Despite high expectations for the Trump administration to rein in the Obama OSHA's emphasis on enforcement, industry attorneys are suggesting that Scott Mugno, the Fedex official tapped to lead the agency, may struggle to quickly ramp up compliance assistance, while labor groups say thorough vetting of his safety priorities is needed.
A labor official is faulting the Trump OSHA for de-emphasizing worker deaths on its website after the agency narrowed criteria for publishing worker fatality data online and replaced a section of its homepage dedicated to worker fatalities with information on compliance assistance efforts.
Washington state firefighters are urging Democratic senators to halt development of a novel dispersion modeling approach for assessing risks from toxic gas releases, arguing the federal agency and industry collaboration underestimates risks to the public in filings with EPA and other agencies, though an industry group says the method is based on sound science and may still be revised.
OSHA is struggling to implement the Obama administration's rule overhauling the agency's worker injury and illness reporting program, facing hurdles in enforcing anti-retaliation provisions and lacking a portal for electronic reporting, potentially providing fodder for the Trump administration to scale back the rule, an industry attorney says.
Construction and manufacturing groups are urging the Trump OSHA to stay and significantly revise the Obama administration's landmark final rule limiting worker exposures to silica dusts, arguing that companies are unable to comply with the rule and that reconsideration will allow the agency to fix defects in the issuance of the rule.
Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced companion measures to restore an Obama-era OSHA regulation that clarified that employers face a continuing obligation to record and report employees' workplace injuries and illnesses, after Republicans and President Donald Trump repealed the rule earlier this year using novel authority under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
Labor and public interest groups are urging White House officials not to weaken or further delay the Obama OSHA's final rule strengthening protections for worker exposure to beryllium, arguing that workers face significant risks from exposure to the substance, including in the construction and maritime sectors that industry is seeking to strip from the rule.
Labor supporters are calling President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office “a gut punch to all workers,” arguing that the administration's repeal and delay of Obama-era safety rules, planned budget cuts for the Labor Department (DOL) and its new Labor Secretary and Supreme Court appointment send a message of “active hostility” to workers.
A labor group is calling for OSHA to continue focusing enforcement on the poultry processing sector because agency data shows poultry workers suffer a disproportionately high rate of severe injuries, backing the need for a continued enforcement emphasis on the sector, despite fears that looming budget cuts -- and a pending court case -- will gut the program.
OSHA enforcement officials are lying low as the Trump administration ramps up plans for cutting government programs and staff at the Labor Department (DOL) and other agencies, sources say, declining to test novel enforcement approaches or issue citations for alleged violations of the Obama OSHA's worker injury reporting rule.