OSHA’s beleaguered proposal to reduce silica exposure levels for workers has encountered yet another delay, due to possible public confusion over an error on www.regulations.gov, the federal government's online portal for submitting rulemaking comments.

Advocacy group Public Citizen is characterizing opposition to OSHA’s proposal to require electronic reporting of injury and illness data as corporations worried about being “named and shamed” by the online posting of the data that is part of the proposal.

A new OSHA proposal to create a public data base of workplace injuries and illnesses is receiving immediate opposition from the business community, specifically the manufacturing sector.

OSHA held a web chat last week on its proposed rule on Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica that gave small businesses and other stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions about a proposal that OSHA predicts will prevent thousands of deaths from silicosis, lung cancer, and other diseases among the American workforce. Following are some of the exchanges that took place during the web chat:

OSHA held a web chat last week on its proposed rule on Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica that gave small businesses and other stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions about a proposal that OSHA predicts will prevent thousands of deaths from silicosis, lung cancer, and other diseases among the American workforce.

OSHA fielded some tough questions last week during its web chat on its proposed rule on Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica. Cost concerns popped up frequently during the interactive session, which was intended to provide small businesses and other stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions about a proposal that OSHA predicts will prevent thousands of deaths from silicosis, lung cancer, and other diseases among the American workforce.

Last week the Politico Playbook daily newsletter noted the coming retirement of Rep. George Miller (D-CA) by saying the 40-year veteran of Congress was one of the last of the Democratic “Watergate babies”… “part of a post-Vietnam 70s generation filled with moral certitude.”

I am Tom Lawrence from the St. Louis, MO area.  I have chemical engineering degrees and 43 years’ experience as a safety professional.  I am here today to vigorously oppose this proposed regulation.

Congress is using an omnibus appropriations bill scheduled to be voted on this week to remind OSHA of a 36-year-old Congressional exemption that keeps small farms out of the agency’s regulatory reach. The language added to the bill “makes crystal clear…that OSHA policies and inspectors better get in line with the law,” according to U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.).

OSHA’s proposal to improve the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses will either improve worker safety or pose an undue burden on employers. Those are among the reactions being voiced by safety advocates and industry groups as OSHA holds public meetings on the proposal.