A report to Congress from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) calls the process for creating a new OSHA regulation “protracted” and “lengthy.”
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Tags: General Duty Clause, Government Accountability Office, OSHA regulations, OSHA rulemaking, permissible exposure limits
To find out what’s in OSHA’s revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), you can read this 280-word story or the 858 pages that appeared in the Federal Register. We’ll also give you a link to the FR notice just in case.
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Tags: Globally Harmonized System, hazard communication, hazcom, material safety data sheets
When Congress eliminated OSHA’s ergonomics rule in 2001, it was also generally understood that the agency could not issue a new rule that was “substantially the same” as the old one. But what if a new ergonomics rule wasn’t substantially the same?
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Tags: Congressional Review Act, cost-benefit analysis, new ergonomics standard, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Will OSHA conduct more inspections in federal Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 2013)? Will there be new regulations? And how does the agency plan to fund compliance assistance to companies? President Obama’s budget proposal shows what’s ahead.
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With all the political rhetoric out there regarding government regulations, you’d think it’d be No. 1 on small business owners’ list of problems right now. But it’s not.
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Tags: cost of health coverage, government reuglations, Small Business Majority, small businesses
A letter to President Obama questions a significant delay in the federal regulatory process for a proposed revision to OSHA’s silica rule.
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Tags: Office of Management and Budget, OSHA silica regulation, silicosis
OSHA administrator David Michaels has said that a new regulation to require companies to develop their own injury and illness prevention programs (I2P2) is a top priority for the agency. Now, a new OSHA white paper makes the case for the program. See what you think:
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Tags: injury and illness prevention programs, OSHA white paper, Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, Voluntary Protection Program, workers' comp premiums
Within the last month, OSHA has received pressure from two sources to enact three new regulations. The pressure is coming from …
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Tags: combustible dust, injury and illness prevention programs, new OSHA regulations, silica
The head of OSHA says the agency’s new hazard communication standard may be finalized in the early part of 2012.
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Tags: David Michaels, GHS, Globally Harmonized Standard, hazard communication
Some business leaders claim the reason the U.S. economy has been floundering is because of the number of new regulations imposed by the Obama administration. Bloomberg News has conducted an analysis of new regulations enacted by the last several presidents. The results may surprise some people.
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Tags: beryllium, Bloomberg News, combustible dust, diacetyl, federal rules, injury and illness prevention programs, Obama regulations
OSHA says it’s trying to level the playing field with new rules for residential construction. But some builders say the new rules are having the opposite effect: They’re tilting the field in such a way that cheaters are prospering, and those who comply are in danger of falling over the edge.
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Just one U.S. senator is blocking a bill that would strengthen safety rules for oil and gas pipelines. The senator isn’t opposed to any particular part of the bill; he simply doesn’t like any additional federal regulation at all.
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Tags: less federal regulation, National Transportation Safety Board, new safety regulations, Pacific Gas & Electric, pipeline safety bill, San Bruno pipeline explosion, Sen. Rand Paul, Tea Party
A transportation advisory board is recommending that all commercial drivers be forbidden from using cell phones while driving, whether the devices are hand-held or hands-free.
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Tags: cell phone ban, Department of Transportation, Kentucky bus crash, NTSB, Ray LaHood, texting ban
About a month from now, a 14th state will allow employees to store legally owned firearms in their locked, privately owned vehicles while at work.
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Tags: Gov. Rick Perry, guns in cars at work, Texas
One of the largest states in the nation, with some of the highest workers’ comp costs, has a new law intended to cut businesses a break.
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Tags: carpal tunnel syndrome, doctors, drunk workers, fraud, Illinois, Workers' comp
OSHA wants to make significant changes to its injury reporting regulations. One involves which companies have to report. The other involves the situations that have to be reported.
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Tags: amputations, fatalities, hospitalization, industrial classification, injury reporting
One governor has thumbed his nose at federal OSHA’s suggestions for strengthening his state’s safety agency. This is the same state that had much to do with federal OSHA’s crackdown on state workplace safety programs.
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Tags: burden to businesses, Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada, State OSHAs
On April 28, 2011, OSHA turned 40 years old. Is the agency suffering an early mid-life crisis?
Tags: Chamber of Commerce, i2p2, inspectors, job killer, maximum fines, mid-life crisis, OSHA 40-years-old, permissible exposure limits, retaliation, unions
Last September we told you about a Tennessee OSHA (TOSHA) ruling: allowing guns in businesses that serve alcohol doesn’t create an unsafe workplace. Now, the state has taken the issue one step further.
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Tags: businesses that serve alcohol, guns at work, Tennessee, TOSHA
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has issued a report on regulatory impediments to job creation. The report lists five OSHA proposals that business groups say would inhibit job growth.
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Tags: combustible dust, i2p2, musculoskeletal disorders, noise standard, on-site consultation
A bill introduced in the California Assembly seeks to prevent violent acts against healthcare workers.
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One day after President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring a government-wide review of federal regulations to uncover ones that hurt job creation, OSHA has pulled a revised interpretation of its noise standard.
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Tags: employee hearing, executive order, feasible engineering and administrative controls, noise standard, President Obama
Next year, a 16th state will enact regulations allowing use of medical marijuana. Even though these laws are becoming more prevalent, questions regarding users and workplace safety remain.
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Tags: Arizona, court battles, medical marijuana
Imagine this: A big order or a crisis requires lots of overtime for your employees. Where would you draw the line on OT because of worker fatigue?
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Tags: David Michaels, employee fatigue, injury and illness prevention program
Researchers at OMB Watch have released their take on the first 20 months of rulemaking under the Obama administration, including a status check on OSHA.
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Tags: ergonomics, injury and illness prevention programs, Obama's OSHA, OMB Watch
Allowing guns in businesses that serve alcohol doesn’t create an unsafe workplace, according to an official with Tennessee OSHA (TOSHA).
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Tags: David Randolph Smith, Gov. Phil Bredesen, guns and alcohol in bars, Tennessee OSHA
The head of OSHA says after 40 years, the agency needs a fundamental transformation in the way it addresses workplace hazards, and its relationship to employers and workers. David Michaels says it’s time for OSHA to “take a different road.”
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Tags: David Michaels, future of OSHA, OSHA at 40
Your state says it’s OK to bring guns to work. But as an employer, you think that’s a safety hazard that violates your rights and undermines your responsibilities. What now?
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OSHA has an explicit new message for the millions of workers who participate in the agency’s outreach training program: We’re on your side.
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Tags: David Michaels, Injuries, OSHA
It happened after the Sago mine disaster in 2006, and it will most likely happen again, after 29 miner fatalities in an explosion in the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia: Lawmakers will seek new mine safety regulations.
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The federal government has reversed a ban on flying for pilots taking antidepressants. Part of the reason: Antidepressants have advanced to the point where the risk of the drugs being a safety hazard has subsided.
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Tags: antidepressants, drowsiness, Federal Aviation Administration, pilots
Remember the story from about a year ago in which a chimp tore off the face and hands of a woman? The police officer who shot and killed the raging animal was denied workers’ comp benefits.
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Tags: chimp attack, police officer, Workers' comp
A healthcare group has called on California to require use of condoms in the production of adult films.
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Tags: adult film industry, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cal/OSHA, condoms, HIV
A year ago, the federal government announced new hours-of-service rules for commercial vehicle drivers. Now there’s word that they’re about to change again.
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Tags: commercial motor vehicle, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, hours of service
A dust explosion at a plant in Florida sent four workers to the hospital. One had to be airlifted to a burn center for critical injuries.
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