OSHA is touting a $1.5 million settlement in a criminal enforcement case centered on a worker’s 2016 death by crushing at an Alabama auto-parts plant, including a three-year judicially mandated timeline for the firm to improve hazardous energy control measures at the facility.
September 16, 2026
New OSHA data on its COVID-19 enforcement shows the agency is most often citing employers for violating respiratory protection standards but rarely invokes the general duty clause, even as OSHA is claiming that it can use that authority to mandate distancing, face coverings and other measures not required in regulation.
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Attorneys representing employers are warning their clients to prepare for a rapid increase in OSHA enforcement and regulation as part of a broader realignment of the Department of Labor expected under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration following Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
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President-Elect Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election sets up a quick reversal of several Trump OSHA policies including the agency’s decision not to craft an enforceable COVID-19 safety standard, along with likely moves to bolster its enforcement program and revive Obama-era rulemaking efforts.
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Unions plan to urge Democratic nominee Joe Biden to quickly strengthen OSHA’s enforcement program if he wins the Nov. 3 presidential election by arguing that it would be the most effective way to boost worker safety, while bracing for “an all-out assault on worker protections” if President Donald Trump wins re-election.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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