Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
OSHA Update: All Quiet Now, But DOGE is Coming
OSHA Update: All Quiet Now, But DOGE is Coming
ByJordan Barab
MAR 21, 2025
If you closed your eyes and cleared you mind…you might think we were experiencing a typical Republican administration over at OSHA. We have a fairly moderate, moderately pro-labor Secretary of Labor, and a health and safety professional nominated to head OSHA. OSHA’s Deputy (and current acting Assistant Secretary) is also a health and safety person, having served at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
And so far, no RIFS, no standards or proposals withdrawn. Several documents were disappeared, but most have resurfaced again. … But don’t let down our guard, because all that may be about to change…and drastically.
Walberg to DOL: Please Stop Doing Anything
On Wednesday, House Education and Labor Chairman Tim Walberg sent a letter to newly confirmed Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer urging her to engage the DOL time machine to take us back to January 19, 2017. The letter requests that Chavez DeRemer “rescind or withdraw” several “burdensome regulations.” All in the spirit of “improv[ing] the lives of workers, job seekers, and retirees.”
What are the “burdensome” OSHA regulations?” Basically every final regulation and proposed health and safety standard issued by the Biden administration.
The regulations that Walberg and Congressional Republicans would like to eliminate are the walkaround regulation, which allows workers — even non-union workers — to choose their own walkaround representatives as long as they are “reasonably necessary to the conduct of an effective and thorough physical inspection of the workplace,” even when the walkaround representative is not an employee of the establishment. Previously, with a few exceptions, only unionized workers could choose non-employees to be their walkaround representatives.
{snip}
ByJordan Barab
MAR 21, 2025
If you closed your eyes and cleared you mind…you might think we were experiencing a typical Republican administration over at OSHA. We have a fairly moderate, moderately pro-labor Secretary of Labor, and a health and safety professional nominated to head OSHA. OSHA’s Deputy (and current acting Assistant Secretary) is also a health and safety person, having served at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
And so far, no RIFS, no standards or proposals withdrawn. Several documents were disappeared, but most have resurfaced again. … But don’t let down our guard, because all that may be about to change…and drastically.
Walberg to DOL: Please Stop Doing Anything
On Wednesday, House Education and Labor Chairman Tim Walberg sent a letter to newly confirmed Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer urging her to engage the DOL time machine to take us back to January 19, 2017. The letter requests that Chavez DeRemer “rescind or withdraw” several “burdensome regulations.” All in the spirit of “improv[ing] the lives of workers, job seekers, and retirees.”
What are the “burdensome” OSHA regulations?” Basically every final regulation and proposed health and safety standard issued by the Biden administration.
The regulations that Walberg and Congressional Republicans would like to eliminate are the walkaround regulation, which allows workers — even non-union workers — to choose their own walkaround representatives as long as they are “reasonably necessary to the conduct of an effective and thorough physical inspection of the workplace,” even when the walkaround representative is not an employee of the establishment. Previously, with a few exceptions, only unionized workers could choose non-employees to be their walkaround representatives.
{snip}