New union rules will impact workplaces

• OSHA moves forward with plans to conduct a rulemaking that will result in union officials being able to accompany OSHA inspectors on walk-around inspections at non-union locations.
• In an opinion piece, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asserts that the presence of a union agent at a non-union workplace would immediately change the nature of the inspection from one focused on workplace safety to one driven by the union’s agenda.
• Unions already frequently use the OSHA complaint process as a weapon against employers, particularly in so-called corporate campaigns.
• Allowing the union agent into the workplace that is a union target would facilitate the union agent’s biased, non-workplace safety agenda, which is to find problems in the employer’s workplace that can be exploited for the purposes of organizing or pressuring the employer.
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More help needed for meat, poultry workers

• OSHA is developing an infectious disease standard for healthcare workers, but not for meat and poultry workers.
• In 2020, OSHA found that the COVID-19 risk to workers at one large meat plant was more than 70 times higher than to the state’s general population.
• OSHA increased meat and poultry plant inspections in the first year of the pandemic but faced enforcement challenges.
• Officials told Government Accountability Office their ability to protect workers was limited because existing standards did not target COVID-related hazards, such as jobs requiring workers to stand in close proximity.
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OSHA has partners to modernize safety initiatives

• The American Society of Safety Professionals will be collaborating with the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association to advance workplace safety and health, with a focus on assisting OSHA in modernizing and expanding its longstanding Voluntary Protection Programs.
• The agency’s efforts recognize employers and workers in private industry and federal agencies who have implemented effective safety and health management systems and maintain injury and illness rates below national Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for their respective industries. ‘
• The agency recently announced that it is revamping the programs.
• ASSP said its partnership, which comes with an 18-month memorandum of understanding, will help provide OSHA with a framework that identifies components of occupational safety and health management system consensus standards that meet requirements for VPP qualification and prequalification.
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Dallas-area Family Dollar store fined $294K, cited in over 500 inspections since 2017

• OSHA found a Family Dollar store in southeast Van Zandt County that allowed merchandise to block storeroom exits and walkways, stacking boxes at unsafe heights and failing to ensure quick access to fire extinguishers.
• The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to Family Dollar Stores of Texas LLC, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., for three repeat violations and proposed $294,657 in penalties.
• The findings in this inspection are similar to those OSHA cited at a Dollar Tree store in Mount Pleasant in September 2022 that led to $254,478 in proposed penalties.
• Since 2017, OSHA has issued citations to Dollar Tree Inc. for violations in more than 500 inspections at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in the U.S. In all, OSHA has identified more than 300 violations at stores operated by one of the nation’s largest discount retailers.
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