OSHA plans to require quarterly electronic reporting of injuries and illnesses at companies with 250 or more workers under a proposed rule that amounts to a revolutionary change in the way OSHA gathers data, though officials say the shift does not alter employers' basic recordkeeping duties.
OSHA plans to unveil as soon as Thursday (Nov. 7) a proposed rule aimed at modernizing injury and illness recordkeeping requirements under the OSH Act, a source familiar with OSHA's plans regarding the rulemaking tells Inside OSHA Online.
OSHA has agreed to extend until Jan. 27, 2014, the public comment period on its proposed crystalline silica rule, agreeing to industry and GOP lawmakers' demands for a lengthier review.
A Washington pro-regulatory non-profit praises OSHA for offering an alternative way to look at the silica rule's impact on small businesses that encompasses employers with fewer than 20 workers, as industry clings onto the Small Business Administration's (SBA) much broader definition of small entities.
Two key House Republicans who oversee worker safety and health issues are urging Labor Secretary Tom Perez, in a letter obtained by Inside OSHA Online, to extend by 90 days the official comment period on OSHA's recently unveiled regulatory plan to reduce crystalline silica hazards.
The building sector argues that the size of the scientific and analytical record that OSHA has amassed to back up the need for control measures in its proposed rule to cut crystalline silica exposures is so huge that it will take much longer than the current 90-day comment period to evaluate and offer feedback on the plan.
Worker safety and environmental advocates in New Jersey are voicing deep concerns about the effectiveness of the state government's rollout of rules intended to require so-called “inherently safer technology” (IST) in chemical plants across the densely populated state, echoing calls at the federal level for rules mandating employers seek alternatives to cut the risks involved in chemicals and processes currently in use.
OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are working toward a formal partnership in which data would be shared among the agencies regarding chemical plant safety and security, OSHA chief David Michaels recently said.
Political leaders in both parties made emphatic statements that more effective data sharing among OSHA and other federal agencies -- especially the Environmental Protection Agency -- could help head off chemical releases and explosions stemming from inadequate plant safety measures.
A key manufacturing group has formally asked OSHA to extend by 90 days the public comment period on its planned rule to reduce exposures to crystalline silica, arguing that the nearly 800-page proposal warrants at least that much more time for industries to review and analyze it before OSHA can reasonably move ahead.