Regulatory Reform

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed into law a bill that employer attorneys say will “vastly” expand California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) enforcement authority and hike monetary penalty amounts for regulatory violations, as well as giving the agency new power to seek permanent injunctions against employer operations.

OSHA’s director of maritime and agriculture safety says the Biden administration is requiring all new OSHA guidance products such as workplace posters and safety notices to go through review by agency leadership, adding a new layer of scrutiny even as officials are aiming to release a slew of such guides by the end of 2021.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, OSHA is pledging to craft pilot programs with Mexico that will allow its consulates to file safety complaints and share feedback on behalf of Mexican nationals working in the United States, as part of a newly announced bilateral agreement to improve the well-being of Mexican workers under U.S. jurisdiction.

Environmental groups are urging EPA to draw on OSHA data on workplace chemical exposures in its newly announced “tiered” reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), alongside arguments that officials should tighten their current plans for the rule in order to generate new data that could aid OSHA and other agencies.

The sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka leaves the country’s largest labor group at a potential crossroads just as it is in position to help shape OSHA policymaking and other Labor Department actions in the Biden administration, as well as to make a renewed push for congressional passage of several longstanding worker-safety bills.

OSHA is asking stakeholders to weigh in on a host of issues it says will inform the first-ever update to its 1971 safety standard for mechanical power presses, including whether to expand the rule to cover currently-excluded hydraulic and pneumatic presses, and whether to use an industry consensus standard as a basis for the revision.

The waste management industry is cautioning EPA on its plans to make environmental justice (EJ) a key focus in expected revisions to a Trump-era chemical facility safety rule, warning that if the agency expands the rule to incorporate EJ considerations, then it must find a balance to ease burdens on businesses.

Environmental, labor and other groups are pushing to overhaul the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) by rebuilding its investigative capacity to better protect workers and by making reform of OSHA’s process safety rule and EPA chemical facility regulations its “top advocacy priority,” among other measures.

OSHA’s final revisions to beryllium worker exposure standards follow through on the agency’s proposal to “tailor” the rule’s application to the shipyard and construction industries, setting up potential legal battles with health and labor and industry groups that have said various aspects of the proposal lack a legal or scientific basis.

The Senate has confirmed along party lines Paul Ray, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and currently its acting head, permanently installing him as the top rule reviewer over the objections of worker safety advocacy groups, environmentalists, and others.