What to Expect from OSHA in 2020

Reported today on Industry Week
For the full article visit: https://www.industryweek.com/safety/what-expect-osha-2020
What to Expect from OSHA in 2020
Proposed rulemakings and initiatives stand out on the agency’s agenda.
Don’t expect the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to slow down as it enters the fifth decade of its existence, following a year of heightened activity in support of its workplace safety mission.
An agency of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), OSHA spent 2019 increasing its number of employer inspections and pursuing new rulemakings and programs. In fiscal year 2019, It conducted 33,401 inspections -more inspections than the previous three years -addressing violations related to trenching, falls, chemical exposure, silica exposure and other hazards.
The enforcement numbers do not include 22 state plans which are responsible for covering both private sector and state and local government workers, and six additional states covering only state and local government workers. Those states rely on their own resources and assistance from federal OSHA to enforce both federal and state worker safety laws, and have not yet released their enforcement statistics for this year.
During the same period, OSHA provided a record 1,392,611 workers with training on safety and health requirements through the agency’s various education programs, including the OSHA Training Institute Education Centers, Outreach Training Program and Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. The number of workers that OSHA trained in FY 2019 includes workers from all states, including those with state plans.
OSHA also reported that its compliance assistance programs did more this