Winston’s Environmental Law Update

On July 30, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a proposed rulemaking which would rescind Obama-era illness and injury recordkeeping requirements for covered businesses.

On July 14, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced the creation of a new web-based application that will allow employers to electronically submit required injury and illness data from their completed 2016 OSHA Form 300A. The application will launch on August 1, 2017.

President Trump’s FY 2018 budget proposal proffers a $2.4 billion, or 19.8 percent, cut to the Department of Labor’s annual budget, but the budgets of the two major U.S. workplace safety agencies, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) would only experience relatively small changes under the proposed budget.

As we previously reported, on January 20, 2017, the White House Chief of Staff issued a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies instructing individuals in those positions to take the following steps, in part:

On January 6, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule lowering occupational exposure limits for beryllium.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has agreed to delay until December 1, 2016, enforcement of the controversial anti-retaliation provisions of its recent amendments to its Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illness regulation.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published a final rule amending its regulation on Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Under the final rule, certain employers must now electronically submit annual records of work-related injuries and illness to OSHA. 

The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Environmental and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) has recently taken on new responsibilities in the area of worker safety.