Construction Safety Articles

On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 13782 that revoked former President Obama’s EO 13673 (the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order) that was originally signed into law on July 31, 2014. Worker safety advocates supported the rule, and see the revocation as a clear sign that Congress and the administration are focused on business interests and not worker safety.

Legislation directed at OSHA seldom makes it through Congress, so when an OSHA bill is signed into law, it gets attention and generates questions. And so it has been with H.J. Res. 83, the “resolution of disapproval” of OSHA’s Volks rule that passed both houses of Congress last month and was signed by President Trump.

Homicide is the second leading cause of injury death among female workers, CDC says. Approximately 43% of women fatally assaulted while at work in 2015 were killed by relatives or partners; for men, the corresponding figure was 2%.

On March 27, 2017, MSHA proposed to delay the effective date of its Workplace Examination final rule for surface and underground metal/nonmetal (MNM) mines from May 23 until July 24, 2017. The delay is connected to the Trump Administration's order on reviewing pending regulations as well as litigation initiated by several industry groups.

President Trump signed H.J. Res 83 into law, blocking the so-called Volks rule that would have allowed OSHA to cite employers for failures to record or for misrecording workplace injuries or illnesses that occurred up to 5 years prior to when the citation is written among other provisions.

Keith Vidal, M.S., P.E., CXLT, is chair of the A1264 Accredited Standards Committee. He shares insight on the A1264.1-2017 standard, which addresses walking and working surfaces.

Safe Work Australia, a national policy body in Australia, has published a report that explores the processes for gathering and communication workplace safety and health performance information to guide organizational decision making. This work ties in well with the work being conducted by Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS), which advocates for integrating occupational safety metrics and performance into an organization’s business model and thinking.

The U.S. Senate voted to eliminate the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order that would have required contractors to disclose and correct serious safety violations in order to compete for federal contracts. A similar measure already passed in the House, and it is expected that President Trump will finalize the move.

OSHA has issued a final rule that lowers workplace exposure to beryllium, a metal material that can cause lung disease. The agency reports that beryllium can become highly toxic when it is processed in a way that releases airborne dust, fumes or mist into air that can then be inhaled by workers.

OSHA's "Sustainability in the Workplace: A New Approach for Protecting Worker Safety and Health" white paper supports the work of the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS) by recognizing the sustainability framework as an opportunity to advance OSH.