Former employer must pay back wages after retaliation lawsuit
December 6, 2013
A worker at a Maine stone-crushing plant who was fired for making safety complaints will receive $6,000 in back wages, under a settlement reached between his former employer and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
Public comments sought on on agency standards to improve chemical safety
December 6, 2013
OSHA has announced a request for information seeking public comment on potential revisions to its Process Safety Management standard and related standards, as well as other policy options to prevent major chemical incidents.
The government’s regulatory road is long, with many a winding curve – as shown anew in the fall regulatory agenda released last week by the Obama administration. Many of the regulations included have been in the works for years due to a variety of factors: a lengthy rule-making process, industry opposition, and, in some cases, delays by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
More than 70% of major U.S. employers engage in some form of electronic monitoring of workers, tracking their email, Internet use and whereabouts with GPS devices, according to William Staples, a University of Kansas sociologist who has released the second edition of his book, “Everyday Surveillance.”
Proposed FDA rule would also allow poultry companies to handle own inspections
November 25, 2013
A coalition of worker safety and food safety groups is urging the FDA to drop a proposed regulation that would pull government food inspectors from poultry plants and allow companies to conduct their own inspections and speed up production lines.
OSHA this week unveiled four rules it says will reduce unnecessary burdens on employers by updating or rescinding obsolete regulations and requirements. One rule updates and streamlines the standards for the use of mechanical power presses while the remaining three rules from the Employment and Training Administration rescind outdated Foreign Labor Certification regulations for the H-2A, F-1 and H-1A programs.
Occupational safety regulation needs to emerge from the 19th century concept that employers have to right to privately injure employees, and instead use the sunshine of modern public transparency to spotlight employer’s risk based safety performance.
The current administration looks to Saul Alinsky’s “Twelve Rules for Radicals” for their guidance. OSHA has now stepped in this direction and away from safety principles. Their first foray was the Shaming Press Releases.
Statement by Christina Morgan, US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Recommendations Specialist, at a public hearing on Executive Order 13650: Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security, November 15, 2013.
It’s been a long time coming. OSHA first proposed updated standards for electrical power transmission and distribution, and electrical protective equipment in 2005. Final rules were scheduled for release early in 2013. There has still been no final publication, but electrical safety experts say the release date is approaching, based on conversations with DC regulators and the Office of Management and Budget.