It’s mid-May and great time to remind everyone again about the importance of severe weather planning for your workplace and residence. The nation just had a large outbreak of very serious storm activity across much of the Midwest and Plains states. May is the statistically most probable month for such storms to occur. As such, HSE professionals need to take steps to keep their fellow employees alert and safe, ready to react if and when such weather becomes a threat at your site. Keep those emergency plans dusted off, up to date, and ready to go. When a storm is actually coming is the wrong time to wonder what to do. In the meantime, here this week’s regulatory news:
Executive Order 14294
In a new executive order (EO), the president directs regulatory agencies to, in its words, “disfavor” criminal prosecution of regulatory offenses, directing agencies to instead seek civil actions. The EO additionally disfavors pursuing strict liability offenses. It also places new limits on how alleged violators are to be held responsible based on their knowledge or lack thereof of the regulations to which their activity is subject. See the full EO here:
USDOT
A new NPRM proposes to reinstate and expound upon procedural reforms for the Department’s rulemakings, guidance documents, and enforcement actions rescinded by a final rule published by the Department on April 2, 2021, ‘‘Administrative Rulemaking, Guidance, and Enforcement Procedures.’’ Accordingly, this proposed rule would revise and update the Department’s internal policies and procedures relating to the issuance of rulemaking documents. In addition, this NPRM proposes updates to the Department’s procedural requirements governing the review and clearance of guidance documents, and the initiation and conduct of enforcement actions, including administrative enforcement proceedings and judicial enforcement actions brought in Federal court. See the NPRM here:
FMCSA
The agency published an ICR renewal related to its Electronic Logging Device (ELD) program for commercial motor vehicles. These devices replace the older written logbooks for required driver records. See the ICR here:
OSHA
The agency published an ICR related to its Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories Standard. Part of Federal Right-To Know regulations, the standard requires employers to track chemical use and exposures in research environments. See the ICR here:
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