Federal Agencies

Washington — Embattled Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta announced his resignation July 12 amid the fallout over his involvement in financier Jeffrey Epstein’s plea deal in a 2008 sexual abuse case in Florida.

Washington — Questions over how to protect workers from heat-related illnesses took center stage during a July 11 hearing convened by the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

Washington — As emerging technologies continue to impact the workplace, NIOSH is keeping a watchful eye on whether these new materials and processes will create new on-the-job hazards.

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is asking for stakeholder input on how detention – the time a commercial motor vehicle driver spends during loading and unloading – affects roadway safety.

Washington — NIOSH is looking for inventors, researchers and respirator manufacturers to partner on a project intended to develop new designs for powered air-purifying respirators for health care workers.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration is extending to July 2022 the deadline for comment on a Request for Information concerning a retrospective study of the agency’s respirable coal mine dust rule.

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on draft risk evaluations for two chemical substances that are among the first 10 slated for evaluation for potential health and environmental risks under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, according to a notice published in the July 1 Federal Register.

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is now eyeing July 31 as the publication date for a proposed rule the agency says would add flexibility to hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers, according to a Department of Transportation regulatory update released in June.

Washington — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has vacated a 2018 amendment to a 2017 Mine Safety and Health Administration rule that allowed a competent person to inspect the workplace as miners began work rather than prior to a shift – a decision United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts calls “a victory for miners everywhere.”

Washington — Alarmed by a recent spike in cases of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a deadly but preventable condition commonly known as black lung, union presidents Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers of America and Leo Gerard of United Steelworkers have sent a letter to Mine Safety and Health Administration leader David Zatezalo requesting stricter regulation of respirable silica dust.