Just days after OSHA rushed its final “Electronic Recordkeeping” regulation into OMB review, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against OSHA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Public Citizen concerning OSHA’s suspension of requirements in its “electronic recordkeeping” regulation.

Cal/OSHA on October 18 issued a notice of emergency regulation that would require certain employers to electronically submit their summary of recordable workrelated injuries and illnesses covering calendar year 2017 to federal OSHA by December 31, 2018.

A blistering new report by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) says that OSHA’s revised fatality and severe injury reporting requirements are failing to produce accurate data, which hinders the agency’s ability to effectively target compliance assistance and enforcement efforts.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is in favor an electronic submission requirement in OSHA’s proposed rule for the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses – but it wants a worker privacy study conducted before the rule is finalized. In a letter sent to the agency’s Director of Technical Support and Emergency Management, Amanda Edens, AIHA Director of Government Relations Mark Ames offered recommendations on the rule.

For the fourth time in the past decade, Dominion Energy Ohio has received the American Gas Association (AGA) Safety Achievement Award for excellence in employee safety. The award recognized Dominion Energy Ohio's 2017 employee safety performance. The award is natural gas utility industry trade group's highest employer safety honor.

Numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put electrical line workers among the top ten most dangerous jobs in the United States. The job of a lineman is fraught with dangers. Utilities are targeting a zero fatality rate, but about 3 million nonfatal recordable incidents were reported in 2014.

In a recent address to attendees of the National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt expressed the hope that a “turning point” was just ahead in the sometimes-rocky relationship between OSHA and the industry.

Some years ago, I sat in a boardroom full of health & safety professionals who were all scratching their heads, determined that there must be a better way to make safety information free and accessible for public use. Questions were fired back and forth across the table, like: “Why can’t we have one place to go to get all the policies, best practices and legislative guidelines instead of having to reinvent the wheel?”

OSHA has announced that it will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will remove provisions of the "Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses" rule requiring companies with 250 or more workers to electronically submit data from the OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses and OSHA 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report.

Viral illnesses, seizures, musculoskeletal problems, and eye injuries were among the health problems that seafarers far from land sought medical help for from January 2014 to July 2016, through a telemedicine company that serves shipping companies and their workers.