Even without a new Assistant Secretary for OSHA, the Trump Administration has recently deleted numerous Obama-era OSHA plans for workplace safety related rules. Rules that administration officials have said they plan to overhaul or scale back include: regulations strengthening limits to exposure to beryllium, addressing workplace safety violation in healthcare, and addressing combustible dust and
Another MSHA Request for Documents Upheld as Lawful
By Donna Pryor on
Posted in MSHA
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that MSHA could demand a miners’ personnel records to assist an investigation into a worker’s discrimination complaint. In Hopkins Coal, an operator refused to provide personnel records to an MSHA investigator on the grounds the agency had not identified any protected activity the miner engaged in.…
Digging deep into MSHA’s working alone initiative – on solid ground?
By Brian Hendrix on
Posted in Enforcement updates, MSHA
A few weeks back, MSHA announced a new “training and enforcement” initiative on “working alone,” which MSHA claimed was necessary because of five fatalities in 2017. But, I had to ask: do these incidents really have anything to do with each other or with working alone?
Who’s coming to the (OSHA) inspection party? Just folks on the inside.
By Avi Meyerstein on
Posted in Enforcement updates, OSHA
by Mike Horowitz
For most of the last four years, OSHA has insisted that a union representative who is not your employee can participate in OSHA inspections at your work site. This spring, that changed when OSHA finally reversed this much-criticized policy.
Could summer mean itchy, swelling enforcement?
Posted on
Posted in Compliance tips, OSHA
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.
Acosta testimony emphasizes OSHA compliance assistance
By Avi Meyerstein on
Posted in Enforcement updates, OSHA
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.”
OSHA further delays electronic reporting
By Brad Hiles on
Posted in OSHA, Rulemaking news
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.
Signs of turning to cooperation and compliance assistance? OSHA seeks input on VPP.
By Avi Meyerstein on
Posted in Enforcement updates, OSHA
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).
OSHA Delays Crane Certification Requirements
Posted on
Posted in OSHA
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.
President’s 2018 budget impacts some safety agencies more than others
By Avi Meyerstein on
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.