The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced today that it will delay enforcement of the anti-retaliation provisions of the revised recordkeeping regulation until December 1, 2016. This delay is at the request of the Texas Court considering the Complaint and request for injunction filed by several industry groups in Texas. This is the second time that OSHA has delayed implementation of the new regulation.

Employers should plan as if OSHA will begin to enforce the new regulation on December 1 and consider how to revise their post-accident and safety incentive policies.

On May 12, 2016 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final Rule requiring many employers to submit illness and injury data electronically. This provision has been widely publicized and will take effect January 1, 2017. However, the new Rule also contains a much less publicized provision requiring employers to implement reasonable procedures for employees to report workplace illnesses and injuries promptly and accurately. This provision also contains anti-retaliation language providing that no such procedure can deter or discourage an employee from making a report. This provision of the Rule was initially set to go into effect August 10, 2016 but, due to suits filed by various pro-business interests, OSHA has agreed to refrain from implementing this provision until November 1, 2016. In theory, the anti-retaliation provision of the new Rule sounds logical. However, OSHA’s construction of the rule may be less so. Continue reading “OSHA Tries to Make Workers Safer by Making Post-Accident Drug Screens and Safety-Incentive Programs More Difficult to Apply” →

Last week the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an interpretation letter indicating that fainting may be a recordable event even if the loss of consciousness was due to a non-recordable injury.

In the circumstance leading to the interpretation letter, an employee scratched his finger while at work. While a co-worker applied a band aid to the scratch, the “injured” employee saw his own blood and fainted. The employee explained that he cannot stand the sight of his own blood. He did not require any treatment beyond the band aid no other injury occurred beyond the scratched finger. Continue reading “OSHA Says that Fainting at the Sight of Blood is Recordable” →

On June 1, 2015 OSHA issued a Best Practices Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers. The Guidance can be found here.

In short, the Guidance states that employers should allow the employee in question to determine which restroom provides the “most appropriate and safest option for him-or herself.” The guidanc
e also provides some best practices, including that the employer allow, but not require, employees to use single-occupancy gender-neutral facilities and multiple-occupancy gender-neutral facilities with lockable single-occupant stalls. (I suppose we should be grateful that OSHA has not yet recommended multiple-occupant gender-neutral lockable stalls.) Continue reading “OSHA Issues a Transgender Bathroom Usage Guidance” →

In the past, new and used car dealers were among the industries that were generally exempt from maintaining OSHA 300, Injury and Illness Logs and posting OSHA form 300A, Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. However, effective January 1, 2015, OSHA will require both new and used car dealers to maintain OSHA 300 logs and post OSHA 300A logs. Generally OSHA 300 logs deal with recordable, as opposed to reportable, injuries and illnesses. The types of instances that must be included on the OSHA 300 logs can be found at 29 C.F.R. 1904, et seq. Continue reading “OSHA Regulations Expanded to Require Automobile Dealers to Maintain OSHA 300 Logs” →