OSHA has
temporarily suspended federal inspection activity focused on employer
under-recording and is now seeking additional targeting criteria, amid reports
from sources that the agency has not found significant problems through a pilot
enforcement program targeting the issue. OSHA sources and other stakeholders
told Inside OSHA that the agency has not found the number or degree of
violations it had expected to uncover through the program.
The
Government Accountability Office is gearing up to probe whether employer
incentive programs discourage workers from reporting and affect the accuracy of
injury and illness data, following up on a report it conducted last fall and in
response to a request from lawmakers.
OSHA attached
language to its final rule on cranes and derricks formalizing its stance that
the regulations do not supersede state and local laws and ordinances as long as
those codes meet or exceed federal standards. The issue of preemption arose in
a recent court case, in which a steel industry group is seeking to have New
York City building codes thrown out on the basis of OSH Act preemption -- a
claim that prodded the Labor Department to wade into the dispute. The Labor
Department has filed an amicus brief in that case (see Inside OSHA,
April 26).
Industry
stakeholders say OSHA has devised too uniform a standard in the agency's
sweeping new regulations on safe operations of cranes and derricks, contending
the final rule does not fully take into account the diversity of construction
activities. OSHA published the regulation July 28, unveiling a major overhaul
of the nearly 40-year-old crane rule to address technology advances and
longstanding safety concerns.
The Chemical
Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's new chair Rafael Moure-Eraso told Inside
OSHA in an exclusive interview that CSB is looking for increased funding to
conduct its investigation into the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, as well
as to take on more investigations to address a larger array of hazards.
House
lawmakers introduced a bill late last month to reform the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA), including provisions that would improve worker protections
at chemical facilities. However, the bill didn't add more aggressive OSHA
reforms that were reportedly previously floated by the agency. Sources say the
bill would strengthen the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to respond
to chemical exposures at worksites.
Lawmakers
intensified their push for OSHA to take immediate regulatory steps to address
workplace safety in the fuel gas industry as a stopgap while the agency
potentially tackles the longer process of a final standard, following the
agency's decision to issue one of its largest-ever fines and send out letters
to the industry warning of enforcement activity instead of pursuing a
regulation.
A mine safety
bill with OSHA reform provisions was recently introduced in the Senate, as a
similar bill awaits floor action in the House, but sources say some Senate
Democrats may be open to negotiating the OSHA parts of the bill.
OSHA might be
better served in its regulatory function by moving NIOSH to the Labor
Department, some Republicans have suggested, as they called during talks on
mine safety legislation for a comptroller general study on whether to relocate
the research agency and its Office of Mine Safety and Health. But with the
failure of a GOP substitute bill in committee, the concept appears dead in the
water at least for this legislative session.
Whistleblower
advocates say new protections for offshore oil and gas workers in a bill that
passed the House in late July represent a premium level of safeguards for
workers, from burden of proof to statute of limitations provisions, and called
for a wider adoption of such standards across industry sectors. But a key
Republican said concerns about the lack of clarity on OSHA jurisdiction for
offshore oil rigs should have been addressed first.
Union officials vowed to continue pressing
for passage of legislation that would extend new health monitoring and
treatment programs for first responders to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade
Center, and to house the programs within NIOSH, after the bill failed in the
House 255-159 on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the legislation; a
two-thirds vote was required.
OSHA chief
David Michaels is strengthening enforcement, refocusing workplace safety
culture, improving collaboration within OSHA and with other agencies, and
modernizing injury and illness tracking, according to a recent letter to
stakeholders outlining Department of Labor strategies to reform worker safety.
Some health
care professionals are raising concerns that OSHA's upcoming infectious
diseases rule might conflict with detailed guidelines already issued by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in turn presenting compliance
and legal issues for those who must comply with myriad requirements. They view
CDC as experts in the field and argue that OSHA should defer to that agency's
guidance instead of issuing its own rule.
Senate
Appropriations members voted to boost OSHA's 2011 spending level to $574.1
million -- or 2.8 percent over the agency's current fiscal year, but less of an
increase than the House version.
A federal
Appeals Court ruling could raise new legal issues about OSHA jurisdiction over
quasi-public entities as judges found the Austin, TX bus transit system exempt
from the agency's oversight. Similar entities around the country could cite the
case in their arguments for exemption, making it difficult for OSHA to expand its
jurisdiction, one attorney familiar with the case said.
With congressional
passage of broad Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation
appearing increasingly unlikely this year, state lawmakers are planning to ramp
up their efforts to address chemical safety concerns in their legislatures -- a
move that activists hope will continue to pressure industry to negotiate TSCA
reforms in the future.
Proposed
"whistleblower" provisions in a new House bill to reform the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA) could modernize and expand whistleblower protections in the
chemical industry, making TSCA the first major environmental statute to be
updated to be consistent with whistleblower protections in other recent laws,
sources say.
The
Environmental Protection Agency has sent to the White House Office of
Management & Budget (OMB) for review a first-time policy that would require
industry to provide more information than it currently does about nanoscale
ingredients in pesticides, a move that industry fears could stigmatize the
items.
OSHA sent a
strong message of its intent to cite employers in a targeted industry for
willful violations of workplace safety regulations, sending thousands of grain
elevator operators a sharply worded letter warning of stepped up inspection and
enforcement activity. OSHA chief David Michaels said Aug. 4 the agency plans to
refer egregious cases to the Justice Department for possible criminal
prosecution.
|