The Trump administration’s efforts to weaken a mining safety rule was reversed last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A three-judge panel ruled that allowing mine operators flexibility in when they can conduct inspections of mines for hazardous conditions would violate the Mine Act’s no-less-protection standard.

OSHA has cited Southern Tire Mart LLC – based in Columbia, Mississippi – for failing to protect employees from serious safety hazards after a worker suffered fatal injuries while attempting to mount a monster truck tire rim at the company’s retreading facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The company faces $341,195 in fines.

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In OSHA’s 48-year-old history, the agency has experienced desperate hours on a regular schedule. The agency opened its door in 1971. Before the decade was out a “STOP OSHA” lobbying movement was underway. In 1979, Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania proposed an “OSHA Improvements Act” which would have exempted from inspections all employers, large or small, regardless of industry, with good safety records. It was defeated in 1980.

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A Maine contractor who was indicted on manslaughter charges after the death of an employee – his own half-brother – maintains that he is not culpable because his workers are not his employees and he cannot compel them to use fall protection. Shawn D. Purvis, owner of Purvis Home Improvement Co. in Saco, pleaded not guilty to the charges in April.

OSHA has cited both a contractor and the operator of a natural gas processing plant in Houston, Pennsylvania, following a fire that killed one worker and left three others badly burned. The agency cited Energy Transportation LLC, the company contracted to clean lines and vessels at the plant, for violations of the process safety management (PSM) standard, and for exposing employees to flammable vapor and liquid while they off-loaded waste material from a vessel into a mobile tank.

The US Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) investigation into an Oklahoma blowout that killed five workers blames the incident on a lack of regulations governing onshore drilling safety as well as shortcomings in safety management systems and industry standards utilized by the industry. The CSB’s final investigation report into the Pryor Trust gas well explosion in Pittsburgh County calls on regulators, industry groups, the state of Oklahoma and companies to address such gaps.

In a state v. federal fight regarding worker protections, California and the bus industry are butting heads over hours of service (HOS) regulations. The latest salvo was fired this week, when California Attorney General Xavier Becerra urged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to deny a petition by the American Bus Association (ABA) that claims California labor protections for bus drivers are preempted by federal law.