Workplace Safety and Environmental Law Alert Blog

Seyfarth Synopsis: As of February 3, 2025, California’s COVID-19-specific workplace regulations will expire, though employers must still track COVID-19 cases until February 3, 2026. Cal/OSHA can enforce COVID-19 as a workplace hazard under the Injury Illness Prevention Program standard, making it prudent for employers to consider infectious disease prevention in their IIPP.

Since 2020, California

Seyfarth Synopsis: Once again, employers are required to submit OSHA Forms 300, 301 and 300A online via OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA).

OSHA requires some employers to upload 2024 OSHA Form 300 log, Form 300A Summary, and Form 301 Incident Report information to its Injury Tracking Application (ITA) by March 2, 2025. Users may manually enter

OSHA enforces almost 1,000 standards and tens of thousands of individual regulations related to General Industry, Construction, Maritime, and other industries. Once again, OSHA released its preliminary data for the top ten most frequently cited standards for FY 2024 at the National Safety Council Safety Congress & Expo. Final FY 2024 data will be

Seyfarth Synopsis: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) have published their 2025 increases to civil penalties.

We have blogged previously about the annual adjustments to the maximum civil penalty dollar amounts for OSHA and EPA violations. The agencies have now finalized the 2024 inflation adjustments, which increase the

Seyfarth Synopsis: Ongoing wildfires in Southern California trigger Cal/OSHA regulations that require employers to train and protect employees from wildfire smoke. The regulation applies to most outdoor workplaces, requiring employers to provide N95 respirators at certain AQI trigger levels, effective communication, and training on wildfire smoke hazards.

Devastating and fast-moving wildfires have destroyed thousands of

Seyfarth Synopsis: Continuing its assault on commonly used chemicals that pose risks to human health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) issued (but has not yet published in the Federal Register) bans on Trichloroethylene (“TCE” or “Tri”) and Perchloroethylene (“PCE” or “Perc”) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).  The bans were first proposed

Seyfarth Synopsis: With another dramatic reversal from a pro-labor Democratic administration to a second Trump administration, we anticipate that OSHA is likely to pivot away from its current enforcement-heavy agenda to a greater emphasis on cooperation with the business community.

As we try to anticipate the shifts of a second Trump administration, supported by a

By Adam R. Young, Patrick D. Joyce, A. Scott Hecker, and Craig B. Simonsen

Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA recently unveiled an online tool allowing the public to access severe injury reports, injury trends over time, geographic trends, and trends specific to each employer.

OSHA’s new Severe Injury Report dashboard allows the public to search

By Daniel R. Birnbaum, Ilana R. MoradyBenjamin D. Briggs, and Patrick D. Joyce

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Following California’s Workplace Violence Prevention Plan regulation becoming effective, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) recently published its draft Workplace Violence Prevention regulation.  It is seeking public comments by September 3, 2024, with

By Patrick D. Joyce and Ilana Morady

Seyfarth Synopsis: A new rulemaking is underway at the California Department of Industrial Relations that will allow Cal/OSHA to cite employers for “enterprise-wide and egregious” violations, implementing a 2021 law signed by Governor Newsom. Cal/OSHA will convene an advisory committee on August 19, 2024 to solicit input.

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