OSHA published in the Aug. 31 Federal Register interim final rules that will help protect workers who voice safety, health and security concerns, an agency press release says. The regulations, which establish procedures for handling worker retaliation complaints, allow filing by phone as well as in writing and filing in languages other than English.
Business leaders in the manufacturing space are pessimistic, with only a third (33%) expecting the U.S. economy to improve in the next six months, according to Grant Thornton’s quarterly survey of U.S. business leaders. The hiring outlook for manufacturing companies is also gloomy — only 37 percent of manufacturing business leaders report that their companies will increase hiring in the next six months.
In a speech yesterday at the Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI) Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman commended OLI for its leading role in efforts to reduce highway-rail grade crossing accidents by more than 80 percent since its founding in 1972, according to an NTSB press release.
As that classic bit of advice campaign staffers gave form President Clinton when he was running for the White House: “It’s the economy, stupid.” (That’s all voters care about).
We’re just getting heated up on the huge debate that will hound development of OSHA chief Dr. David Michaels’ number one standard priority, the so-called I2P2 injury and illness prevention program standard, aka the “find and fix” rule.
From the Houston Chronicle: “Rather than a collection of random incidents, (recent) deadly disasters and the congressional inaction that generally follows illustrate a seriously flawed system of federal oversight in the United States.”
"There's a new sheriff in town," Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis warned during her 2009 swearing-in ceremony. Sure enough, during the past year and a half, OSHA investigators have issued citations for egregious violations in 17 cases.
The Labor Department has filed an enterprise-wide complaint against the U.S. Postal Service for electrical work safety violations. The complaint asks the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to order the USPS to correct electrical violations at all of its facilities nationwide. This complaint marks the first time OSHA has sought enterprise-wide relief as a remedy. Within the past five years, OSHA has conducted more than 900 inspections at USPS facilities across the country and has issued more than 600 citations.
OSHA is on the warpath. The agency is issuing record-setting fines; every week fining companies hundreds of thousands of dollars; scaring companies into spending more on safety to stay out of trouble. Here are recent examples of OSHA’s new high-profile enforcement:
In a high profile enforcement cases, OSHA recently cited SeaWorld of Florida LLC for three safety violations, including one classified as willful, following the death of an animal trainer in February. The total penalty is $75,000.
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