House Panel Moves Ahead to Codify OSHA VPP

The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee is moving ahead with the markup of several bills aimed at promoting workplace safety.
One bill, H.R. 2844,is a bi-partisan effort to codify OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).
The legislation would require OSHA to use at least 5% of its funds in a fiscal year to carry out the program.
VPP participants must maintain exceptional safety standards. As a result of their investments in safety, program participants are exempt from OSHA programmed inspections, as long as they maintain their high safety levels.
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Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration have confirmed three additional worker deaths in this year, including one attributed to a communicable disease contracted in 2017.
One fatality occurred when a labor fell from a moving pickup truck. The second was a tree trimmer who was struck by a towable, articulating boom lift that rolled down a hill.
In a third reported death — which took place in April 2025, a registered nurse was exposed to tuberculosis in 2017 through patient care in Dearborn, MIOSHA said.
So far in 2025, there have been 28 reported work-related deaths in Michigan. There were 36 MIOSHA-reported deaths in 2023 and 31 overall in 2024; 2009 saw the lowest number in recent years with 24.
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The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is issuing a call for community action on suicides after the number of suicide death suicide deaths ticked up sharply in recent years.
The top five occupational groups among suicide deaths were construction and extraction, transportation and material moving, production, food service, and sales-related fields.
“This is the first time that we can recall that we’ve had more suicides than we’ve had homicides,” LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said the week of March 21. “We’re sitting at 40 suicides year to date; that is more than we’ve ever had at this time.”
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