In June 2025, the United States Department of Labor announced a planned expansion of its opinion letter program intended to increase compliance assistance across several agencies including OSHA. The initiative is intended to reinforce OSHA’s commitment to offering valuable compliance assistance for workers, employers, and other stakeholders to help them comprehend how federal labor laws might apply to specific workplace situations. OSHA’s letter of interpretation provide official explanations of the agency’s requirements and how they apply to specific workplace situations and hazardous conditions raised by employers, employees, or other parties.
Read MoreAuthor: John Ho
OSHA Snapshot Updates
Federal Shutdown: As the longest federal shutdown drags onward, OSHA continues to operate on a skeletal staff. With limited exceptions that include the inspection of imminent danger situations, inspection of workplace fatalities, review of whistleblower complaints, and follow up inspections of establishments with high gravity, serious violations, and no abatement, all other non-essential operations have ceased and most of OSHA’s staff have been furloughed. Employers are reminded that the shutdown does not suspend any OSHA related obligations including compliance with safety and health standards and/or contesting citations within 15 working days.
Read MoreChemical Exposures at Work: What Every Employer (and Employee) Should Know
The OSHA Chronicle would like to thank the team at Matrix New World Engineering for its guest blog article.
Whether you’re operating a small print shop, a food processing plant, or an advanced manufacturing facility, chances are your employees encounter a variety of chemicals on a daily basis. Some of these may be obvious, like solvents or disinfectants, while others are more subtle, such as vapors released during routine processes.
OSHA Renews Focus On Amputations In Manufacturing
OSHA recently renewed its national emphasis program focused on preventing amputations in manufacturing, effective June 27. The national emphasis program will remain in place for five years, and programmed inspections may begin on September 25. The renewal of the program is not surprising, given that LOTO and machine guarding are continuously listed in OSHA’s annual Top 10 most frequently cited standards. Amputations are also a common reason why manufacturing employers are required to self-report a severe injury, which typically triggers an OSHA inspection.
Read More7th Circuit Upholds Criminal Convictions Under OSHA
A recent case in the 7th Circuit, upholding the criminal convictions of two supervisors based on their falsification of health and safety records, serves as an important reminder that although uncommon, the Occupational Safety and Health Act does provide for criminal penalties.
Read MoreOSHA Clarifies That Alternative Digital Recordkeeping is Permissible
A recent standard interpretation letter dated April 29, 2025, addressed whether employers may use software-generated documents in place of the OSHA-required injury and illness recordkeeping forms, specifically Forms 300 (injury log) and 300A (annual summary).
Read MoreNYS DOL Publishes Model Policy, Training and FAQs For Retail Workplace Violence Law
As previously discussed on our blog, in September of 2024, New York passed a law requiring retail employers with 10 or more retail employees anywhere in New York to take certain safeguards to protect employees from workplace violence with staggered compliance deadlines. The first deadline of June 2, 2025, required implementing a model workplace violence policy and model training to be published by NYS DOL (or a policy/training that equals or exceeds the model’s standards). On May 29, 2025, NYSDOL released its model workplace violence training policy model training (in both English and Spanish) and FAQs. See here.
Read MoreQ and A With A Former OSHA Assistant Area Director
Today, OSHA Chronicle (“OC”) sits down with safety and health consultant John Bednarik (“JB”).
OC: Hi John. To start, can you share your safety and health background with our readers?
JB: Of course. Prior to starting my own safety and health consultant company which focuses on safety and accident investigations for OSHA compliance in the workplace, I spent 22 years working for OSHA of which 5 of those were as an Assistant Area Director. During my time with OSHA, I conducted approximately 1000 on-site inspections and supervised about another 1000. Approximately 130 of those investigations were fatality cases. I also have been consulting labor law attorneys with their construction cases. Prior to OSHA I was a tool and die maker, tool room manager, plant manager in machine trades for 30 years which served as a segue into Federal OSHA.
Read MoreQuick Hits: OSHRC Down to Zero Commissioners and Heat Illness Update
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is the independent agency that hears ALJ appeals of OSHA citations. OSHRC consists of three members who are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. OSHRC’s only remaining Commissioner, Cynthia Attwood’s term expired April 27 and she has announced her retirement. With her retirement, OSHRC is without a single Commissioner for the first time since the early 1990s when it was without any Commissioners for two months.
Read MoreNew York Enhances Protections for Retail and Warehouse Workers
As the new Administration has emphasized that federal deregulation is a priority, it is expected that many states will step into the anticipated void left by federal labor agencies such as OSHA. Not surprisingly, New York is one of those states.
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