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While regulations on the federal level are being repealed or delayed, the rulemaking process is still going strong at the state level – as demonstrated by California’s approval last week of a tough new oil refinery safety regulation.

Last week wasn’t a good one for New York City’s construction industry, which has come under increasing criticism for taking safety shortcuts under pressure from high-end developers eager to capitalize on the city’s building boom.

I’m not sure that was their intention, but what could make hiring undocumented workers more attractive than passing a law that “prohibits undocumented workers from receiving payments if injured on the job?”

With more plastic-based products on the market than ever before, concern about the work-related risks of the chemicals used to make them is increasing. One of these chemicals is styrene, a compound used extensively in plastic and rubber for cars, food packaging, boats, and many other products.

Cal/OSHA has cited two companies $352,570 for multiple workplace safety and health violations, including ten serious and three willful category violations, following an incident in which a worker lowered into a 50-foot drainage shaft fell to his death. Neither D&D Construction Specialties, Inc. nor Tyler Development, Inc. followed permit required confined space procedures to work in confined spaces.