OSHA?s National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) Meets to Discuss Reports and Regulatory Updates

The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) met on June 15, 2016 in Washington, D.C. On the agenda were general updates from OSHA and NIOSH, as well as updates on some recent rulemakings. Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary at OSHA, gave an update on recent OSHA activity. A final construction rule has been released, as well as a Beryllium rule. At the request of the current administration, OSHA will be increasing emphasis on criminal referral for fatalities in the workplace. Finally, OSHA will increase penalties on August 1, 2016 to reflect inflation that has occurred since the last update in 1990. Penalty costs will increase by about 78%. NIOSH’s Director, Dr. John Howard, updated the committee on several NIOSH programs. Of relevance were several programs designed to improve worker safety and health and prevent injury and illness in the workplace, as well as a surveillance program, designed to improve identification and tracking of workplace injuries, illnesses, hazards, deaths and exposures in the US. NIOSH has funded several states for the purpose of collecting and tracking data for occupational safety and health surveillance. Amanda Edens of OSHA discussed the final rule to improve tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses and its relevance to temporary workers. In most cases, the host employer, if they supervise temporary workers on a day-to-day basis, will be responsible for recording injuries and illnesses involving temporary workers. Sign up to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.