criticism of OSHA's lockout/tagout standard, which the Obama OSHA sought to revise, despite industry opposition.
In a new final agenda for construction safety research, a coalition convened by NIOSH is backing labor groups' calls for prioritizing research on protecting workers from falls and during natural or man-made disasters, while also softening past criticism of OSHA's lockout/tagout standard, which the Obama OSHA sought to revise, despite industry opposition.
State, health and citizen groups are launching a lawsuit against the Labor Department (DOL) and OSHA over their alleged failure to enforce the Obama administration's May 2016 record-keeping and reporting rule update, charging that the agency's recent announcement delaying a reporting deadline failed to follow notice-and-comment procedures.
White House officials reviewing EPA's draft proposal gutting the Obama-era update to the agency's facility accident prevention program sought to bolster the basis for the agency's rollback, backing industry arguments that the update was unnecessary and that rolling it back would provide added benefits by improving facility safety.
A proposed EPA settlement requiring a Missouri-based agricultural products company to perform third-party audits to prevent facility accidents undermines the Trump administration's roll back of equivalent Obama-era policies in the agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, environmentalists say.
EPA is extending by several weeks its deadline for public input on the Trump administration's proposed rule scaling back the Obama-era update to the agency's facility accident prevention program to allow input on data EPA recently added to a public docket after environmentalists noted it was missing and requested additional time for comment.