A blog focused on OSHA and MSHA compliance in the workplace
by Henry Chajet and Kaileigh Fagan
With the summer in full swing, employers should remember that the season’s heat and bugs are not just uncomfortable nuisances. They can easily become legal liabilities. In this two-part series, we’ll walk through the hazards and preventive guidance you need to protect your workers and your safety record.
In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee this week, Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta emphasized OSHA’s future focus on compliance assistance to employers and said OSHA had abandoned Obama-era policies on “joint employers.”
This morning, OSHA announced another planned delay in the deadline for electronic reporting of injury and illness data from July 1st to December 1, 2017.
Perhaps signaling that OSHA may be turning more toward cooperative and compliance assistance programs under the Trump administration, as many in industry have hoped, OSHA announced this week that it will hold a public meeting to receive suggestions from stakeholders on how to strengthen its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).
According to a recent Federal Register notice, OSHA is seeking to delay by a year its new certification requirements for construction crane operators, which are currently set to go into effect on November 10, 2017. Before it can officially delay the rules, however, OSHA must consult with the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH). On June 20th, ACCSH will hold a telephone conference, open to the public, to discuss the matter and receive public comments.
by Kaileigh Fagan
Despite a proposed $2.4 billion (19.8%) cut to the Department of Labor’s annual budget in President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal, the lead U.S. workplace safety agencies – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) – would see only small budgetary changes.
At last month’s Microsoft developer conference, the software maker previewed developing software that can track people, tools, and activities in real-time to prevent workplace accidents.
Yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted to confirm Alexander Acosta as the 27th U.S. Secretary of Labor by a vote of 60 to 38. Mr. Acosta is the final appointee to complete the confirmation process and is currently the only Latino in President Trump’s cabinet.
by Erik Dullea and Sonia Anderson
Department of Labor press releases issued during April suggest that DOL, including OSHA and MSHA, may have returned to the aggressive public relations strategy of calling out companies by name, which was utilized during the previous administration. Former head of OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, reportedly called this strategy “regulation by shaming.”
In June of this year, the construction industry was to be the first to meet a compliance deadline under OSHA’s new silica rule. Now, OSHA says, it will delay that deadline by at least 90 days.
