The 8th Circuit has denied without comment OSHA’s request for rehearing of a landmark ruling from a three-judge panel of the court that found the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) preempts OSHA from regulating worker safety around railcars.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and several of her Democratic colleagues are pressing Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and OSHA head David Keeling to explain why the agency is proposing to roll back several worker protection standards and has reduced enforcement efforts.
The D.C. Circuit is questioning whether it has jurisdiction to decide a dispute between the Labor Department (DOL) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) over whether the Labor secretary can vacate a citation or remove a designation indicating the violation is particularly serious.
The 10th Circuit has upheld OSHA citations against a Colorado psychiatric hospital for failing to prevent workplace violence, rejecting arguments that the agency lacked authority under the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause to issue the citations and that an administrative law judge (ALJ) erred in backing the citations.
The 11th Circuit has rejected a Georgia construction company’s challenge to OSHA’s multi-employer policy, finding the company failed to preserve for appeal most of its objections and that it failed to demonstrate that compliance with specific safety standards was infeasible.
The 6th Circuit has entered a new judgment in an OSHA enforcement case against a paper manufacturing company, clarifying that it is partially vacating an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) order and remanding it for further proceedings, although it is unclear when OSHRC will consider the issue.
An injury caused by an employee’s personal lithium-ion battery is considered a workplace injury subject to OSHA recordkeeping if the injury occurs at the workplace during working hours, the agency explains in a recent interpretation letter to the federal contractor that operates a key nuclear security facility in Tennessee.
The Labor Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) in its annual report of the department’s top management challenges is highlighting the need for OSHA to address workplace violence, ensure employers report injuries and illnesses, and inspect as many worksites as possible with a limited number of inspectors.
South Carolina is pushing back on OSHA’s efforts to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of the state’s challenge to the agency’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing in part that OSHA is pushing a flawed legal theory.
Enforcement will continue to be a major part of OSHA’s activities during the second Trump administration, even with a renewed emphasis on compliance assistance, though budget and staffing constraints are affecting the types of inspections conducted and citations issued, legal experts say.