OSHA Extends Heat Rule Comment Period

December 2, 2024

 

OSHA Extends Comment Period for Proposed Worker Heat Stress Rule

  • OSHA has extended by 15 days the comment period for the first national workplace heat-stress prevention proposal, to Jan. 14, 2025, according to a notice published by the Labor Department Wednesday.
  • The agency also said it was scheduling an informal public hearing on this proposed rule, beginning on June 16, 2025.
  • The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on Aug. 30, 2024.
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Lawsuit Seeks OSHA Records on Amazon Workers Deaths

  • A worker activist has sued the Labor Department to force the release of records surrounding the deaths of three workers at Amazon workplaces in New Jersey in 2022.
  • The lawsuit claims OSHA has failed to respond to a freedom of information act request for documents from the agency’s investigations into the deaths of Rafael Mota Frias, Rodger Boland, and Eric Vadinsky.
  • The plaintiff, Daniel Schlademan, is an organizer a group advocating for better working conditions, Warehouse Life, whose current campaign, #ExposeAmazon, is focused on the worker injury rate at Amazon facilities.
  • New Jersey legislators are currently considering a heat standard bill that the lawsuit maintains might have protected workers like the three who died in 2022 if it had been in place three years ago.
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Ontario Boosts Minimum Fine on Repeat Violators to $500,000

  • Ontario legislators plan to set a mandatory minimum fine of $500,000 for employers repeatedly convicted of fatal and other serious health and safety violations.
  • What would be the toughest mandatory minimum fines in Canada for health and safety violations would apply to employers who are convicted of more than one violation of the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in the serious injury or death of a worker within a two-year period.
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Utah Schools Partner on Occupational Health and Safety Programs

  • Four Utah colleges — Utah State University, Brigham Young University, the University of Utah and Weber State University — have formed a first-of-its-kind partnership to collectively promote their undergraduate occupational and environmental health and safety programs. 
  • The partnership’s effort has included hosting informational sessions for prospective students featuring all four universities, a unified marketing campaign and collaborative management.
  • The schools’ program include a wide swath of disciplines, including industrial hygiene, ergonomics, occupational health psychology, occupational medicine, occupational health nursing, occupational safety and mining safety.
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