Enforcement

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.

OSHA is asking a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit to reconsider its landmark ruling that found the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) preempts OSHA from regulating worker safety around railcars, arguing the preemption issue was not before the court, and even if it was, the judges made several other errors in their ruling.

The Labor Department (DOL) is urging the D.C. Circuit to uphold an OSHA citation against a Louisiana-based oil and gas drilling specialty contractor, arguing an administrative law judge (ALJ) correctly found the company exposed its employees to a hazard when a pipe ruptured at a gas well in south Texas in 2022.

OSHA is urging the 4th Circuit to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of South Carolina’s challenge to the agency’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing the state missed the deadline to file its suit.

The 6th Circuit in an unpublished opinion has remanded to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) two contested items of an OSHA citation against a paper company after finding an administrative law judge (ALJ) failed to cite adequate evidence to support her conclusions that OSHA correctly issued the citations.

A panel of three 5th Circuit judges appeared skeptical during Jan. 8 oral argument of the Labor Department’s (DOL) position that OSHA properly cited ExxonMobil for violations of reporting requirements when the company failed to record the mental health diagnosis of an employee following a December 2021 explosion and fire.