OSHA - General

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration overstepped its authority in expanding union representation at “walk-arounds” in non-union workplaces, the National Federation of Independent Business has alleged in a lawsuit against the agency filed in Texas. Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Dougherty

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is considering updating its safety standards covering falls in shipbuilding, ship repair, shipbreaking, and other shipyard-related employment and has issued a Request for Information. Comments and materials must be submitted by December 7, 2016.

Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, issued a new report, discussing the results of the first year of the severe injury reporting requirements. The report concludes that the severe injury reporting program has been a big success in i

On September 15, 2016, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released new policy guidelines for its review of private settlement agreements presented to the agency for approval in whistleblowing actions.1 OSHA issued these guidelines based on its concern that certain confi

Using a crane to move headstones and small monuments is “generally” not defined as construction, but the crane operator is still responsible for stringent worker-safety rules regarding crane operations, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has advised in response to a question from an A

Earlier this year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its long-awaited final rule (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-03-25/pdf/2016-04800.pdf) setting new workplace permissible exposure limits (PELs) for respirable crystalline silica. The new rule includes one sta

State workplace safety agencies raised objections to adopting federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s penalty increases in letters to the Department of Labor on OSHA’s interim final rule, Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Catch-Up Adjustment. State agencies with OSHA-a

Most state workplace safety programs did not meet performance goals, an annual report by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration studying 21 state programs in fiscal year 2015 has found. This is largely because of high staff turnover and insufficient federal funding in many states,

Recently, OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health teamed up to compel inventors to develop a solution to workplace noise exposure and corollary hearing loss. The trifecta endeavors to ameliorate the risk of hearing loss that 22 mi

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued “interim guidance” to provide employers and workers information and advice on preventing occupational exposure to the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Concerns employers may use temporary workers as a means to fill hazardous jobs and skirt compliance with OSHA regulations, has led to OSHA holding staffing agencies jointly responsible for safety violations when temporary workers are exposed to unsafe conditions. While the extent of staffing agency

In an April 2016 Interpretation Letter, which was recently made publically available, OSHA responded to a question about medical treatment beyond first aid for recordkeeping purposes. The incident in question involved an employee who experienced wrist pain after working at a computer. Before being s

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s new campaign — “Water. Rest. Shade.” — alerts employers and workers to the hazards of working in high summer temperatures and highlights OSHA’s educational and training resources, including a free app, to help lower the risk of heat-related illness

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency tasked with setting and enforcing workplace safety standards. As part of the Department of Labor, OSHA has recently seen a great deal of regulatory activity. WPI Co-Chair Ilyse Schuman interviews Ben Huggett, a shareho

The two-year bipartisan budget President Obama signed on November 2, 2015, required OSHA to raise its citation penalties for the first time in 25 years. Since 1990, OSHA has been one of only three federal agencies that were specifically exempted from a law that required federal agencies to raise the

A New York man and two construction companies he owns have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges in the death of an employee who plunged six stories to his death after allegedly being directed to perform work without fall protection.

OSHA officials have been busy as the weather heats up and spring turned to summer. On May 20, 2016, OSHA cited BC Stucco and Stone, a construction company in Darby, Pennsylvania, for one serious violation and three willful violations. The investigation dated back to November 25, 2015 when an OSHA co

Executive Summary: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published a final rule revising its recordkeeping and reporting regulation to specifically state that employer policies for reporting workplace injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and to specifically prohibit

With the arrival of summer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched initiatives to alert employers and workers to heat and lightning hazards and the steps to take to prevent injury or illness from them.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified seven proposals the agency hopes to release as final rules before the end of the year, while the Mine Safety and Health Administration, its sister agency within the Department of Labor, plans to issue two final rules in 2016.