The long-delayed challenge to OSHA’s Trump-era rollback of electronic recordkeeping mandates is set to move forward after a federal appeals court lifted its long-standing stay on the suit, backing safety advocates’ argument that the Biden administration’s repeated delays of a rule to reinstate the requirements undermine the rationale for pausing the case.
Employer attorneys are raising alarms on OSHA’s quiet announcement that it plans to reinstate a controversial Obama-era policy known as the “Fairfax Memo” that allowed third parties such as union representatives to accompany OSHA officials on inspections -- even of non-union worksites.
Unions, worker-safety groups, environmentalists and tribes are petitioning OSHA to strengthen its injury and illness reporting mandates for oil spill response workers, arguing that the sector should be carved out from broad exclusions for cold and flu to ensure that employers report symptoms of potentially serious chemical exposures that may “mimic” the viruses.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) has missed its target to unveil the final version of a long-pending update to requirements for first-aid kits for general industry and construction companies, triggering a new comment process and drawing criticism from at least one member of the agency’s standards board, along with employer and worker-safety representatives.
OSHA has issued an interim final rule detailing new procedures for handling cases of alleged retaliation against whistleblowers who come forward about violations of antitrust law, introducing a process specific to the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (CAARA) for the first time.
Democratic attorneys general (AGs) in seven states are petitioning OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for occupational heat exposure to take effect on May 1, arguing that workplace heat exacerbated by climate change poses a “grave danger” to tens of millions of employees around the country.
With new support from 18 more lawmakers, a group of House and Senate Democrats is renewing its call for EPA to toughen its proposed risk management program (RMP) rule when it finalizes the rule later this year, seeking to shore up the rulemaking just days after one of their key supporters announced plans to leave EPA after failing to win Senate confirmation.
Officials with the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) say the group is pushing both OSHA and EPA to prioritize enforcing their Risk Management Program (RMP) and process safety management (PSM) standard facility safety policies rather than overhauling and expanding them through pending rules.
OSHA’s director of standards and guidance is vowing that the agency will move quickly on its long-awaited nationwide heat danger standard, telling a key advisory committee that it is actively developing new guidance and expects to initiate a small-business consultation within months.
Healthcare employers and trade groups representing an array of other, overlapping sectors are continuing to push OSHA to either drop its plan for a final COVID-19 safety standard in healthcare workplaces, or tie it strictly to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, as the White House advances its review of the rule.