Category: News

August 4, 2015

OSHA Pursues Tough Policy On ‘Willful’ Report Violations, Cites Maximum Penalty In TX Case

OSHA delivered a clear message to employers Wednesday (July 22) that it will aggressively enforce new worker hospitalization reporting rules by determining if employers willfully flouted the law and potentially hitting them with egregious citations, holding up a recent Texas case charging that a company…

August 4, 2015

OSHA Planned Rule Aims To Surmount Court Decision Over Time Limits On Recordkeeping Citations

OSHA plans through a newly proposed rule — which sources say will almost certainly be disputed — to overcome a key federal appeals court decision three years ago that killed a longtime agency policy stance that inaccurate OSHA logs continued to violate recordkeeping regulations every…

August 4, 2015

OSHA Warns Employers Of Potential Eyewash Station Water Contamination

OSHA is lodging concern about the safety of water used in emergency eyewash stations, noting the possibility of numerous infections that can result from using contaminated water and raising the possibility that the issue will be increasingly scrutinized by compliance officers, and specifically citing voluntary…

July 22, 2015

OSHA Backtracks On Medical Tape As Medical Treatment After Pressure From Sports Trainers

OSHA has reversed an earlier policy that classified the use of kinesiology tape as an OSHA recordable medical treatment, deciding instead that it qualifies as first aid — backing down after agreeing to the sports training industry’s request to review information about how the medical…

July 22, 2015

OSHA Clarifies Several Aspects Of Hazcom Enforcement, But Policy Details Draw Concern

OSHA’s newly produced enforcement policy for the 2012 update to hazard communication (hazcom) standards makes several strides in clarifying for both field staff and affected employers the circumstances under which alleged violations of the rule could be cited, sources say, but industries are concerned about…

July 14, 2015

Cal/OSHA Chief: State OSHA’s Budget, Staffing Increases Should Ameliorate Feds’ Concerns

California’s OSHA program will continue beefing up staffing levels and increasing overall inspection numbers, leveraging a 10 percent enforcement funding spike in the state’s newly passed budget, in what Cal/OSHA chief Juliann Sum suggests could ameliorate concerns at the federal level about the state agency’s…

July 10, 2015

OSHA Extends Confined Spaces In Construction Enforcement Date For ‘Good Faith’ Employers

OSHA has decided to delay full enforcement of the agency’s recently issued confined spaces in construction rule, giving employers that are making “good faith” compliance efforts an extra 60 days before citing them under the new standard, in a partial accommodation of industry’s request for…

July 8, 2015

OSHA Wields Corporate Settlement Talks To Tamp Down Workplace Violence Risks

OSHA has reached a milestone settlement with a corporate health care provider that gives the agency a foothold to proactively address workplace violence risks, using its negotiating powers to take on an issue that officials signal will increasingly become a federal enforcement priority in health…

July 8, 2015

OSHA Seeks White House Approval Of Final Rule Tackling Slips, Trips And Falls

OSHA is asking the White House for the go-ahead to finish a final rule aimed at heading off workplace hazards from slips, trips and falls, taking a crucial step in a 25-year regulatory effort — and moving ahead on a rule the Obama administration has…

June 29, 2015

New Hospital Safety Inspection Emphases Stem From Longtime Pressure From Advocates

OSHA’s newly rolled-out areas of emphasis for compliance officers conducting hospital and nursing home inspections — focused intently on ergonomic issues, bloodborne pathogens, workplace violence, tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls — comes after lengthy and intense pressure by health care worker advocates, particularly the…

June 19, 2015

Cal/OSHA Settles Long-Running Farm Worker Suit Over Heat Rules, Revises Regs

California’s state OSHA program has settled a long-running dispute with farm workers’ groups over enforcement of the state’s heat standards, just as new regulations become effective aimed at addressing many of the concerns borne out by the protracted litigation. The 10-year-old California heat illness prevention…

June 19, 2015

Cal/OSHA Stresses Heat Concern As Federal Officials Beat Drum Of ‘Water, Rest, Shade’

California’ state OSHA program is making a renewed push for heat illness prevention as temperatures are projected to soar in the southern region of the state, coming as OSHA simultaneously doubles down on its perennial campaign to inform employers and workers of measures to prevent…