Construction employers gearing up for new guidelines

• OSHA has new enforcement initiatives for 2023 that will potentially have a direct impact on the construction industry.
• These new initiatives are primarily directed at preventing trenching and excavation fatalities, and heat-related injuries and illnesses.
• States are required to adopt the federal policies and procedures to enforce the new initiatives or provide written confirmation of different, but equally effective, policies and enforcement procedures.
• OSHA reported that during the first half of 2022, at least 22 workers perished while performing excavation and trenching activities.
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Employers voice concerns over proposed rules for workplace violence

• An OSHA report outlined employers’ concerns about a proposed federal rule aimed at preventing workplace violence incidents in hospitals that could duplicate or conflict with existing accreditation requirements.
• Employers are also worried that OSHA’s definition of workplace violence would be too broad if it included verbal threats.
• The workplace violence rule would cover hospitals, mental health providers, nursing homes, and social service providers.
• OSHA has yet to issue the text of the draft rule but has outlined potential requirements for the standard.
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Push to cut down on workers’ suicides

• Suffolk Construction in Boston wants to make mental health and suicide prevention training mandatory for workers.
• Suffolk CEO John Fish and retired Brig. Gen. Jack Hammond sent a joint letter to OSHA, asking that suicide awareness and prevention be made a core training requirement for all workers.
• The construction industry has the second highest rate of suicide deaths in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Industry leaders say the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy have added even more pressure on workers and resulted in higher rates of substance abuse, adding urgency for the industry to address mental health.
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OSHA wants better medical management of workers

• OSHA is being proactive toward workplace ergonomic hazards by focusing on the medical management of employee injuries.
• Alleged medical mismanagement at an Amazon facility consisted of delaying evaluation, care, and/or treatment of injured workers from a medical provider beyond the onsite medical representatives.
• It also entailed prematurely returning injured workers to their regular jobs, which allegedly resulted in worsening of the injury, exacerbation of pain, and impairing recovery from work-related injuries/illnesses that required medical treatment.
• In 2016, OSHA issued a GDC citation to a poultry processor based on alleged medical mismanagement of unidentified employee injuries.
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