Department of Labor to host second worker classification public forum
- The U.S. Department of Labor is hosting two public forums to get feedback regarding worker classification definitions.
- Workers and organizational leaders asked the Labor Department to not make it more difficult for a person to be designated as an independent contractor at the first forum.
- The Department of Labor is using public forums to help establish definitions of “employee” and “independent contractor” under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association encourages its more than 150,000 members to participate.
Dept. of Labor wants to approve Mass. OSHA law
- OSHA wants to approve a new plan for Massachusetts state and local employers and their employees.
- Under the OSHA act, state and local government employers are specifically excluded from federal coverage.
- The act provides for states to assume responsibility for occupational safety and health programs under the state’s own plan, which must be approved by OSHA.
- The plan would cover approximately 6,500 public sector employers and nearly 434,000 public employees throughout the state.
Business ignored OSHA rules in fatal fall
- A 21-year-old roofing worker in Texas suffered fatal injuries after falling about 30 feet through a skylight atop a Houston building.
- The fatality could have been prevented if they had heeded a U.S. Department of Labor citation issued one month earlier.
- Inspectors with the department’s OSHA determined Shielder Ventures LLC – which operates as D&G Quality Roofing – failed to provide the worker with a personal fall arrest system.
- OSHA issued citations for two willful violations for failing to provide fall arrest systems and a serious violation for failing to train employees on using the safety equipment properly.
- D&G Quality Roofing faces proposed penalties totaling $223,341.
OSHA revisions to lead standards
- OSHA has published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise its standards for occupational exposure to lead.
- Recent medical research on workplace lead exposure shows adverse health effects can occur in adults at lower blood lead levels than recognized previously in the medical removal levels specified in OSHA’s lead standards.
- Public input is being sought on modifying current OSHA lead standards for general industry and construction to reduce the triggers for medical removal protection and medical surveillance.
- OSHA asks the public to comment on the lead standards, including blood lead level triggers for medical removal protection, medical surveillance provisions, and permissible exposure limit.