Kyle W. Morrison

Legislation in the House has the potential to bring the rulemaking process to a virtual standstill, and its effects on occupational safety and health could be huge.

Read about a House bill that could block the development of OSHA’s I2P2 standard and the lessons the agency learns from Europeans in this week’s OSHA Roundup.

A recent House draft appropriations bill that would fund OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration proposes several provisions limiting the agencies’ actions, prompting one congresswoman to ask why.

Although people likely always will disagree about certain DOL practices and regulatory actions, the positive impact the department has had on the country’s workforce is hard to deny.

This week’s OSHA Roundup includes news of BP resolving more than 400 OSHA citations and agreeing to pay $13 million in penalties, and worksites being accused of having crushing hazards and dangerous chemical exposures.

What’s one of the lessons to glean from OSHA action against BP in recent years? According to assistant OSHA administrator Jordan Barab, it’s that “enforcement works.” But does it?

Based on the latest news, OSHA seems to be moving forward with tackling chemical hazards and permissible exposure limits.

Many activities on construction sites are required to have a “competent person” who is knowledgeable about certain hazards and how to mitigate them. However, OSHA’s lack of a specific standard on competent persons has led to some confusion regarding what one former OSHA compliance officer calls “a fairly misunderstood term.”

Eleven months ago, I called it a tragedy that NIOSH’s World Trade Center Health Program was not covering 9/11 first responders’ cancers. Now I’m glad to report things may be changing.

Here at Safety+Health, we cover various aspects of federal OSHA, such as the agency’s budget outlook, actions affecting enforcement activities, and ongoing issues the agency is struggling with. But federal OSHA is only half the equation.