According to BNA news service (subscription), House members grilled an Occupational Safety and Health Administration official as to why OSHA has only addressed the danger of a pandemic flu outbreak with guidance memos, instead of regulation. Unions and Congressional members have asked for a temporary standard to protect health care workers. Since no flu strain presents danger in America, the official claims, the agency cannot expedite regulation. I'm no epidemiologist, but I'm fairly certain pandemics do not announce their arrival nor move in an orderly and predictable fashion. As usual, the tangled mess that is the federal regulatory system has blocked a crucial rule. The big story of the day is a U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board report which faults OSHA for the BP oil refinery explosion in Texas City in 2005. The report finds, despite repeated fatal accidents over the years, OSHA failed to conduct adequate safety inspections at the plant. The 2005 blast killed 15. Read more from The Pump Handle here.