Revised rules for employees to act as representatives 

• The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to revise regulations regarding who can be authorized by employees to act as their representatives to accompany OSHA compliance officers during physical workplace inspections.
• The proposed rule clarifies that employees may authorize an employee, or they may authorize a non-employee third party if the compliance officer determines the third party is reasonably necessary to conduct an effective and thorough inspection.
• The proposed changes also clarify that third-party representatives are not limited to industrial hygienists or safety engineers, two examples included in the existing regulation.
• Third-party representatives may be reasonably necessary because they have skills, knowledge or experience that may help inform the compliance officer’s inspection.
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OSHA fines Bucks County company for balcony collapse

• OSHA proposed an $18,000 fine to a Pennsylvania contracting company for alleged violations after a deadly balcony collapse in Sea Isle City earlier this year.
• In February, Jose Pereira was working at the Spinnaker Condominium Complex when an eighth-floor balcony above him collapsed and left him dead.
• Ferguson Contracting in Yardley, Pennsylvania, was cited for “failing to furnish employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”
• OSHA said the contractor also failed to identify and evaluate the respiratory hazards in the workplace and had no written hazard communication program at the work site, including safety data sheets for chemicals that employees used.
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Worker killed in industrial accident

• One person died Monday and an investigation got underway after an industrial accident at a recycling center in Boxboro, Massachusetts.
• Boxboro police said an initial call reported the accident at Roof Top Recycling in town, where police said a person was crushed by machinery.
• Police said the injured person was airlifted to UMass Memorial Hospital and later pronounced dead.
• The incident remained under investigation by OSHA, Boxboro police, Massachusetts State Police, and the state Division of Occupational Licensure.
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Connecticut improves access to workers’ comp for firefighters

• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law making it easier for firefighters who develop cancer to receive workers’ compensation. It will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2023.
• The approved law creates a presumption during the review process of a workers’ compensation claim that a firefighter’s cancer diagnosis is a result of their hazardous jobs unless proven otherwise.
• Creating this presumption will make it more difficult for firefighters to have these claims denied.
• It applies to any uniformed member of a paid municipal, state, or volunteer fire department, as well as local fire marshals, deputy fire marshals, fire investigators, fire inspectors, and other and investigators.
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