Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/842358
16 PalletCentral • May-June 2017 palletcentral.com ight out of the gate in 2017, there have been various Executive Orders enacted by President Trump affecting current and future occupational safety and health standards, and initiatives. These include: • a hiring freeze (now partially lifted, depending on agency), • a regulatory freeze (with a directive to agencies to form task forces that would review existing and pending regulations, in order to identify which ones should be eliminated or modified), and • a "one in – two out" approach to any new rulemaking initiatives (which has halted any new rules being published by OSHA since Trump's Inauguration). In addition, an Obama-era executive order was rescinded by President Trump, and now the federal government is no longer required to debar federal contractors who have poor OSHA, EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and labor law compliance track records. So now, as we near the half-year mark of this new administration, how has OSHA responded to the directives affecting its activities? Complicating this issue is the fact that the agency still has no nominated (or Senate-confirmed) head and so it is being managed by career staffers, many of whom served under Presidents Obama, Bush and even Clinton. In most ways, the career personnel are the heartbeat of the agency and most keep their heads down, do their jobs R How OSHA is Affected SAFETY By Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP The "First Half-Year" iStockphoto.com/BrianAJackson