Articles Tagged with ''OSHA standards''

If OSHA follows through with its recently unveiled new regulatory agenda, employers can expect several changes to the Process Safety Management and Flammable Liquids (PSM) standard that will likely affect their operations, according to Arent Fox, a Washington, D.C. law firm that handles occupational safety and health issues.

It’s been such a long time since OSHA issued a major standards proposal covering millions of workers, such as its recent silica dust proposed rule, it’s fair to ask: Are the standards floodgates opening? (I’m not counting hazcom revised/GHS, which was more or less forced on the U.S. and OSHA by globalization.)

OSHA’s proposed silica exposure rule was the top EHS-related news story this week, but it wasn’t the only one covered on ISHN.com:

OSHA took industry and EHS professionals by surprise late Friday by announcing what some call a long-overdue proposed rule to  lower worker exposure to crystalline silica – a substance that causes cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease in those who are exposed to it.

A Wisconsin company that protested paying extra worker’s compensation under the state’s safe place statute failed to convince an appeals court that federal law preempts law requiring employers to pay penalties when workplace safety violations cause injuries.

The Senate’s grudging confirmation of Tom Perez as Secretary of Labor was the first piece of good news working people have had out of the federal government for quite some time.

Even when respirator use is not required in certain situations, OSHA  and State OSHA agencies require employers to meet certain obligations for workers who voluntarily wear respirators on the job. Most workers who wear respirators use them because they are required to do so by their employer to protect them from airborne hazards.

AFL-CIO Health and Safety Director Peg Seminario told a U.S. Senate committee on Thursday that the current system for developing and issuing worker and workplace safety rules is: A broken and dysfunctional system, which is failing to protect workers and costing workers’ lives.

The 2013 spring agenda published by White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier this month fails to show a strong commitment to advancing public health, safety or environmental protections, according to the Center for Effective Government, a D.C. watchdog group.