Employers often approach workplace accidents and resulting OSHA citations as discrete regulatory events — managed by safety teams, resolved through settlement or litigation, and ultimately closed. As many employers come to learn, OSHA inspections and citations frequently serve as the entry point into a much broader and more complex risk landscape—one that can implicate criminal
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 22, 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed Executive Order No. 17, Protecting Workers from Extreme Heat. The Executive Order, which took effect immediately, does not, standing alone, create a new private-sector heat standard. Instead, it directs City agencies to develop multilingual heat illness prevention guidance, adopt heat
Seyfarth Synopsis: Federal OSHA has proposed new rulemakings seek to minimize respiratory protection requirements for employers which may require employers to update practices in 2026.
In June 2026, OSHA has advanced a proposal to amend the Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134) and scheduled virtual public hearings on this and other proposed rulemakings.
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By: Ilana Morady
Cal/OSHA recently issued a revised draft of its general industry workplace violence prevention standard, offering the clearest indication yet of how the Division intends to build on SB 553. Although the rule is not final, the current draft reflects meaningful stakeholder input and signals where compliance expectations are likely headed. Employers should
Seyfarth Synopsis: Virginia passes heat illness statute to develop VOSH heat illness standards regulating private employers by May 1, 2028.
With the federal OSHA heat illness standard in rulemaking limbo, the Commonwealth of Virginia officially joined the growing list of states taking workplace heat illness prevention into their own hands. With the Governor’s approval of
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) has issued a proposed regulation (Section 331.8. Representatives during the Inspection) that allows employees to designate a representative, including another employee, a third party, or the collective bargaining representative, during workplace safety inspections conducted by Cal/OSHA.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health
Seyfarth Synopsis: California and New York will soon be requiring Narcan in some workplace first aid kits. While Narcan provides a meaningful, prompt, and potentially lifesaving response to opioid overdoses, effective implementation of a Narcan program may require employee training and an expanded first aid response structure.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Our OSHA Practice Group wrapped up the final full day of the ABA Workplace and Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee’s Midwinter Meeting in San Juan with sessions that took a deep dive into the future of AI in safety, trial advocacy in OSHA litigation, necessary modernization of longstanding OSHA standards, and the ethical landscape
We are back in San Juan, Puerto Rico for Day 2 of the American Bar Association’s Workplace and Occupational Safety and Health (WOSH) Committee Midwinter Meeting. Today’s sessions featured a diverse mix of experts—behavioral psychologists, management and employee-side attorneys, consultants, and industry representatives—discussing workplace violence, settlement strategies, drug and alcohol challenges, newly-proposed regulations, and broader
We are in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the American Bar Association’s Workplace Occupational Safety and Health committee’s midwinter meeting. Today’s sessions featured panels of employer and defense attorneys, representatives from various non-profit organizations dedicated to workers safety, and state regulatory agencies discussing the impact of recent deregulation, discrepancy in inspections and enforcement, and the