It’s fairly obvious that we are about to see some major changes take place on Capitol Hill. The mid-term elections have provided the Republicans with total control of both the House and the Senate for the next two years which will alter nearly everything.
Despite his party’s losses in Tuesday’s election, President Obama still has the ability to use his executive authority to enact regulations, and one advocacy group says a silica standard should be among his top priorities.
Dr. David Michaels, five years into his job as OSHA boss and the longest-serving OSHA leader in agency history, gave a state of the OSHA nation report at ASSE’s Safety 2014 conference in Orlando this past June. These were his main talking points:
OSHA took industry and EHS professionals by surprise late Friday by announcing what some call a long-overdue proposed rule to lower worker exposure to crystalline silica – a substance that causes cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease in those who are exposed to it.
The Senate’s grudging confirmation of Tom Perez as Secretary of Labor was the first piece of good news working people have had out of the federal government for quite some time.
AFL-CIO Health and Safety Director Peg Seminario told a U.S. Senate committee on Thursday that the current system for developing and issuing worker and workplace safety rules is: A broken and dysfunctional system, which is failing to protect workers and costing workers’ lives.
The 2013 spring agenda published by White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier this month fails to show a strong commitment to advancing public health, safety or environmental protections, according to the Center for Effective Government, a D.C. watchdog group.
