OSHA is years away from issuing a federal heat standard that would protect workers. Advocates say it is dire now.
Amid a punishing global heat wave, the U.S. agency that sets workplace safety standards is likely many years away from issuing a federal rule that would
Amid a punishing global heat wave, the U.S. agency that sets workplace safety standards is likely many years away from issuing a federal rule that would protect workers from dangerously high temperatures, experts and a former agency official said.
The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration began the process of creating such a regulation in October but is bogged down by a lack of resources, strong industry opposition and bureaucratic procedures that can span decades, Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official, said.
“All of those create huge barriers to getting things done in a reasonable time frame,” said Barab, who was OSHA’s deputy assistant secretary of labor in the Obama administration.
The agency is early into its rule-making process, which can take 15 months to 19 years from start to finish and averages more than seven years, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The report published in 2012 cited procedural requirements, shifting priorities and a rigorous standard of judicial review as the major roadblocks.
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