Category: News

February 3, 2016

OSHA Recordkeeping Requirements

OSHA on Jan. 1, 2015 implemented new reporting and recordkeeping requirements mandating that all work-related fatalities be reported to OSHA or state OSH agencies within eight hours, and all work-related hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses within 24 hours. A log of all injuries and deaths within…

February 2, 2016

OSHA Strikes Deal With Trucking Association On Hazard Reduction

OSHA on Monday announced that it has renewed an alliance with the Industrial Trucking Association to minimize worker injuries and fatalities from industrial truck tip-overs and “struck-by” hazards. According to OSHA, the alliance will allow for development of resources and training on hazards that lead…

January 29, 2016

OSHA Notice On Approval Of New Jersey Occupational Safety, Health Plan

OSHA on Jan. 22, 2016, issued a notice highlighting completion of development of New Jersey’s state plan for occupational safety and health. OSHA announces in the notice that the state has met all the requirements necessary to implement an effective state plan to regulate industries in…

January 26, 2016

OSHA Seeks Comment On Information Collection, Evaluation Of State Plans

OSHA on Tuesday announced that it is seeking public comment on new efforts to reduce paperwork and reporting burdens on states that maintain their own occupational safety and health plans. According to a Federal Register notice, OSHA is soliciting comments on extension of information collection…

January 19, 2016

Businesses face April 30 deadline on recordkeeping requirement

OSHA has announced that employers must post between Feb. 1 and April 30Form 300A, which summarizes to employees the total job-related injuries and illnesses that were logged in 2015. According to OSHA, more employers are now covered by the requirements, following changes to the agency’s…

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…