OSHA has begun using drones to help determine whether to initiate inspections at a time when they may lack adequate resources, though the trend is prompting concern from industry attorneys, who say it could increase inspections for outdoor workplaces when the drones observe hazards in “plain view.”
OSHA is expected to face significant attention in the 116th Congress, which begins Jan. 3, with newly-empowered House Democrats planning a series of oversight inquiries into the Trump administration's regulatory rollbacks and the GOP-controlled Senate facing a heated battle to confirm the agency's long-stalled nominee to lead the agency.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has found a small decrease in the rate and number of workplace fatalities and injuries in 2017 but the data show a continued spike of 25 percent or more in workplace deaths in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector, as well as fatalities due to falls and overdoses.
OSHA is consulting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and weighing enforcement to protect workers from exposure to strong antimicrobial disinfectants used in meat and poultry processing, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned of serious gaps in federal oversight and urged coordination on the chemicals' risks.
The Labor Department’s Inspector General (OIG) is slated to release in fiscal year 2019 a broad series of inquiries into OSHA enforcement and regulatory practices, reviews that could aid Democrats who will control the House next year and are already planning significant oversight of the Trump administration's worker safety programs.
OSHA continues to bolster its oversight of industrial facilities through inspections under a 2017 National Emphasis Program (NEP) and data-sharing with EPA enforcement officials, despite the agency's decision to shelve a planned strengthening of its process safety management (PSM) rule, according to industry attorneys.
EPA and OSHA, the lead agencies once charged with implementing an Obama-era Executive Order (EO) on improving facility safety after a 2013 disaster, are heeding long-standing industry calls to enforce existing rules while scaling back or shelving new protections advanced under the Obama administration.
OSHA is bolstering enforcement oversight of trenching and excavation operations after a spike in worker deaths, updating its National Emphasis Program (NEP) on preventing collapses and increasing education and enforcement, though an industry official is bristling at OSHA's continued use of enforcement programs he faults for inflating OSHA penalties.
Public Citizen is seeking to bolster its push to compel release of employers' worker injury and illness data, arguing that recent OSHA statements undermine the Trump administration's claims in its lawsuit that releasing worker data through public records requests would deter reporting, and that it is unable to detect companies that do not report.
Despite opposition from industry, OSHA's top enforcement official is reiterating warnings to industry representatives to be ready for “lots of inspections,” a stance that officials have previously touted but one that is at odds with the Trump administration's general efforts to curb regulation and enhance compliance.