Rulemaking

California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is easing requirements in its final proposed update to first-aid kit requirements for general industry and construction firms pertaining to the type of container required, but is maintaining a mandate to check the kits weekly despite employer representatives’ continued opposition.

California lawmakers signaled at a recent hearing that they are open to new legislation that would speed up worker-safety rulemakings and bolster enforcement at the state’s OSHA (Cal/OSHA), after labor representatives complained that several critical safety standards are taking years to complete and enforcement is lacking at best in many key sectors.

California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board members are grudgingly accepting that the agency will not restore “exclusion pay” requirements in its long-term COVID-19 worker-safety standard, after staffers told them inserting the benefit would delay the rule by at least seven months -- which would leave no coronavirus standard in place as of Jan. 1.

Employers and trade groups are warning OSHA against moving forward with planned reforms to the process safety management (PSM) standard, arguing that they would make the rule less flexible without proof they are needed for safety, and that it must ensure the PSM program remains aligned with EPA’s risk management program (RMP) facility safety rule.

Employer attorneys are touting what they say are California’s extensive worker pay and job protections in defense of Cal/OSHA’s proposal to drop “exclusion pay” requirements from its final COVID-19 safety standard, after labor groups and their allies -- including members of the agency standards board -- have pushed to restore those mandates.

A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general (AGs) is calling on EPA to strengthen its proposed risk management program (RMP) rule, saying it should require facilities to adopt inherently safer technologies and other measures that the proposal would make optional, and bolster consideration of natural disasters worsened by climate change.

Chemical and other facility operators are urging EPA to reconsider its proposed rule strengthening the risk management program (RMP), charging that the agency has failed to consult adequately with its own experts, resulting in a plan that is “legally vulnerable” because the agency has underestimated its costs and failed to show it will reduce risks.

Environmentalists are touting new allegations that chlor-alkali industry workers face severe asbestos exposures despite safety guidelines, saying the claims bolster not only the agency’s proposed TSCA ban on the substance but also its overall decision to stop assuming workers will use protective gear in chemical risk evaluations.

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are providing more explanation for their insistence that “exclusion pay” be omitted from the agency’s long-term COVID-19 worker-safety standard -- in part by telling Inside OSHA that adding it would unacceptably delay adoption of the rule -- amid a fiery backlash from unions and members of the agency’s standards board.

EPA has denied industry requests to extend comments on its proposed overhaul of the risk management plan (RMP) rule mandating safeguards against spills and releases of hazardous substance at many facilities, rejecting claims by several trade associations that 60 days is not enough time to fully analyze the “complex” proposal.