President Obama’s Budget Proposal Assumes Flawed Poultry Inspection Rule Will Be Finalized

Yesterday, the president released the proposed budget for funding the federal government in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) assumes savings from finalizing a controversial proposed rule to change the way chickens and other poultry are inspected in processing plants.

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Protections for Miners Long Overdue

Three years ago, 29 miners were killed in the infamous Upper Big Branch mine explosion in West Virginia. Regrettably, there have been few substantial changes to prevent future mining tragedies since then.  In fact, eight other miners were killed on the job just this year.

Efforts to better protect miners with new legislation have been repeatedly blocked. Last month, the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act was introduced for the third time.

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Sunstein’s “Simpler Government” Is Legally Suspect, Overly Secretive And Politically Unaccountable

By Lisa Heinzerling
Originally posted on Think Progress

In his new book, “Simpler: The Future of Government,” Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein writes about his nearly four years as President Barack Obama’s “regulatory czar.” As the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (known as “OIRA”) within the Office of Management and Budget, Sunstein oversaw the regulatory output of the many agencies of the executive branch. Rules on worker health, environmental protection, food safety, health care, consumer protection, and more all passed through Sunstein’s inbox.

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Long-Term Chemical Hazards Pose Significant Challenges for Workplace Safety Agency

The New York Times published a front-page story over the weekend focusing on the problems the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) faces in trying to protect workers from latent hazards posed by chemical exposures at work.

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Tragic Grain Silo Deaths Highlight Need for Stronger Workplace Safety Enforcement

For anybody concerned about worker safety, recent stories by NPR, the Center for Public Integrity, PBS Newshour, and the Kansas City Star are must-reads. These news reports highlight the recent, tragic deaths of two teenagers who were suffocated in grain storage bins while "walking" the grain (breaking it up so it could flow more easily out of the silos).

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Stronger Standards for Hazardous Chemicals Benefit the Public and Spur Innovation

Stronger standards for hazardous chemicals not only protect human health and the environment, but can also spur innovation and benefit the economy. A recent report, Driving Innovation: How stronger laws help bring safer chemicals to market, examined the impact of laws governing hazardous chemicals and found that the prospect of stricter laws on toxic chemicals sparked the invention, development, and adoption of alternatives. The demand for these alternatives is growing globally.

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More American Workers Will Die as Silica Rule Delayed

Silica has long been known to cause silicosis, a progressive, irreversible, but preventable lung disease that kills people. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported that in 2007, 120 workers died from silicosis; 180-360 new cases of the disease are reported each year. Recent evidence shows that silica exposure also causes lung cancer. OSHA estimates that a lower allowable limit on silica in the workplace would prevent 60 deaths each year.

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Two New Reports Reveal How the Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration Has Worked to Block Public Safeguards

Last Tuesday, the Center for Effective Government and the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) released separate reports on the activities of a little-known, but powerful, office within the Small Business Administration—the Office of Advocacy. The reports uncovered how the Office of Advocacy actively works to delay and block public safeguards and the release of important information that has serious implications for Americans' health and well-being.

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National Council for Occupational Health and Safety: Burgeoning Cost of Regulations? Where?

Hats off to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) for setting the record straight on workplace safety standards! In a blog post last week, National COSH's Dorry Samuels answered the question posed by The Washington Post's Wonk Blog – "New regulations ... what do they reap?" The piece featured questionable statistics from a report by the conservative American Action Forum complaining about the costs (to business) of regulations. Samuels highlighted the human costs of delaying crucial workplace safety protections.

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CEO of Alcoa Embraces Regulations as Good for Business, the Economy

The fact that public protections can increase productivity, spur innovation, and encourage creation of new markets is not news to us – or, apparently, to business leaders. New standards can create incentives to improve technologies and manufacturing processes

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