OSHA mulling new heat rules under Biden

1. Will OSHA under Joe Biden will impose a new “heat stress” regulation on American businesses?
2. The push for a heat regulation is part of a larger liberal agenda that conveniently dovetails with climate alarmism.
3. The AFL-CIO has been explicit about the link, writing in 2022 that as the “global temperature rises, workers are even more at risk for occupational heat exposures.” That alone is reason to treat the regulation with a healthy dose of skepticism.
4. In August 2023, OSHA issued a framework to give stakeholders a sense of what the heat-stress regulation might ultimately look like.
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Florida grocery store faces OSHA fines

• Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that the operator of a Kissimmee, Florida, grocery store could have prevented a 65-year-old clerk’s fatal fall from a defective ladder by following required safety procedures.
• An OSHA investigation into the May 2023 incident at Kissimmee Meat & Produce Inc. found that the employee fell about 9 feet when a ladder rolled as they retrieved merchandise from the second tier of a storage rack in the store’s warehouse.
• The agency determined the company violated several safety standards, including the exposure of workers to a 9-foot fall hazard by allowing workers to use rolling ladders without locking systems in place and training on how to use the ladder safely.
• OSHA cited the employer for 11 serious violations and proposed $95,315 in penalties.
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Shipyard launches safety system

• Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s newly launched Safety Management System (SMS) could potentially change how the shipyard increases workplace safety.
• The SMS is identified as a formal top-down and bottom-up approach to ensure we are safe to operate and operating safely within a four-pillar framework while producing a safe place, safe people, safe property and material, and safe processes and procedures at all levels of command.
• This provides an avenue to develop, maintain, and improve NNSY’s safety and health management program through mentoring, training, and progress tracking.
• Safety Hazard Boxes are available across the shipyard for employees to report hazards, mishaps and near mishaps.
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Complaints about asbestos in Tennessee health building

• The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation after receiving several complaints about the Hamilton County Health Department building on 3rd Street that might be contaminated with hazardous asbestos.
• The complaints allege that health department and county officials knew about the problem but did not notify employees or visitors to that 3rd Street building.
• Asbestos was being mishandled by maintenance employees, who handled affected areas on tile that were cracking or missing pieces “with heavy human traffic daily on affected tiles.
• It says those maintenance workers and other employees in the building were exposed.
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