Category: Federal
Texas Democrat Renews Push For Injury Logs Covering Multi-Employer Sites
A House Democrat from the Houston area has re-introduced legislation mandating that OSHA require logs of workplace injuries across the entirety of multi-employer work sites, regardless of whether a contractor or other type of temporary staffing company directly employs the workers as opposed to the…
Worker Advocates Urge Feds, States To Ramp Up Criminal Prosecutions In Severe Safety, Health Cases
A national umbrella group of worker advocacy organizations on Thursday (April 23) urged federal and state law enforcement officials — including the Justice Department working in concert with OSHA officials — to increase the number of criminal prosecutions brought in severe safety and health cases,…
Cell Tower Deaths Lead To New Reg Priority As OSHA Pushes Issue With Stakeholders
OSHA continues to hone its enforcement and regulatory emphasis on fatalities and severe injuries in communication tower building and maintenance, with Deputy Assistant Secretary Jordan Barab on Tuesday saying the agency has observed “an alarming increase” in fatalities in the fast-growing industry and assuring safety…
Citations Against Fracking Supplier Highlight OSHA Concern On Chemical Safety
OSHA’s recent citations against a New York supplier of plastic balls used in hydraulic fracturing, alleging process safety management (PSM) violations and other hazards, appears to underscore the agency’s heightened attention to safety in the large-scale use of chemicals, with one OSHA official lodging concern…
OSHA Continues Roll-Out Of Inspection Weighting, With Partial Focus On Health, Ergo
OSHA is pushing ahead with an effort to refocus scarce investigative resources toward priority areas through a data-driven system the agency calls “inspection weighting,” which uses historical data to allocate “enforcement units” for carrying out labor-intensive inspections — an approach some in industry consider a…
Health, Safety Regulatory Concerns Arise In Talks On Dispute Settlement Provisions Of Trade Deal
Public interest groups are raising alarm about the global safety, health and environmental enforcement implications of a developing trade agreement and whether a controversial section of the accord could put the public at risk by allowing investors to skirt regulatory mandates in countries participating in…
Lawmakers Press Colleagues To Back Robust OSHA, NIOSH Funding Levels In Fiscal ’16
House and Senate Democrats are circulating letters urging lawmakers to support increased OSHA funding and to shield NIOSH from the Obama administration’s long-contemplated elimination of two research and education programs, with the advocacy effort driven by several safety and health professional organizations.
New OSHA reporting rules bring big enforcement changes
In the wake of new injury and illness reporting requirements put into place Jan. 1, OSHA has developed enforcement procedures that could significantly impact employers.
OSHA Offers Good-Faith Employers Leeway On June 1 Hazcom Deadline
OSHA is offering some enforcement leeway for companies that show good-faith efforts to meet an upcoming June 1 deadline for updating safety data sheets (SDS) and labeling mixtures of chemicals with known hazards under a 2012 worker right-to-know standard, though some in industry believe the…
FEDOSHA calls for Arizona to Follow Federal Fall Protection Policy
FEDOSHA is demanding that the Arizona State Plan (“ADOSH”) follow federal policy regarding fall protection. In some circles, this has been seen as a signal that FEDOSHA will more strictly construe and enforce its “at least as effective” measure of state programs in the second…
Federal Osha Publishes General Industry Inspection Targeting Plan Changes
The link below references a Federal OSHA Notice that describes a Federal program change which establishes policies and procedures regarding general industry inspection targeting under the SST-12 plan. States with OSHA approved State Plans are required to have their own inspection targeting systems (a “core…
OSHA’S TOP 10 VIOLATIONS FOR FISCAL 2012 ANNOUNCED
Federal OSHA has announced the preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2012. They are as follows: (1) Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) – Total violations: 7,250 (2) Hazard Communication (1910.1200) – Total violations: 4,696 (3) Scaffolding (1926.451) –…
