Senate confirmation of David Keeling, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, began on June 6, 2025. The testimony, given during the first week of his...more
On June 5, 2025, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget....more
6/18/2025
/ Budget Cuts ,
Congressional Committees ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Budget ,
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) ,
OSHA ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration ,
Workplace Safety
The hearing on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings Standard began on June 16, 2025. The hearing is the third step in what...more
6/18/2025
/ Expert Testimony ,
General Duty Clause ,
Health and Safety ,
Heat Exposure ,
NIOSH ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Hearing ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safety Standards ,
Workplace Safety
Measles has seen a resurgence in the United States in 2025, with significant outbreaks reported, particularly in Texas and New Mexico. As of June 3, 2025, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s U.S. Measles...more
6/11/2025
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Popular ,
Public Health ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On June 2, 2025, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling announced a renewed and expanded commitment by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to the issuance of interpretation letters—commonly referred to as opinion letters...more
Every safety professional has an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation he or she cannot stand, believes is a waste of time, energy, and/or money, or considers outdated and antiquated.
Even the...more
Since Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) first introduced the “Nullify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act” or “NOSHA Act” (H.R. 86), there has been immense speculation about the future of the Occupational...more
“The Times They Are a-Changin’” isn’t just a Bob Dylan song title—it is also a fairly accurate description of what has been happening in the arena of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the...more
This is a continuation of the eleventh installment in a series of articles intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and...more
2/26/2025
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Administrative Procedure ,
Appeals ,
Citations ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
OSH Act ,
OSHA ,
OSHRC ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) first introduced the “Nullify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act” or “NOSHA Act” in November 2021, legislation aimed at abolishing the Occupational Safety and Health...more
2/20/2025
/ Administrative Authority ,
Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OSH Act ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Legislation ,
SCOTUS ,
U.S. House ,
Workplace Safety
This is the eleventh installment in a series of articles intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health...more
2/12/2025
/ Citations ,
Employee Rights ,
Enforcement Actions ,
OSHA ,
OSHRC ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Safety Standards ,
Safety Violations ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
The second term of President Donald J. Trump started with a flurry of executive orders, presidential memoranda, and directives, some of which were signed on January 20, 2025, shortly after he took the oath of office....more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have long cooperated with each other and have renewed their commitment to cooperation in a December 2024 memorandum of...more
1/27/2025
/ Chemicals ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Information Sharing ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
OSHA ,
PFAS ,
Risk Management ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Workplace Safety
On December 11, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a statement that it had finalized a rule amending 29 C.F.R. 1926.95(c) to require construction employers to make personal protective...more
In May 2023, in the wake of a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that U.S. district courts have jurisdiction to consider structural constitutional claims against administrative agencies, we predicted that the...more
11/8/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Review ,
Compliance ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Jurisdiction ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
OSHRC ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Take Care Clause
Although cannabis remains illegal under federal law, that has not prevented the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) against cannabis-related...more
Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders are the subject of a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study that portends an even greater focus by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the...more
On October 15, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new enforcement memorandum related to the animal slaughtering and meat processing industries. This is an expansion of an October 2015...more
This is the tenth installment in a series of articles intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health...more
On September 17, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a statement concerning the proposed revisions to the Fire Brigades Standard (to become the “Emergency Response Standard”)....more
Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) made nearly a decade of serious event reporting data—from January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2023—publicly available for review and study via OSHA’s new...more
This is the seventh installment in a series of articles intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health...more
On May 2, 2024, OSHA issued recordkeeping guidance that provides guidance to Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) when the treatment given is first aid, Active Release Techniques (ART), and/or exercises and...more
This is the sixth installment in a series of articles intended to provide the reader with a very high-level overview of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issues regulations and standards, but those cannot possibly address all workplace health and safety conditions. As a result, OSHA does two things: one is to incorporate...more