Prevention programs, mine safety and protecting healthcare workers from infectious diseases will be on the U.S. Department of Labor’s fall regulatory agenda, which has just been published by the Federal Register.

One of the agenda items has OSHA is crafting rules to require employers to implement Injury and Illness Prevention Programs. Key provisions include having companies identify and remediate risks to workers, and preventing employers from not covering workers under the programs by misclassifying them as independent contractors.

The agenda also has the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) soliciting suggestions from the mining community on ways to avoid injury and illness, coupled with a proposed rule that will re-institute preshift examinations in work or travel areas for health or safety standards violations. The Request for Information (RFI) will focus on the mining industry’s experience with safety and health management programs that are currently implemented in mines, as well as those developed by independent consensus standards setting organizations such as the American Industrial Hygiene Association and programs that follow the OSHA Guidelines.

OSHA has also developed a request for information on infectious diseases to better assess the extent of the problem and develop ways to protect healthcare workers from infectious diseases.

The semiannual regulatory agenda is a listing of all the regulations the Department of Labor expects to have under active consideration for the next six to12 months. The entire agenda is available online at: at www.dol.gov/asp/regs/agenda.htm .