Former Obama OSHA officials, House Democrats and others who have criticized the Trump administration for not issuing a temporary emergency standard to protect health care workers from the coronavirus pandemic are welcoming OSHA’s interim response plan to reduce such risks, but they are renewing calls for the agency to set a binding standard.

Former Obama OSHA officials, House Democrats and others who have criticized the Trump administration for not issuing a temporary emergency standard to protect health care workers from the coronavirus pandemic are welcoming OSHA’s interim response plan to reduce such risks, but they are renewing calls for the agency to set a binding standard.

EPA has formally rejected environmentalists’ calls to take immediate emergency actions on three chemicals that the agency has found pose acute risks in its draft risk evaluations, arguing in part it would be “premature” to act before EPA works through the evaluation and management process laid out in section 6 of the revised toxic law.

A panel of three appellate judges is grappling with what remedy they could give OSHA if they side with the agency in a suit challenging a finding by OSHA’s independent review panel that raised the bar for citing companies for “repeat” workplace safety rule violations, as well as trying to resolve whether the lawsuit is moot.

OSHA is aiming to ease healthcare workers’ access to respirators during the coronavirus pandemic by issuing two memos offering enforcement discretion of its respiratory protection standard for employers who must otherwise use NIOSH-approved respirators or devices from other countries.

OSHA is aiming to ease healthcare workers’ access to respirators during the coronavirus pandemic by issuing two memos offering enforcement discretion of its respiratory protection standard for employers who must otherwise use NIOSH-approved respirators or devices from other countries.

EPA’s science advisors are raising concerns over the narrow scope of the agency’s draft evaluation of asbestos, prompting changes to the charge questions they will consider when they assess the draft during a peer review meeting later this month so they can formally discuss their concerns.

The Obama-era head of OSHA is calling for the agency to quickly issue an emergency infectious disease standard and cite employers who “egregiously” ignore Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance on airborne diseases in order to protect health and other works from the coronavirus.

The Obama-era head of OSHA is calling for the agency to quickly issue an emergency infectious disease standard and cite employers who “egregiously” ignore Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance on airborne diseases in order to protect health and other works from the coronavirus.

The Supreme Court’s June 2019 decision curtailing judicial deference to agencies’ regulatory interpretations could make OSHA efforts to reverse prior policies through new guidance vulnerable to court challenges because judges interpret it as bolstering limits on imposing an “unfair surprise” to stakeholders, attorneys say.