Volunteer Groups Could Get OSHA Standard Relook

OSHA is reviewing its emergency response rulemaking and said it may exclude voluntary emergency response organizations based on economic feasibility concerns submitted to the rulemaking docket.
In its Wednesday announcement, the agency said the comments provided crucial information that it did not have earlier in the rulemaking process.
“This new information will help the agency make the necessary determinations about whether the proposed standard is feasible for volunteer organizations,” the statement read.
The announcement indicated that while the initial rulemaking comment period has closed, stakeholders are encouraged to continue to provide relevant information and data at the public rulemaking hearing scheduled to begin on Nov, 12, 2024, and during the post-hearing comment period.
Details are posted on the Emergency Response rulemaking webpage (here),.
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A former employee of the operator of the Titan submersible, which imploded in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2023, testified that OSHA failed to pursue his whistleblower claims, which might have prevented the tragedy.
Testifying Tuesday in a U.S. Coast Guard hearing, David Lochridge, ex-Marine Operations Director for OceanGate, recounted numerous safety violations and his rocky relationship with his former employer.
“In my opinion, OSHA failed not only my family, financially and emotionally, but stood by and did nothing to prevent further acts from OceanGate whilst under the Seaman’s Protection Act. I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised, this tragedy [Titan implosion] may have been prevented,” he said, reading from a statement.
Lochridge filed an OSHA complaint under the Seaman’s Protection Act (SPA) following his termination in January 2018 and was placed under the Whistleblower Protection Program for 10 months.
While he said that evidence he collected during his time as chief of marine operations, including an engineering report from 2018 detailing several mechanical issues with the Titan at the time, was turned over to OSHA, the agency never contacted witnesses regarding the evidence.
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A New Jersey steel fabrication company has claimed that the US Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission unconstitutionally insulates its members from removal.
In a suit filed in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on Tuesday, Kenric Steel said that the panel violates the US Constitution’s separation powers.
Kenric’s challenge focuses on the appointment of OSHA administrative law judges and the process to remove them.
The matter stems from an earlier OSHA inspection in which Kenric received a fine of more than $348,000 after being issued a citation for four willful and seven serious violations.
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Amid some of the most severe U.S. wildfires on record, NIOSH on Sept. 13 released a draft hazard review for wildfire smoke.
The agency said wildfire smoke has become an increasingly widespread and potentially serious threat to public health in recent years
In particular, farmworkers and other outdoor workers spend hours in work environments where traditional exposure control measures are hard to implement.
“This hazard review will close the gap in our knowledge about how exposure to wildfire smoke impacts outdoor workers,” NIOSH Director John Howard, MD, said in a statement.
The review comes as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is testing what it says is the first respirator developed specifically for battling wildfires.
Comments on the NIOSH draft hazard review are due November 12.
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