A federal appeals court is backing OSHA’s argument that its process safety management (PSM) standard covers not just equipment that contains high hazard chemicals (HHCs) but anything “connected” to those devices such as boilers, rejecting an Oklahoma refinery’s argument that the rule is ambiguous and should be read narrowly.
The Department of Labor (DOL) is curtailing OSHA and other agencies’ public announcements of enforcement actions, directing them not to publicize violations or fines until a case is resolved in court, despite findings that press releases are more effective than inspections at deterring future violations.
OSHA is promising “enforcement discretion” to employers who cannot perform otherwise mandatory fit tests on powered respirators because of ongoing test equipment shortages, as long as the businesses make “good-faith efforts” to obtain the required supplies and reduce workers’ need to use respiratory protection gear.
OSHA has announced citations against an additional 28 employers for violations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating its pace of enforcement -- especially against health care and nursing home facilities -- amid accusations that the agency is not doing enough to address workplace exposures to the disease.
OSHA has narrowed its guidance on when employers must report COVID-19 hospitalizations to the agency as “work-related,” setting a requirement that a case is only reportable when it comes within 24 hours of a workplace exposure to the virus despite the disease’s long incubation time that means infections take a week or more to manifest.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) third unanimous decision in less than a week rejecting an OSHA fine for employers’ alleged failure to install safety equipment is drawing a warm welcome from employer attorneys, with one calling it evidence of a “trend” toward scrutiny of agency enforcement decisions.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is citing more health care and other facilities for allegedly not protecting employees from COVID-19, most recently acting against six hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and a police department with more than $100,000 in proposed fines.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has for the second time in a matter of days struck down an OSHA citation for an industrial accident because the agency failed to prove that a worker’s risky behavior was part of “normal operation” for the facility, underscoring the potentially high bar to make that showing.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in a new decision has vacated an OSHA citation for crushing hazards at an Air Force contractor’s on-base metal shop, holding that the agency failed to show that protections at the site were lacking based on whether an accident was “reasonably predictable.”
OSHA has settled its enforcement case against a Colorado contracting firm over a 2018 falling accident that left a worker with a traumatic brain injury, averting any decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) on the scope of worksite inspection or training requirements.