A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says OSHA must do more to address musculoskeletal injuries and ergonomic hazards in warehouses and so-called “last-mile” delivery services as the e-commerce industry continues to rapidly expand, though the agency is only agreeing with some of its recommendations.
September 16, 2026
OSHA chief Douglas Parker says the agency is seeking to adopt “a more strategic approach” to enforcement and compliance assistance for its safety standards on fall prevention and silica dust, including outreach to smaller residential construction projects, while touting a 20 percent year-to-year drop in falling deaths.
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A New Jersey steel fabricator is asking a federal district court to declare the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) unconstitutional, aiming to build on new Supreme Court precedent limiting when Congress can allow administrative law judges (ALJs) rather than federal courts to review OSHA and other agencies’ enforcement actions.
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The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is asking the D.C. Circuit to review two enforcement cases where administrative law judges (ALJs) rejected that agency’s claims that it has “unfettered” authority to drop already-issued citations in favor of settlement agreements, teeing up what could be precedent-setting decisions on the scope of its enforcement discretion.
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Deputy OSHA chief James Frederick told members of the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) that the agency plans to complete the realignment of its regional offices announced in May by the start of fiscal year 2025 on Oct. 1, amid concerns from both federal officials and panelists over continued impacts of funding cuts on federal and state safety work.
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Employer groups are sharply attacking OSHA’s first substantive defense of its controversial rule allowing “third-party” employee representatives to take part in inspection walkarounds, arguing that the agency is refusing to acknowledge likely harms from the new policy while adopting a “baffling” reading of the OSH Act.
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OSHA is seeking to dismiss South Carolina’s suit challenging an Obama-era rule directing states to match federal OSH Act penalty levels, renewing its charge that the state missed a statutory deadline and that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling easing some statutes of limitations has no bearing on this case because it could have sued at any time in that window.
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Top Democrats on the House workforce committee are calling on OSHA to investigate recent reports that claim officials with California and South Carolina’s state plan agencies have been “tipping off” employers on upcoming agency inspections targeting not only safety issues but child-labor violations and potential trafficking.
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Two employer attorneys say an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) recent decision partly scrapping an OSHA citation based on whether a worker killed in a 2020 accident had been standing in a recognized “danger zone” underlines the burden the agency faces to show specific evidence of industry practice to support such claims.
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United Airlines is asking the 7th Circuit to review an OSHA enforcement case where it has argued that its agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its staff union limit its duty to implement certain hazard-prevention requirements under the OSH Act -- a claim an administrative law judge (ALJ) rejected earlier this year.
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