House looks to curb OSHA expenditures

• A House appropriations subcommittee approved a bill that would cut the budgets of OSHA, NIOSH, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
• The bill proposes that OSHA receive about $536.9 million for the fiscal year 2024 — a 15.1% cut that begins Oct. 1.
• The Biden administration is seeking $738.7 for the agency – an increase of more than $106.3 million from FY 2023.
• For NIOSH, the bill would allocate $247.7 million – a 31.8% cut from FY 2023. The White House is seeking to leave the agency’s budget steady at $363 million.
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A look at AI injuries, deaths

• Most of the robot-related worker fatalities involve self-powered robots undergoing maintenance, according to NIOSH researcher Larry Layne.
• Latyne examined 1992-2017 data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, identifying 41 robot-related deaths.
• In all, 78% of the cases involved a robot striking a worker, often while it was undergoing maintenance. Stationary robots accounted for 83% of the incidents.
• In addition, 46% of the robot-related worker fatalities occurred in the Midwest, which NIOSH attributes to the use of robots in motor vehicle manufacturing in Michigan and Ohio.
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Proposed rule to clarify personal protective equipment standard

• The U.S. Department of Labor proposed rulemaking to clarify the personal protective equipment standard for the construction industry.
• The current standard does not state clearly that PPE must fit each affected employee properly, which OSHA’s general industry and maritime standards do.
• The proposed change would clarify that PPE must fit each employee properly to protect them from occupational hazards.
• The failure of standard-sized PPE to protect physically smaller construction workers properly has long been a safety and health concern in the construction industry.
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Contractor failed to follow safety requirements in lineman’s fatal electrocution 

• A 32-year-old worker in Miami found the lineman’s employer failed to make certain its crews working near overhead power lines followed required safety measures.
• OSHA found a digger derrick truck used by employees of Concurrent Group LLC was parked beneath energized overhead power lines when the worker began operating the truck’s boom to unload a metal crossbeam.
• As they raised the boom, it contacted the 7,620-volt power line sending electricity through the truck and into the surrounding ground and the lineman jumped from the truck and suffered a fatal electrocution.
• OSHA proposed $40,937 in penalties, an amount set by federal statute.
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