A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
The Incredible Disappearing Security Breach: Hard to know what to say about this. Remember that alleged security “breach” in OSHA’s website that’s collecting injury and illness data from employers covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements? That’s the same database that was supposed to be up in February, with a submission deadline of July 1. It was…
The House of Representatives continued to wage its never-ending war on working people yesterday when the House Rules Committee voted to add 58 mostly anti-worker amendments to an already un-labor-friendly FY 2018 Labor-HHS Appropriations budget bill. That bill, you may remember, slashed the OSHA and MSHA enforcement budgets and eliminated the Susan Harwood Training Grant…
Who’s running OSHA now? Alexandra Berzon of the Wall St. Journal reports that OSHA cut back its reporting of workplace fatalities at the urging of the Chamber of Commerce. (Click here if WSJ link doesn’t work.) Under the Obama administration, “they saw this as a way to scare employers straight,” said Marc Freedman, executive director…
OSHA announced yesterday that it was temporarily shutting down a portal for employers to report injuries and illnesses while the agency investigates a “potential compromise” of a company’s electronic data. Apparently the cyber-sleuths at Homeland Security came up with something: The Homeland Security Department informed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Aug. 14 that…
OSHA has officially announced a proposal to delay the reporting requirements of its “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” recordkeeping rule that was issued last July. The recordkeeping rule simply requires employers already covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements to send the form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) to OSHA and then OSHA…
Milking the Workers? Farm worker advocates have published a survey of mostly undocumented Hispanic workers that describes discrimination and workplace abuse experienced by workers on New York’s large dairy farms. Most of the workers are undocumented. The authors report that nearly half of the workers said they were bullied or intimidated by their bosses, and two-thirds said…
I swear, sometimes I don’t know if I’m reading facts or farce. Bloomberg BNA reports that the Labor Department — yes, the same Labor Department that has delayed implementation of OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping rule — is telling the court that unions should not be allowed to intervene in industry’s lawsuit because the Trump administration and…
Probably hoping no one would notice, OSHA today subtly buried an “Update” deep in its website, announcing that it intends to propose a delay in requirements of its new recordkeeping standard. The target of this latest rollback is a rule issued last year to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” which simply requires employers already covered by…
Democratic leaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would reverse the Republican’s recent repeal of the Volks Rule, an action that keeps OSHA from being able to enforce the accuracy of injury and illness records. Congressmen Mark Takano (CA-41), Joe Courtney (CT-02), and Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of…
The FY 2017 Omnibus Budget bill that was released by Congress today provides a flat overall budget for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and a $2 million cut in the budget of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The standards programs of both agencies were cut, while compliance assistance was increased. Occupational Safety…