OSHA - General

Since its inception, OSHA’s mission has been to protect workers and prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. OSHA’s standards not only regulate workplace conditions, but also dictate the necessary training requirements employers must provide their employees. These training requirements

Under an exception to the rulemaking process, federal agencies may use legally nonbinding guidance documents to interpret regulations.

Triggered by an annual fatality rate among oil and gas exploration and production workers that for years was seven times the average for all U.S. workers, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has put together a draft strategic 10-year research plan to address the issue a

On October 5, 2015, OSHA submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a draft final rule for OSHA’s “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses.” OIRA is the division within the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that reviews draft and final standard

OSHA’s new reporting requirements began on January 1, 2015. Under these requirements, employers in federal OSHA jurisdiction are required to report to OSHA any work-related fatality or any work-related injury resulting in an employee being formally admitted to the hospital or any work-related amputa

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has pledged to release a comprehensive final rule on crystalline silica by the end of the current Administration, in January 2017.

Mine regulators have no statutory authority to issue emergency “j” orders for immediately safeguarding people following a mine accident unless rescue and recovery is involved, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has ruled. Section 103(j) of the Mine Act gives the Mine Safety and Hea

When the outdoor temperature tops 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the cool, air-conditioned comfort of a retail store may be a refuge for salespeople, but it is easy to forget that many other retail employees (including truck drivers, loaders, mechanics, janitors, maintenance personnel, cart attendants, and

Coal haulage machines and scoops operating in working sections of underground coal mines will be required to be outfitted with proximity detection devices on a phased-in schedule if a proposed rule issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration is finalized.

Many more franchisors are likely to be judged to have a joint employer relationship with franchisees, subjecting them to enforcement by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under a draft policy reported to be circulating within the Department of Labor (DOL).

On August 26, 2015, a Virginia news reporter, Alison Parker, and a photojournalist, Adam Ward, were tragically shot down by a former colleague while conducting a live television broadcast in Moneta, Virginia. The gunman was later confirmed to be a former reporter at the victims’ news station, who wa

Parties to whistleblower disputes have a new way to resolve their differences using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “early resolution” process.

A judge’s decision to award lifetime workers’ compensation benefits to the widow of a Colorado oil and gas worker who died from toxic gases after opening a tank to measure oil levels could reverberate throughout the industry.

In an interpretation letter dated June 1, 2015, OSHA answered the question “Under OSHA regulations 29 CFR 1926.95(a) who is responsible for the laundering of fire retarding clothing that is provided to employees?” The section states that protective equipment “shall be provided, used, and maintained

Noting that the manufacturing sector experienced more than twice the rate of amputations as that of the entire private sector in 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has updated its nine-year-old National Emphasis Program (NEP) on amputations.

Citing its 1994 legal decision holding that the “wholesale incorporation of a litigant’s brief is a questionable judicial practice,” the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has remanded for further analysis a judge’s determinations regarding enforcement actions taken against a Virginia

In what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration described as a collaboration among government, industry, and organized labor, the safety agency has proposed a comprehensive rule to reduce exposure to beryllium among employees in general industry.

Facing a lawsuit by the mining industry over a an amended rule targeting “pattern” violators of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA’s) safety standards, the agency has announced the revised rule is “a law that now works.”

Vacating citations against a Texas company, an administrative judge has lambasted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for having “fallen short of any standard of decency, honor, or reliability” by citing the company for alleged violations occurring during a period in which OSHA had agr

After two failed attempts to stop a trend showing an increased number of fatalities in the Metal/Non-Metal (M/NM) sector of mining, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched a third initiative — this time, clearly intending a different outcome.