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30 Pallet C e nt ral • Janu a r y -Fe b r u a r y 2 0 24 SAFETY BY ADELE L. ABRAMS, ESQ., ASP, CMSP WORKPLACE SAFETY 2024 FORECAST " M ay you live in interesting times" is an English expression that translates a traditional Chinese curse. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is used ironically because life is better in "uninteresting times" of peace and tranquility than in "interesting" times of trouble. When it comes to forecasting anticipated actions impacting workplace safety and health in the coming year, we are indeed in "interesting times"—and an election year that will determine the fate of the White House and all of Congress. On the legislative front, expect little to be accomplished by Congress other than keeping the government funded – and even that is questionable as seen by the Fall standoff over the continuing resolution that will run out early in 2024. ere have been calls to defund OSHA, and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) even introduced H.R. 69— the "NOSHA Act"—that would abolish the agencies OSHA and NIOSH, and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and rescind the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970! e Democratic leadership, on the other hand, advocates the "Protecting American Workers Act" (H.R. 2998 and S. 1030), which would add new OSHA authority over public sector workers, increase criminal penalties substantially, enhance victim's rights, and expand the statute of limitations for whistleblower complaints from 30 days to 180 days. Clearly, there will be no compromising on any changes to OSHA's statutory authority in 2024, even though the GOP majority in the House of Representatives is now limited to two seats, and the Democrats hold a slim edge in the Senate (with independents and Sen. Joe Manchin [D-WV] being the wild cards). e new regulatory agenda released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in December 2023 reveals a push to get new rules completed in time to insulate them from potential rescission by the next Congress and president (should they be of a red complexion). A number of the contentious items on the agenda— including regulation of heat illness and workplace violence—could be prime candidates for use in presidential and congressional campaigns as examples of regulatory burdens, even as Republicans are now working on the REINS Act, legislation that would require congressional approval of major rules in the future. e existing Congressional Review Act (CRA) allows Congress to review final rules that are issued within the previous 180 "legislative days" (a concept somewhat akin to "dog years" as it only counts times when Congress is actually in session) and to revoke them with the new president's signature. Once a rule is rescinded under the CRA, the agency can never again publish a similar rule without the express consent of a future Congress. To date, this has occurred twice impacting OSHA rules. In 2001, a GOP Congress with George W. Bush as president was able to revoke the federal OSHA Ergonomics standard (which had been a dozen years in development) using the CRA for the first time in history. To this day, federal OSHA cannot promulgate a new ergonomics standard, even as several of the "state plan" states were able to accomplish rulemaking activities because the CRA does not constrain them. e second use of the INTERESTING TIMES

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