Federal Agencies

Washington – OSHA has awarded $10.5 million in one-year federal safety and health training grants to 80 nonprofit organizations, as part of the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program, the agency announced Sept. 26.

Indianapolis – The preliminary list of OSHA’s Top 10 violations for Fiscal Year 2017 remained largely unchanged from FY 2016, except for one new addition: Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503) entered the list at No. 9 with 1,523 violations, just ahead of Electrical – Wiring Methods (1,405 violations).

Washington – Employers who are found to be acting in “good faith” will have an additional 30 days to comply with OSHA’s Respirable Crystalline Silica in Construction Standard, according to a Sept. 20 memorandum from the agency.

Washington – NIOSH has released an overview of its Healthy Work Design and Well-Being Program, which seeks to improve the “organization of work.”

Washington – The Chemical Safety Board released a set of recommendations Sept. 18 after its investigation into last year’s ExxonMobil refinery fire, which severely burned four workers in Baton Rouge, LA.

Washington – OSHA has stated that it will change some of the processes in its Voluntary Protection Programs, after a Department of Labor Office of Inspector General audit uncovered several weaknesses in recording and reporting systems involving contract workers.

Washington – The House on Sept. 14 passed all of its appropriations bills, including one that would fund OSHA, NIOSH, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. That set of bills, however, likely will not get through the Senate in its current form.

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration is proposing to amend a final rule intended to improve pre-shift examinations of metal and non-metal mines, as well as delay its effective date until March 2, according to separate notices published in the Sept. 12 Federal Register.

Washington – Emergency medical services workers have higher rates of work-related injuries than the general workforce and three times the lost workday rate of all private-industry workers, according to a new fact sheet from NIOSH.

Washington – OSHA is warning employees and employers about the dangers of falling from pallets raised by forklifts in its latest edition of Fatal Facts.