The agency will update its guidance on Information Requirements and Chemical Safety Assessment later this year. Its Committee for Risk Assessment also has adopted four opinions on proposed harmonized classification and labeling of industrial chemicals and pesticide active ingredients across Europe.
"Elimination of duplicative and unnecessarily burdensome rules will reduce costs for businesses and allow MIOSHA to focus on enforcing rules that are core to their mission of workplace safety," said Steven H. Hilfinger, chief regulatory officer and Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs director.
OSHA found that the railroad, which provides commuter rail service in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, interfered with the worker's medical treatment and forced him to work in violation of his physician's orders.
On June 20, 2009, the employee submitted a letter to his direct supervisor that addressed alleged safety hazards, specifically, improperly placed extension cords and a lack of sprinkler systems.
OSHA's Birmingham Area Office initiated an inspection Sept. 12 in response to the fatality. The willful violation is failing to install guards to prevent access to the rotating and moving parts of a pre-plate boring machine used to drill holes into railroad ties.
The citation follows an investigation in September, prompted by a complaint, which determined employees were working on top of rail cars without fall protection while preparing the cars for loading of corn and soybeans.
The new requirements for testing and certification become effective in 30 days, but manufactures can make and sell currently approved respirators for the next three years.
The report released Feb. 28 by researchers from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the IU European Union Center is being cited by the American Chemical Council as proof REACH won't work well in the US.
The new policy is geared to enhance the role played by plant workers in determining root causes of incidents and promoting facility safety.
The $222.2 million request includes $3.7 million in base funding for the National Offshore Training and Learning Center, where federal inspectors are being trained.
Both lawsuits allege violations of minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping laws and failure to issue itemized wage deduction statements.
OSHA's Houston South Area Office initiated a safety inspection on Sept. 7, 2011, as a result of several employee complaints, while concurrently conducting a site-specific target inspection.
The final rule was scheduled to take effect May 1, 2012, but it is being delayed 14 months to accommodate railroads' training schedules.
Since 2006, OSHA has conducted five fatality inspections at dairy farms in Wisconsin. Hazards cited have been related to animal handling, tractor rollover protection, and manure pits.
The total is an increase from 2010’s all-time low of 17 deaths. That figure was likely tied, in part, to the economic downturn. In 2009, 31 people died on the job, and in 2008 there were 45 deaths.
Safety and health violations include inadequate lockout/tagout programs, fall protection, and noise sampling, among others. Proposed penalties total $174,600.
They are likely to have a lithium battery large enough that it will be considered hazardous material and shipped accordingly, the agency acknowledged. It granted more time to phase in the new requirement.
“Installing rollover protection on tractors and ensuring all farm workers and children are educated on farm safety practices is critical to reducing farm-related fatalities," said ASSE Agriculture Branch Chair Mike Wolf.
The fines are associated with 26 citations issued by OSHA during the course of six inspections at the San Antonio-based company's various job sites in Texas between February 2007 and December 2010.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin thanked members of the House of Delegates for unanimously passing it Feb. 28 and said he hopes for quick State Senate passage. Its most controversial provisions concern drug testing of miners.