OSHA wants more participation in alliance programs

• Douglas L. Parker, the head of OSHA, recently spoke about the Biden Administration’s priorities and initiatives for the upcoming year at the ABA Occupational Safety and Health Law Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• These priorities encouraged employers to adopt a safety and health-focused culture. OSHA will focus on key components, such as: increasing employer participation through alliance programs and focusing on warehouses.
• OSHA also wants to address fall hazards in both general and construction industries, and silica hazards.
• Increasing employer participation was a common theme throughout Parker’s commentary, who noted that OSHA does not want employers to pass the burden on to employees and expressed renewed interest in prioritizing whistleblower protections and anti-retaliation measures, citing it as an issue of “personal importance.
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Home builders challenge OSHA

• The National Association of Homebuilders challenged the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s delegation of lawmaking power to OSHA as unconstitutional — as it heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The Constitution vests in Congress all the legislative powers of the United States. A principle known as the nondelegation doctrine provides that Congress may not delegate its legislative authority to another branch of government.
• However, the courts have eroded the nondelegation doctrine by allowing Congress to delegate authority to an executive agency if it provides an “intelligible principle” for an agency to follow.
• Congress tasked OSHA with enacting any permanent occupational safety standard it deems appropriate, an extremely broad mandate.
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Florida approves banning water breaks

• The Florida House of Representatives and Senate approved legislation specifically prohibiting local workplace standards requiring drinking water, cooling measures, recovery periods, posting or distributing materials informing workers how to protect themselves, and requiring first aid or emergency responses.
• This measure has been rushed through the state legislature ahead of sine die to preempt local protections set to be voted on in Miami-Dade County.
• The proposed protections in Miami-Dade County would require that outdoor workers have access to drinking water and regular shaded breaks, as well as training on protecting themselves from heat illness, injury, and death.
• The Public Citizen said the legislature should pass the Asuncíon Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, which would direct the OSHA to adopt interim heat standards right now, while the agency continues its years-long slog of adopting a final heat protection rule.
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Course for seafarers offered

• The Canadian Centre for Occupational Safety launched a free online course to help marine industry workers mitigate the risks associated with fatigue at sea.
• Called Fatigue Management at Sea, the course notes that the risk of fatigue is key to understanding how to prevent it.
• Topics covered in the course include life at sea, overview of fatigue; causes and effects of fatigue.
• CCOHS developed the Fatigue Management at Sea course to help inform participants about the hazards of fatigue and to support those working in the industry to implement effective measures to ensure the safety and well-being of seafarers.
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