On January 13, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Recommended Practices for Anti-Retaliation Programs, which are intended to allow employees to raise safety issues arising in the workplace without fear of retaliation. The 12-page document sets forth recommendations that apply to private and public employees protected by the more than twenty (20)
Texas District Court Denies Injunction of OSHA’s Final Rule Regarding Post-Accident Drug Testing and Injury Reporting
On November 28, 2016, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied industry employers’ efforts to enjoin OSHA from beginning to enforce portions of OSHA’s May 2016 final rule that purports to prohibit, among other things: 1)
OSHA Releases Final Rule Requiring Employers to Electronically Report Injuries and Illnesses
Rule Also Has Potential Ramifications for Employers’ Post-Accident Drug-Testing Policies
OSHA recently released its Final Rule on the electronic recording and submission of injury and illness records. The Rule has several important provisions of which employers need to be aware, as well as some potential ramifications to long-standing employer practices.
Here are the basic requirements
OSHA Given Green Light to Increase Penalties
On November 2, 2015, President Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act (the “Act”) of 2015 into law. P.L. 114-74. The Act changes the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, enacted at 28 U.S.C. §2461. These little-noticed changes have huge ramifications because they specifically remove OSHA from the list of agencies that are exempt
OSHA Severe Violator Program Finally Has a Way Out
OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs (“DEP”) has determined that employers can get out of the program after three years from the “final disposition” of the inspection items that resulted in placement in the SVEP.
Continue Reading OSHA Severe Violator Program Finally Has a Way Out
OSHA and NIOSH Warn of Silica Dangers in the Fracking Industry
This post was authored by Inna Shelley.
On June 21, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued a Hazard Alert addressing the health risks of exposure to airborne silica for workers employed on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” sites, in a process used to extract
OSHA Finally Releases its Fall Regulatory Agenda
On January 20th, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) finally released its fall 2011 regulatory agenda on its website. It reveals that OSHA’s top priorities include small business review of an injury and illness prevention program rule, a request for information on revision of OSHA’s permissible chemical exposure limits, and a
OSHA Said They Would Increase Fines; They Meant It.
Late last year, OSHA announced in a posting on its website its plan to change its penalty calculation system with the overall goal of increasing fines to deter violations. OSHA stated:
Many of the agency’s current penalty adjustment factors have been in place since the early 1970’s, resulting in penalties which are often too low to