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Workers face blistering temperatures again, with little federal protection

Jun 10, 2022
The Biden Administration ordered OSHA to draw up workplace heat standards. How soon will they be in place?
Farmworkers and other laborers could suffer in this weekend's heat wave.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Federal rules around COVID and health care workplaces lapse

Dec 29, 2021
Under the requirements, OSHA had issued COVID-specific workplace standards for things like training, respirators and adequate ventilation.
OSHA required health care employers to provide things like training and adequate ventilation, but those protections were temporary.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images

How exactly does OSHA make rules?

Sep 10, 2021
A presidential order requiring a new standard means the pressure's on.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

OSHA issues workplace COVID rules, but they're limited to health care

Jun 11, 2021
There are still no emergency COVID standards from OSHA for other industries like meatpacking and farming.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Biden has his hands full rebuilding a demoralized federal workforce

Mar 8, 2021
There are giant holes to fill, but also a huge pool of people with experience in government who are ready to go.
President Joe Biden tried to shore up federal employees’ morale even before his inauguration. He has substantial restaffing to do, but many former appointees are willing to serve again.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Biden orders OSHA to strengthen COVID-19 safety rules

Jan 22, 2021
The order also asks OSHA to strengthen its workplace enforcement efforts.
An employee wipes down outdoor tables at a restaurant in Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The law that created OSHA was signed 50 years ago this week

Dec 30, 2020
The agency is responsible for the health and safety of about 130 million workers in the U.S., employed at more than 8 million worksites.
Richard Nixon gives the thumbs up as he addresses the White House staff upon his resignation as 37th President of the United States, Washington, D.C., in 1974. His son-in-law, David Eisenhower, is with him on the left.
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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California adopts emergency workplace safety rules for COVID-19

Nov 20, 2020
OSHA has declined to create national rules during the pandemic.
A security guard checks a customer's temperature outside a retail store. Efforts to prevent virus transmission in the workplace are gaining steam.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Republicans propose funding cuts to OSHA during pandemic

Nov 11, 2020
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it has received more than 10,000 COVID-related complaints.
Loren Sweatt, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, responds to questions during a House subcommittee hearing on the federal government's actions to protect workers during COVID-19 on May 28, 2020 in Washington.
Rod Lamkey/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
A worker arrives at a COVID-19 testing site in Long Beach, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images