OSHA Issues PPE Enforcement Guidance
OSHA recently issued the Enforcement Guidance for Personal Protective Equipment in General Industry, a directive that provides enforcement personnel with instructions for determining whether employers have complied with OSHA PPE standards. The directive was effective Feb. 10....
OSHA’s Michaels Responds to Criticism his Agency is a Job Killer
Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, is responding to critics in Congress who claim that OSHA regulations place an unfair burden on employers, saying sensible regulations not only keep American workers safe and healthy, but improve American competitiveness...
House Hearing Criticizes OSHA’s Impact on Jobs, Business
At a Feb. 15 House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on OSHA’s regulatory agenda and its impact on job creation, witnesses slammed the agency for exploring new regulations that could damage businesses, imposing “substantial burdens” on employers without regard to cost concerns and overlooking the interests of small businesses...
FY 2012 Budget Request Includes $583 Million for OSHA
In a landscape of budget cuts and heated debate, President Obama’s FY 2012 budget request includes modest increases for OSHA and MSHA – a requested $583 million for OSHA (an increase of more than $24 million from 2010 enacted levels) and $384 million for MSHA...
OSHA Releases Respiratory Protection Video for Health Care Workers
OSHA recently produced a training video for health care employers and employees that explains proper respirator use and procedures to assure that workers are protected from airborne hazards in healthcare settings...
New CSB Safety Video Highlights Hazards of Gas Releases
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released a new safety video depicting two major accidents caused by the intentional release of flammable fuel gas near work areas...
ASSE Share Views, Support on OSHA’s I2P2 Standard
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) sent a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to reiterate its support for OSHA’s development of an injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) standard...
OSHA Renews Strategic Partnership with Power Transmission Associations to Reduce Worker Injuries, Deaths
On Jan. 26, OSHA renewed a strategic partnership with the Electrical Transmission and Distribution Construction Contractors, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and other trade associations to reduce injuries, illnesses and deaths among electrical transmission and distribution industry workers, among other goals...
OSHA Withdraws Proposed MSD Column on Injury/Illness Logs
On Jan. 25, OSHA announced that it has temporarily withdrawn its proposal to restore a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on employer injury and illness logs, citing concerns from small businesses. Some safety stakeholders, however, expressed disappointment over the withdrawal...
OSHA Cites Two Grain Elevator Operators for Willful Safety and Child Labor Violations
OSHA has fined Haasbach LLC in Mount Carroll and Hillsdale Elevator Co. in Geneseo and Annawan, Ill., following the deaths of three workers, including two teenagers. The workers were killed when they suffocated after being engulfed by grain. Total fines total nearly $1.4 million...
Stakeholders React to OSHA’s Withdrawal of Proposed Noise Control Interpretation
On Jan. 19, OSHA withdrew its proposal to revise the interpretation of its noise standard, a decision based in part on concerns surrounding the proposal’s associated costs and other resource requirements. While OSHA pledged to seek other approaches to abate workplace noise hazards, several stakeholders spoke up about the withdrawal and its impact on worker safety...
OSHA Revises NEP for Microwave Popcorn Processing Plants
OSHA recently revised its National Emphasis Program (NEP) on Microwave Popcorn Processing Plants in an effort to help minimize or eliminate worker exposure to the hazards associated with microwave popcorn manufacturing...
Illinois Contractor Ordered to Notify OSHA of Jobsites to Protect against Cave-Ins
The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking an administrative court order requiring Gerardi Sewer & Water Co., a Norridge, Ill.-based contractor, to provide a monthly report of its work locations to OSHA, permit unannounced jobsite audits by qualified independent consultants and annually train workers on cave-in protection for the next two years...
OSHA Fines Binghamton, N.Y., Demolition Contractor $52,500
OSHA cited MJ Scoville Inc., a Binghamton, N.Y., demolition contractor, for nine willful and serious violations of workplace safety and health standards at a building renovation site in Binghamton. The contractor faces a total of $52,500 in proposed fines, chiefly for fall and lead hazards...
OSHA Withdraws Proposed Interpretation on Occupational Noise
OSHA announced on Jan. 19 that it is withdrawing its proposed “Interpretation of OSHA’s Provisions for Feasible Administrative or Engineering Controls of Occupational Noise,” which would have clarified the term “feasible administrative or engineering controls” as used in the agency’s noise standard...
Solis to Establish Charter of Maritime Advisory Committee for Safety and Health
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will re-establish the charter of OSHA’s Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (MACOSH)...
New ASSE Film Captures a Century of Safety
The American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) newly released film, “American Society of Safety Engineers – A Century of Safety,” tells the story of workplace safety and tragedy through the decades and why we are safer today...
OSHA Web Chat Puts Focus on Injury and Illness Prevention Program
In a Jan. 5 Web chat to discuss the 2010 fall semi-annual regulatory agenda, OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels and staff asserted that the potential Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) is the agency’s highest regulatory priority with “the greatest impact in terms of preventing workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities.”...
COSH Names Top 10 Workplace Tragedies for 2010
The year 2010 was a bad one for workers: An explosion on a an off-shore drilling rig killed 11 workers and triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history; a catastrophic mine disaster killed 29 coal miners; and an oil refinery explosion caused multiple fatalities – and those were just the incidents you heard about...
Don't Invite an OSHA Citation with Lower Quality PPE
New regulations turn up pressure on employers to keep workers safe...
AIHA Releases White Paper on OSHA’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program
At the request of OSHA, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) released a white paper concerning OSHA’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2), a potential new rule that would require employers to find and fix hazards in their workplaces...
OSHA Announces Fall Protection Directive
OSHA has announced a new directive withdrawing a former one that allowed residential builders to bypass fall protection requirements. The previous directive, issued in 1995 and initially intended as a temporary policy, reflected concerns about the feasibility of fall protection in residential building construction. A continuing high number of fall-related deaths in construction, however, has led industry experts to feel that feasibility is no longer an issue or concern...
NHCA Addresses “Misperceptions” Regarding OSHA’s Interpretation of Noise Control Enforcement Change
The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) reiterated its support for OSHA’s announced change in workplace noise control enforcement and seeks to address a number of misperceptions related to this interpretation...
OSHA Releases Fall Regulatory Agenda
OSHA’s fall semi-annual regulatory agenda was published in the Federal Register Dec. 20, featuring updates on regulatory actions including the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, modernizing recording and reporting requirements, infectious diseases, hazard communication, combustible dust and more...
OSHA Will Not Adopt EU’s SDoC System
On Dec. 17, OSHA announced that it will not adopt the European Union’s (EU) Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) and will continue requiring product certification from independent testing companies...
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