Chemical Safety

A key labor union is offering a tepid response to OSHA's settlement with industry groups that would narrow aspects of the Obama-era beryllium rule's general industry requirements, but is expressing concerns about future deals that may seek a broader rollback of the rule's requirements for maritime and shipyard industries.

OSHA has agreed with several industry petitioners to clarify language regarding the ancillary provisions of its Obama-era beryllium rule for general industry and further delay the rule's compliance dates, according to a just-filed proposed settlement, but the rulemaking faces a steep deadline to begin amending the regulation before a May 11 compliance deadline.

Breaking from efforts to reverse various of the previous administration's initiatives, the Trump OSHA appears to be retaining on its website an annotated occupational chemical exposure limit table and stringent guidance language that was a product of an Obama-era effort to bolster the agency's chemical oversight.

Environmentalists have filed their opening brief in their suit challenging EPA's “framework” rules for prioritizing and assessing existing chemicals for possible regulation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), arguing the rules violate a requirement to conduct a holistic review that considers all of a chemical's uses.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is warning that a draft EPA rule allowing a new use of an existing chemical fails to adequately assess risks to workers and is “legally vulnerable,” suggesting a new chemical-specific path for groups to challenge EPA's approval of new chemical uses under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Six states operating under OSHA-approved state plans have yet to adopt their own rules to implement the Obama OSHA's March 2016 regulation updating limits for exposure to silica, raising legal questions and warnings from observers that it poses a significant “compliance dilemma” and jeopardizes workers' safety.

EPA's Inspector General is launching a review of the agency's implementation and enforcement of its rule governing protections for contractors from lead paint dust during residential renovation and repairs, just as the agency is scrambling to comply with a court order to strengthen the rule's standard for determining when they must comply with the rule's safety requirements.

Manufacturers of slag abrasives used for industrial blasting, cleaning and other purposes are making an 11th-hour push to roll back OSHA's beryllium rule, releasing a new study that even non-slag abrasives, which some have suggested may be a safer alternative, contain beryllium, and that “unecessary regulations” impact the entire industry “regardless of material used.”

A new study linking low-level lead exposure with increased risk of adult deaths from cardiovascular disease could help EPA strengthen its cost-benefit analyses and drive new or updated rules to address the metal, including a measure addressing lead paint in public and commercial (P&C) buildings where the agency is struggling to assess risks to adults.

Nearly a year after missing a court deadline, EPA is renewing its calls to indefinitely delay a decision on whether it must regulate lead-based paint in public and commercial (P&C) buildings, even as it faces a steep deadline later this month to propose a companion measure updating its standards for lead paint in residential buildings.