Rulemaking

A coalition of construction sector groups is urging OSHA to allow formal comment on any recommendations that an agency advisory group may make on several pending deregulatory proposals, including medical evaluation requirements in respiratory protection and specific chemical rules.

A former Energy Department (DOE) employee with extensive background in worker safety and health is urging officials to withdraw a proposed rule aimed at expediting the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors, arguing the proposal does not provide the level of safety the law requires for DOE contractor workers.

A coalition of workplace safety organizations, led by the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), is petitioning OSHA to update through direct final rules references to several independent consensus standards for personal protective equipment (PPE) and first aid kits.

OSHA has appointed new members to a slimmed-down Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) and will brief the panel at a March 31-April 1 meeting on several proposed and soon-to-be proposed rules to amend requirements related to the use of respirators.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reviewing proposed changes to a Biden-era Labor Department (DOL) rule requiring self-insured coal mine operators to secure 100 percent of their projected black lung liabilities, with a goal of easing the regulatory and financial burden for industry.

There is real potential for a “tug of war” between what OSHA chief David Keeling may want to do with affirmative rulemaking and what the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) might wish to see with deregulatory rulemaking, an employer-focused attorney says.

The Energy Department (DOE) has reopened the public comment period on proposed sweeping changes to its worker safety and health program aimed at expediting the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors in line with a Trump executive order, setting March 23 as the new comment deadline.

The Agriculture Department (USDA) is proposing to increase the line speeds for processing poultry and swine following studies last year that found only a limited association between faster slaughterhouse line speeds and increased worker injuries, a move that is drawing praise from meatpackers but opposition from labor.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and several of her Democratic colleagues are pressing Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and OSHA head David Keeling to explain why the agency is proposing to roll back several worker protection standards and has reduced enforcement efforts.

Petroleum refiners and chemical manufacturers are urging OSHA to ease compliance in a pending proposal to amend 2016 updates to the agency’s fall-protection requirements, asking OSHA to either repeal requirements for personal fall protection systems or grandfather in the use of cages or wells on existing fixed ladders.