Vanessa Sutherland, the new chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and a former federal regulator, says she is already forging ties with top OSHA officials to talk about current and future policy recommendations that could help shape the regulating body's approach to facility safety.

OSHA has drafted early regulatory text creating new standards aimed at protecting emergency responders that brings into play elements similar to those in injury and illness prevention programs -- the first iteration of what officials hope will evolve, with stakeholder help, into an actual proposed rule in the coming years.

Recent NIOSH research suggests that some isolation gowns do not meet the performance standards established by the American National Standards Institute and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, highlighting a need to address standards, the agency reported.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is criticizing a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility security program, faulting the agency's assessment of and enforcement against facilities that pose risks -- shortcomings that safety activists say should prod federal regulators to impose strict process safety requirements.

Information gleaned from OSHA's increased enforcement attention to tuberculosis (TB) during inspections of inpatient health facilities can be used to bolster the agency's envisioned new rule designed to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, OSHA chief David Michaels tells Inside OSHA Online.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and a coalition of public health groups are urging senators to take up the House-approved Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill, saying an alternative pending Senate TSCA bill contains too many problematic provisions including sweeping preemption of state chemicals programs.

OSHA's recent decision to place the DuPont chemical company in its controversial Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) and slap the employer with new fines following a deadly leak last fall in Texas shows the agency's determination to use its chemical safety emphasis program to continually cite employers accused of widespread and potentially ongoing hazards.

A newly issued OSHA update to its enforcement guidelines for stopping the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in health care settings provides inspectors with new tools, including an expansion of what types of facilities are covered, to prevent the disease and further strengthens the agency's recently announced inspection emphasis in the hospital and residential care industries, one focus of which is heading off TB transmission.

OSHA's long-planned rule to reduce workplace silica dust exposures faces tough new opposition from Republican appropriators on Capitol Hill trying to derail the contentious rule through appropriations, though a new round of budget gridlock similar to recent years would likely prevent such provisions from becoming law, congressional observers say.

Ergonomics concerns at inpatient health care facilities will almost certainly get mentioned in at least some of next year's Democratic presidential platforms on safety and health, worker advocates say -- with candidates likely to call for mandates on hospitals to install mechanical lifting in place of manually moving patients.