Former UPS Safety Chief Tapped to Lead OSHA

The Trump administration has David Keeling to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to congressional records.
He posted the following message on LinkedIn: “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to President Trump for nominating me to be the next OSHA Administrator at the US Department of Labor. It is an incredible honor, and if confirmed, I am excited about the opportunity to work with Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer and Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling to further OSHA’s mission to enhance workplace safety and health,” Keeling said.
Keeling’s LinkedIn profile shows he worked for more than 30 years at UPS, including serving as VP of Global Health and Safety. His most recent corporate position was at Amazon, where he was Director, Global Road & Transportation Safety.
READ MORE

OSHA has stopped enforcing its COVID-19 recordkeeping and reporting requirements, according to a Feb. 5 statement.
However, the agency is still enforcing other recordkeeping and reporting requirements in its Rule for Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (so-called 1904), which requires employers to keep records of work-related injuries and illnesses at their establishments.
The move comes more than three years after OSHA withdrew most of its emergency temporary standard for COVID-19 focused on healthcare workers.
In that December 2021 move, it opted to continue enforcing the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the pandemic.
READ MORE

An Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission administrative law judge (ALJ) last week vacated an OSHA citation of a fall protection violation against New Jersey’s Trinity Solar, saying the agency failed to establish the firm’s noncompliance with the construction industry fall protection standard.
A Trinity Solar employee died from a fall on Oct. 4, 2022 during solar panel installation work at a residence.
According to reports, the worker was wearing a fall protection harness, and Trinity had installed anchor points and rope lines on the home’s roof where panels were being installed.
OSHA argued it was “more likely than not” that the worker fell from the roof rather than the ladder despite the lack of eyewitnesses to the incident. The agency argued that the injured worker “must have been” climbing onto the roof without fall protection when he fell.
READ MORE