Since the Trump administration took over on January 20, very little news has come out of OSHA. Their charge from the administration is to keep the ship steady, no new initiatives or anything like that, according to the source, with close ties to the agency.

On February 15, Labor-Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder withdrew his name from consideration after it became clear he lacked the necessary Senate Republican support to be confirmed. Puzder had drawn criticism for opposing the minimum wage and expanding overtime eligibility.

In an effort to prevent and deter crimes that put the lives and the health of workers at risk, the Departments of Justice and Labor have put in place a plan to more effectively prosecute such crimes. Under the plan, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will work with OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to investigate and prosecute worker endangerment violations.

...Earlier this year in Houston, Texas, a worker was hospitalized with broken arms and severe contusions after falling 12 feet off of a roof. The saddest part of this case wasn't that the employer did not provide fall protection for this worker; it was that the worker had actually requested fall protection and the employer had denied it.