Labor supporters are concerned that President Donald Trump's just-announced Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, has often ruled in favor of employers in OSHA cases during his appellate court tenure, sparking fears that the conservative jurist will continue to express a “hostility” to the agency if confirmed to the high court.

Senators are urging the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to gather more information, more frequently about the scope of the contingent workforce, underscoring concerns by labor advocates and Democrats who are pushing legislation to better protect workers classified as “independent contractors” in the so-called on-demand economy.

A labor safety group and North Carolina are questioning EPA's proposed approval of an alternative method for removal of asbestos-containing cement (A/C) pipe, which they say may be impractical to achieve and violate OSHA standards.

OSHA has finalized a direct final rule (DFR) limiting the reach of ancillary provisions of the Obama-era rule updating the agency's beryllium standards for general industry after receiving no significant adverse comments on the rule issued in May.

House and Senate Democrats have introduced a bill strengthening public employees' right to organize and bargain collectively, pushing back against the Supreme Court's ruling late last month blocking public-sector labor unions from compelling dues, which labor groups and others fear will curtail unions' lobbying for stricter workplace safety and other rules.

The Senate has unanimously approved compromise legislation that would reauthorize EPA's authority to collect industry fees to support timely pesticide reviews, in exchange for preserving for three years two Obama-era rules aimed at protecting farmworkers from exposure to pesticides that the Trump administration had moved to roll back.

Employers are facing a July 1 deadline for submitting to OSHA 2017 data summarizing their workers' injuries and illnesses under an Obama-era electronic reporting rule that has faced significant implementation hurdles, and that the Trump administration has already moved to revise.

Brushing aside Trump administration's requests to cut worker safety programs, Senate appropriators have approved legislation boosting funding for OSHA and other agencies in fiscal year 2019, while also instructing the agency to resume its practice of posting fatality information on its website as it had done under the Obama administration.

Brushing aside Trump administration's requests to cut worker safety programs, Senate appropriators have approved legislation boosting funding for OSHA and other agencies in fiscal year 2019, while also instructing the agency to resume its practice of posting fatality information on its website as it had done under the Obama administration.

Democrats and labor union officials are concerned that the Supreme Court's ruling that public sector workers cannot be required to pay labor dues -- even if they benefit from any contract -- could undercut workplace safety, arguing that the ruling would curtail unions' power and their insistence on safety and other requirements.