At a recent American Bar Association meeting, Tom Galassi, Director of Enforcement Programs for OSHA, stressed the agency’s continued focus on key enforcement initiatives, such as temporary workers, corporate-wide settlement agreements and the continued use of the severe violator enhancement program (“SVEP”).

Inspection Statistics

Mr. Galassi discussed inspection statistics and noted that OSHA has committed…

The latest issue of our weekly Workplace Safety and Health newsletter is available for viewing and contains the following articles:

Agency Interpretive Letters Not Subject to Rulemaking, High Court Rules. The Supreme Court has held that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) did not need to undergo Administrative Procedure Act (APA)-mandated…

The latest issue of our weekly Workplace Safety and Health newsletter is available for viewing and contains the following articles:

OSHA Issues Enforcement Guidance for HazCom Compliance on Mixtures. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has backed up its pledge, made in November, not to cite manufacturers or importers, including product formulators, if they are…

In a memorandum dated January 30, 2015, OSHA announced an update to Appendix A of its “Enforcement Exemptions and Limitations under the Appropriation Act” Directive (CPL 02-00-051) for 2015. Appendix A outlines the list of small employers who are exempted from safety programmed inspection under the “Appropriation Act” exemption.

Under the terms of the Appropriations…

Beginning on January 1, 2015, employers in states with Federal OSHA jurisdiction were required to start reporting to OSHA work-related fatalities (that occur within 30 days of the work-related incident) within 8 hours of learning of the fatality, work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye within 24 hours of the work-related incident.

However,…

Effective January 1, 2015 employers in states with Federal OSHA jurisdiction must report to OSHA all work-related fatalities (that occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident) within 8 hours of learning of the fatality, all work-related in-patient hospitalizations, all amputations and all losses of an eye within 24 hours of the work-related incident.

In order to manage the influx of new reported injuries, OSHA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary, Dorothy Dougherty issued an internal memo to all Regional Administrators on December 24, 2014 outlining interim enforcement procedures for the new reporting requirements.

This twenty some page policy provides Regional and Area offices with instructions for the intake of reports, the input of reports to OSHA’s online database, and the triage of reports that will be inspected and investigated.Continue Reading OSHA Internal Memo Outlines Triage Process for Reported Fatalities & Injuries

The Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (“ACCSH”) is an advisory body that provides advice and assistance to OSHA regarding construction standards. There are 15 members of this advisory committee comprising representatives for employers, employees, federal, state and public representatives. ACCSH generally meets two to four times a year.

ACCSH recently met in December…

On February 20, 2015, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted on new changes to the Heat Illness Prevention regulation. The Standards Board voted 5-1 to approve the proposed amended statute. Marley Heart, Executive Director of the Standards Board, requested the Office of Administrative Review to allow for an early effective date. The…