As we get deeper into the second term of President Obama, OSHA’s regulatory agenda is picking up steam.  With the first term focused mainly on increasing enforcement, regulatory initiatives often took a back seat to other initiatives.  Rules that were announced as Agency priorities – such as OSHA’s combustible dust rulemaking and the Injury Illness Prevention Program (“IIPP”) rulemaking – seemed stuck within the halls of the Department of Labor or at the Office of Management and Budget.

Despite this, it seems as though the Agency was busy behind the scenes finalizing its own work on several major rules impacting employers across the country.  We are now starting to see those rules published either as proposed or final Agency regulatory actions.  Just in the last few months, OSHA has published controversial proposals regulating crystalline silica in the workplace and requiring many employers to submit to OSHA their injury and illness logs on a quarterly basis, which the Agency will then post on the internet.  OSHA also just finalized a rule revising its safety standards for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution.  This rule had been under development for over a decade.

By historical standards, this recent flurry of activity on the regulatory front is noteworthy.  However, it is likely that we will see even more regulatory initiatives proposed or finalized over the next few months.  OSHA is looking to finalize a rule that would require employers to affirmatively report to OSHA amputations that occur at the worksite, along with the overnight hospitalization of one employee (instead of the current requirement for reporting for the overnight hospitalization of three or more employees).  Another rule that we could see move involves new health requirements for beryllium.

“All stakeholders need to keep an eye on these new initiatives,” remarks Donna Pryor, a Shareholder in Jackson Lewis’s Workplace Safety and Health practice group.  “Where at first OSHA’s efforts with respect to new rules and regulations lagged behind its enforcement programs, that does not now seem to be the case.”

Stay tuned – there is most assuredly more to come!

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Photo of Bradford T. Hammock Bradford T. Hammock

Brad Hammock is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis, practicing exclusively in the safety and health area. He heads Jackson Lewis’ Workplace Safety and Health practice group.

He joined the firm in 2008 after serving for ten years…

Brad Hammock is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis, practicing exclusively in the safety and health area. He heads Jackson Lewis’ Workplace Safety and Health practice group.

He joined the firm in 2008 after serving for ten years as an OSHA attorney within the Department of Labor including, most recently, for more than three years as lead counsel for safety standards. As lead counsel, Mr. Hammock managed attorneys who worked with OSHA on regulatory initiatives, compliance assistance, and enforcement policy. He had direct responsibility for more than 20 major OSHA regulatory initiatives, including rulemakings on personal protective equipment, confined spaces, and crane safety.

Before his promotion to lead counsel, Mr. Hammock worked as a regulatory attorney for OSHA, focusing on ergonomics. He was one of the lead attorneys during the development of the OSHA ergonomics standard in 2000 and had primary responsibility for the Department of Labor’s comprehensive approach to ergonomics in 2002. Mr. Hammock is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most experienced attorneys on ergonomics.

Education

  • University of Virginia/Bachelor of Arts in American Government/1992
  • Syracuse University College of Law/Juris Doctor, magna cum laude/1996

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia