Seyfarth Synopsis: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) have published their 2025 increases to civil penalties. We have blogged previously about the annual adjustments to the maximum civil penalty dollar amounts for OSHA and EPA violations. The agencies have now finalized the 2024 inflation adjustments, which increase the ..read more

Seyfarth Synopsis: Ongoing wildfires in Southern California trigger Cal/OSHA regulations that require employers to train and protect employees from wildfire smoke. The regulation applies to most outdoor workplaces, requiring employers to provide N95 respirators at certain AQI trigger levels, effective communication, and training on wildfire smoke hazards. Devastating and fast-moving wildfires have destroyed thousands of ..read more

Seyfarth Synopsis: Continuing its assault on commonly used chemicals that pose risks to human health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) issued (but has not yet published in the Federal Register) bans on Trichloroethylene (“TCE” or “Tri”) and Perchloroethylene (“PCE” or “Perc”) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).  The bans were first proposed ..read more

Seyfarth Synopsis: With another dramatic reversal from a pro-labor Democratic administration to a second Trump administration, we anticipate that OSHA is likely to pivot away from its current enforcement-heavy agenda to a greater emphasis on cooperation with the business community. As we try to anticipate the shifts of a second Trump administration, supported by a ..read more

By Adam R. Young, Patrick D. Joyce, A. Scott Hecker, and Craig B. Simonsen Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA recently unveiled an online tool allowing the public to access severe injury reports, injury trends over time, geographic trends, and trends specific to each employer. OSHA’s new Severe Injury Report dashboard allows the public to search and download data by year ..read more

By Patrick D. Joyce and Ilana Morady, Seyfarth Synopsis: A new rulemaking is underway at the California Department of Industrial Relations that will allow Cal/OSHA to cite employers for “enterprise-wide and egregious” violations, implementing a 2021 law signed by Governor Newsom. Cal/OSHA will convene an advisory committee on August 19, 2024 to solicit input. Background California employers ..read more

By Patrick D. Joyce, Ilana Morady, and Daniel R. Birnbaum Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 24, 2024, Cal/OSHA’s indoor heat rule was approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and filed with the Secretary of State (SOS), rendering the rule effective immediately. If you’ve been following our postings, you know that last month the Cal/OSHA Standards Board voted ..read more

By Bernard Olshansky and Patrick D. Joyce Seyfarth Synopsis: Expanding a law enacted in 2022, New York’s legislature passed another bill that seeks to limit warehouse-related injuries by requiring employers to establish and implement an injury reduction program, evaluate certain jobs for ergonomic injury risks, correct risk factors, and provide injury reduction training. Background: New York State’s Commitment to Warehouse Worker Protection In 2022, New York State passed the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (2022 WWPA). The 2022 WWPA requires covered companies to ..read more

By Adam R. Young, Daniel R. Birnbaum, and Craig B. Simonsen Seyfarth Synopsis: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) Hazard Communications (“HazCom”) Standard was the most frequently cited general industry standard in the past fiscal year.  OSHA recently announced a final rule that will update the current HazCom Standard to require new information on Safety Data Sheets and labels. The updated standard takes effect on July 19. Image from OSHA. OSHA’s HazCom Standard, the most frequently cited general industry standard, is being updated to align w ..read more

By James L. Curtis,  Adam R. Young, and Craig B. Simonsen Seyfarth Synopsis: Numerous business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the Agency’s new walkaround rule. The suit, Civil Action No. 24-271, was filed last week in federal court in the Western District of Texas, challenging the legality of the recent regulation that expanded workers’ rights to bring in outside representatives during OSHA safety and health inspections. The new OSHA walkaround rule expands the scope of who may lawfully participat ..read more