OSHA Citations in 2023 and Understanding the New Enforcement Guidance
On November 2, 2015, The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act was passed in Congress. Under the Act, agencies, including the Department of Labor, are required to annually adjust civil monetary penalties to account for inflation. The Department calculates the adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U), utilizing the change […]
OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Heat-Related Hazards
Earlier this year, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) released its National Emphasis Program (NEP) on Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards. The stated aim of the NEP is to “identify and eliminate or reduce […] occupational heat-related illnesses and injuries” by focusing on specific industries where such hazards exist. In the past, heat-related inspections […]
2022 OSHA Regulatory Agenda & Strategy – Emphasis Areas and Focus
Each year, OSHA releases guidance regarding its regulatory agenda and areas of focus. It is important to stay up-to-date with OSHA’s emphasis programs to ensure your facility maintains regulatory compliance. OSHA’s regulatory agenda and recently published Site-Specific Targeted Inspections guidance help provide insight into regulatory areas that this year’s inspections will focus on. This information […]
2022 OSHA Injury Recordkeeping – Reporting and Key Requirements
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordkeeping regulation requires employers with 10 or more employees in certain industries to routinely maintain “OSHA Logs.” To identify if your industry requires you to prepare and maintain OSHA logs, you can reference the full list of exempt industries here. These logs are used to record serious occupational […]
Supreme Court Blocks ETS…Now What?
As has been widely reported, on Wednesday, January 13, the Supreme Court has reinstated the injunction or “stay” blocking enforcement of the OSHA Vaccine/Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) by a 6-3 decision. This decision by the Supreme Court makes it very unlikely that the ETS will ever be enforced before it would be due to […]
OSHA Vaccine/Testing ETS Now in Effect
The OSHA Vaccine/Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is now in effect following the decision by the 6th Circuit Court to lift the injunction blocking implementation on December 17. Following an immediate appeal of the decision by the 6th Circuit Court to reinstate the ETS, the Supreme Court has decided to take the case and will […]
Update on the OSHA Vaccine/Testing ETS
On Friday, November 5, 2021, Federal OSHA published a new Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) related to Covid-19. The ETS included several new requirements for all applicable employers in Federal OSHA states. For the facilities in states with state-operated OSHA programs, the state program would be legally required to adopt the Federal standard or an equivalent […]
OSHA’s Fatal Four– A Step Towards the Prevention of Serious Injuries and Fatalities
The need to focus on the prevention of the most tragic of injuries, life-changing injuries and fatalities, has become clear. Although non-fatal injury rates continue to decrease, the rate of occupational fatalities has flat-lined over the past 10 years and the actual number of fatalities has increased over the past five years. Current fatality rates […]
What You Need to Know About the Texas Stormwater Permit Renewal
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has issued the new Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) TXR050000 for industrial facilities, effective August 14, 2021. This permit applies to a broad range of industrial sectors and includes most manufacturing facilities. Facilities with an existing permit must apply to renew their coverage within 90 days of the new […]
OSHA Inspections – The General Duty Clause
While you may be familiar with OSHA inspections that result in violations of 29 CFR 1910, 1926, 1904, etc., have you experienced a citation that references the General Duty Clause? Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 is commonly known as the General Duty Clause. It states, in part: “(a) […]