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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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and OSHA interim administrator Jordan Barab have said that a new combustible dust regulation is one of their rulemaking priorities at OSHA.
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Tags: combustible dust regulation, Hilda Solis, Imperial Sugar explosion, Jordan Barab
A government agency says the February 2008 explosion and fire at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth, GA, that killed 14 workers and injured 36 others, was caused by poor equipment design, maintenance and housekeeping.
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Tags: Chemical Safety Board, combustible dust, dust explosion and fire, Imperial Sugar explosion, poor housekeeping
OSHA has started to update its regulations to match national consensus standards.
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Tags: ANSI standards, consensus standards, eye face head foot protection, PPE regulations
California is one of only two states to have regulations that require employers to take steps to reduce employee injuries or deaths due to heat stress. It’s also been issuing fines and even shutting down some companies that have violated the regs. But now a lawsuit says California isn’t doing enough.
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Tags: ACLU lawsuit, agricultural workers, CAL-OSHA, heat stress, United Farm Workers Union
The Transportation Department will require direct observation collections for all return-to-duty and follow-up drug tests for transportation workers in safety-sensitive jobs.
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California wants to toughen and clarify its heat-illness prevention standard.
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Tags: California heat standard, heat illness, shade water for workers
In response to media coverage of a rash of construction worker fatalities, one state is now requiring such employees to get safety training.
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Tags: 10-hour OSHA course, construction worker fatalities, Nevada safety training
Some tough talk about enforcement from OSHA’s interim administrator, Jordan Barab.
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Companies face two new workplace health and safety rules: one on food flavorings, another on combustible dust.
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Tags: bronchiolitis obliterans, combustible dust explosions, diacetyl
Want a signal of how serious OSHA is about ramping up enforcement?
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Tags: Enhanced Enforcement Program, Severe Violators Inspection Program, Voluntary Protection Program
Just two states, California and Washington, have specific safety regulations to protect outdoor workers from heat-related illness. Now, California has clarified what employers have to do to protect workers.
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Tags: CAL-OSHA, heat stress, outdoor workers
Imagine this: One of your employees is on pain medication that could compromise his safety and productivity, as well as that of co-workers. But, because of state law, you have to accommodate the employee. Not only that, but federal law says the pain medication is illegal.
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Tags: accommodate, drug test, medical marijuana, pain management, terminate
Preventing the accumulation of combustible dust in workplaces would become mandatory instead of just good safety practice if three members of Congress get their way.
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Tags: combustible dust, Congress, dust explosion
Employers in another state may soon be facing mandatory rules to reduce the number of employees’ ergonomic injuries.
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There will be a slight delay before the Obama administration issues a slew of new OSHA regulations.
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Tags: federal regulations, Obama administration, OSHA regulations
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