Washington Update

The White House fiscal year 2017 budget request seeks to eliminate funding for 18 NIOSH Education and Research Centers as well as the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program, claiming the programs have outlived their usefulness. But supporters of the program are speaking out.

Almost every OSHA rule is reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget before being promulgated. Why do those reviews often take so much longer than the 90 days they are supposed to take?

OSHA goes into an unusual amount of detail as it seeks to justify its direction and agenda in its final budget request of President Barack Obama’s administration.

In a recent congressional subcommittee hearing, lawmakers once again debated the effect of regulation on the economy. But is pitting regulation against economic growth a “false choice,” as one lawmaker suggests?

A standard for tree care workers is back on OSHA’s regulatory agenda – and some in the industry couldn’t be happier.

For the first time in a quarter century, OSHA will increase its maximum penalty amounts. One stakeholder calls the change “long overdue,” while another claims it “seems like it fixes a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Who’s keeping track of the number of inspections OSHA conducts each year? Not OSHA – not anymore.

For nearly 40 years, Susan Harwood Training Grant Program funds have helped educate more than 2 million employees on workplace hazard recognition, avoidance and prevention.

Three years ago, a court handed down a decision that restricted OSHA’s ability to cite employers for recordkeeping violations. Now the agency is hoping to work around that decision through a new proposed rule.

OSHA is relying on decades-old information to promulgate its silica rule – or so the argument goes.