Category: Federal

January 14, 2016

Oregon Occupational Safety Agency Tackles Exposure Limits

Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will follow two different approaches as it updates permissible exposure limits in 2016, the state’s administrator says in a new agency newsletter. Oregon OSHA administrator Michael Wood says in the newsletter that the agency will begin identifying ways to…

November 3, 2015

OSHA Gets Congressional Nod To Raise Maximum Penalties Based On Inflation

House and Senate lawmakers passed a little-noticed measure that will effectively let OSHA hike maximum penalties by roughly 81 percent, in order to catch up with inflation since 1990, as part of their final budget compromise last week. The legislative change means OSHA has the…

October 21, 2015

Workplace Violence Case Tests OSHA Use Of Guidance In General-Duty Citations

An enforcement case before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) will explore to an unusual extent the limits of OSHA using guidance documents as a legal basis for issuing penalties in circumstances like workplace violence where no specific standard applies, potentially affecting use…

October 21, 2015

House Republicans Challenge OSHA ‘Joint Employer’ Test, See Union Hand In Shaping Policy

Congressional Republicans are pressing Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to release documents tied to the Solicitor’s Office drafting of contentious new guidelines for OSHA to decide if businesses should be treated as joint employers — effectively helping expand OSHA’s enforcement reach into franchises and similar business…

October 13, 2015

OSHA Pushes Back Confined Spaces Enforcement For ‘Good Faith’ Home Builders

OSHA has decided to give employers in residential construction three more months to fully comply with the agency’s confined spaces in construction standard as long as they are demonstrating “good faith” efforts to follow the new regulations, with OSHA setting specific guidelines for that determination….

October 13, 2015

OSHA Awaits Budget Office Go-Ahead To Issue Electronic Recordkeeping Rule

OSHA took a key step forward in its regulatory plan to require larger companies to electronically report workplace injuries and illnesses, with the data later being posted to an online database, by sending the rule for White House review — a clear signal OSHA fully…

October 8, 2015

Agribusiness Groups Fight OSHA’s Process Safety Retail Interpretation; GOP Escalates Feud

A powerful coalition of agribusiness trade groups urged House lawmakers Wednesday (Oct. 7) to pressure OSHA into reversing course on a controversial interpretation of the agency’s rule to prevent chemical process disasters, just as congressional Republicans took OSHA to task for a field guidance they…

October 6, 2015

OSHA Hits Recycling Plant With Fines As Industry Comes Under Growing Scrutiny

OSHA charges that an Illinois recycling company overexposed workers to lead and cadmium and violated several of the agency’s standards, with proposed fines totaling $114,800 — action that comes as worker advocacy groups call attention to safety and health issues in the recycling industry in…

September 24, 2015

Senators Want OSHA To Rescind OSHA Policies Issued As Guidance, Use Rulemaking Instead

A key Senate panel on government oversight will formally request that OSHA rescind several guidance documents that have far-reaching implications for the agency’s rule designed to prevent chemical disasters, and then go back to the drawing board with a public rulemaking process, Sen. James Lankford…

September 21, 2015

OSHA Allows 30 More Days To Comment On ‘Volks’ Rule, Agreeing In Part To Industry Request

OSHA has decided to extend by 30 days the time period to comment on a planned rule designed to overcome a court decision holding that OSHA’s statute of limitations applies to the discrete occurrence of an injury or illness not being properly recorded, even if…

September 8, 2015

OSHA Obtains Civil Contempt Order, Alleging ‘Serial’ Violator Refuses To Pay Fines

OSHA has successfully pursued a civil contempt order against a small Maine construction employer over his alleged refusal to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in OSH Act fines, as the agency comes under pressure to take the toughest enforcement actions possible against what safety…

September 8, 2015

OSHA Steps Up Ergo, Medical Oversight At Poultry Plants With Hazard Alerts, Citations

OSHA strongly signaled its continued intent to stem ergonomics problems at poultry plants using every angle possible — inspections, fines and warnings to the industry — most recently by issuing citations against a Delaware chicken supplier and then following up months later with a series…