Led by President Joe Biden, OSHA has unveiled its long-promised proposal to set health and safety standards for “emergency responders,” replacing a current rule that applies only to firefighters with one that also covers emergency medical personnel and search-and-rescue workers, and floating a long list of requirements that aim to address dangers ranging from toxic chemicals and equipment failures to the mental health impacts of overwork.
OSHA’s latest regulatory agenda says it intends to advance several long-promised rules in either the final days of 2023 or early 2024, including updated safety standards for powered industrial trucks and elevated walking surfaces, even higher-profile rulemakings such as those for heat danger, workplace violence and infectious diseases remain on uncertain timelines.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is proposing to exempt short-term “incidental” exposures from its proposed first-time employee-safety rules for heat illness prevention at indoor worksites, but employer groups that sought the change are now calling on the state to expand it further, saying the current version is highly limited and fails to address their concerns.
The Labor Department (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has again identified worker safety issues among the top “management challenges” facing the department in its annual report on those high-priority issues, and is recommending a slew of new actions at both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Statistics showing an increase in workplace deaths for miners in fiscal year 2023 are sparking concern from industry lawyers over how the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will respond, though one attorney says it is uncertain that the agency has funds and resources for new training or enforcement initiatives.
National Nurses United (NNU) is attacking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its recent move advancing a draft infection control guidance for healthcare settings with just days of public input, charging that the agency is sidestepping public input while weakening protections for medical workers and others.
The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to launch a discretionary audit in fiscal year 2024 to determine whether OSHA has remedied what the watchdog office said were deep flaws in its pandemic-era enforcement program in a report issued less than a year ago.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill that would have required household domestic service employers to comply with all California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) rules beginning in 2025, citing potentially exorbitant costs and the general unfairness of subjecting households and families to regulations intended for conventional businesses.
An employer attorney says companies, especially small businesses, are likely to push OSHA for greater flexibility in its upcoming heat-danger standard after the agency quietly released a lengthy list of “potential options” for its proposal including a range of possible heat-control requirements, temperature thresholds and training mandates.
Lawmakers and witnesses at a recent Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPW) hearing on extreme heat appeared open to a union official’s arguments that this summer’s record temperatures show the need for stronger worker protections, though several also expressed opposition to a “one-size-fits-all” nationwide policy.