OSHA Updates 2022: What You Need to Know

OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) oversees workplace safety regulations. Staying compliant with OSHA standards helps businesses keep their workers safe and helps them avoid expensive penalties from the government.

OSHA's rules and regulations are frequently updated, and keeping up with them can be time-consuming. To help you do this, here's a list of some of the major OSHA updates proposed in 2022. This list is non-exhaustive and not intended as legal advice, so be sure to look further into details and additional changes and consult with qualified legal help to understand how these changes may affect you and your business.

1. Industrial Truck Standards

OSHA is proposing an update to its safety requirements for powered industrial trucks in the general industry and construction categories, including tractors, fork trucks, motorized hand trucks, platform lift trucks, and other industrial trucks with an engine. The update will require these trucks to meet the latest safety requirements set forth by the American National Standards Institute with the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation.

Trucks were first regulated by OSHA in this way in 1971, requiring equipment to follow the industry standards set in 1969. Since then, OSHA's requirements have been updated to reflect the latest standards every few years.

The proposal also includes an alternate method of compliance. If companies can demonstrate that their older equipment is equally safe as new equipment made according to the latest standard, they can be deemed in compliance.

Companies who use powered trucks should look into the new standards to be sure they'll remain in compliance. You can read the full proposal here.

2. Covid-19 Regulations Discussion 

While no new changes have been proposed, OSHA issued a news release stating that it would like to hear comments and testimony during the month of April as they work toward developing a permanent regulatory standard regarding Covid-19 safety. In particular, they stated a desire to enter new information onto the official record regarding the following:

• Alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for healthcare infection control procedures.
• Additional flexibility for employers.
• Removal of scope exemptions.
• Tailoring controls to address interactions with people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
• Employer support for employees who wish to be vaccinated.
• Limited coverage of construction activities in healthcare settings.
• COVID-19 recordkeeping and reporting provisions.
• Triggering requirements based on community transmission levels.
• The potential evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into a second novel strain.
• The health effects and risk of COVID-19 since the ETS was issued.

In the meantime, more information regarding the temporary standard is available here.

3. Federal Occupational Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Regulation Amendments

OSHA is proposing to amend statute 29 CFR 1904.41, which is the existing regulation regarding keeping and reporting records of occupational injury and illness. Currently, this mandates that employers who meet certain requirements must provide information regarding illness and injury to OSHA. These reports are used by the agency to track and adapt to industry hazards. Parts of these reports are also made available to the public.

The proposed amendment would make changes to who must report and to the information that gets reported. Here are some of the most important changes.

Changes to who must report

Currently, the requirement to report applies to:

• Establishments with 250 or more employees.
• Establishments with 20 or more employees who operate in industries on a specific list.

The new rule would apply the requirement to report to:

• Establishments in a specific list with 20 or more employees (this list is altered).
• Establishments with 100 or more employees which operate in industries on a second, broader list.

In effect, some larger establishments may no longer need to report just because of their size, and a greater number of companies in specific industries with at least 100 employees would be required to report.

Changes to what gets reported

Reports would now require the inclusion of the name of the company where the injury occurred.

This aspect of the proposed OSHA mandate is an important consideration, especially when paired with the statement on OSHA's news release that they publish aspects of the reports publicly. This could prove to be a valuable source of ammunition for plaintiffs' lawyers, worker unions, competing companies, or whistleblowers. If the rule is implemented as proposed, companies may wish to be prepared for their OSHA reports being inspected more carefully.

The entire proposal can be read here.

 

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