The next Small Business Labor Safety (OSHA/MSHA) Roundtable will meet virtually on Friday, May 20, 2022 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (ET). The meeting will be held using the Microsoft Teams platform.
Small Business Labor Safety (OSHA/MSHA) Roundtable
Friday, May 20, 2022
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (Eastern)
Via Team Webinar
Agenda
- Welcome and Introduction of Small Business Representatives (10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.)
Bruce Lundegren, Assistant Chief Counsel, SBA Office of Advocacy
2. OSHA’s Proposed Electronic Injury and Illness Reporting Rule (10:05 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)
Lee Ann Jillings, Director, Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
3. Recap of OSHA’s Stakeholder Meeting on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Indoor and Outdoor Activities (10:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.)
Wesley Wheeler, National Director of Safety, National Electrical Contractors Association
4. Overview of OSHA’s Public Hearing on Occupational Exposure to COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings Standard (10:50 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.)
Courtney Krier Bishnoi, Vice President, Quality and Programs, American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living
Beeta Lashkari, OSHA Workplace Safety Group, Conn Maciel Carey LLP
Melissa K. Peters, Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, P.C.
5. Open Discussion/Other Small Business Issues (11:45 a.m – 12:00 noon)
6. Adjourn (12:00 noon)
** The next Small Business Labor Safety (OSHA/MSHA) Roundtable is tentatively scheduled for Friday, July 15, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (Eastern). A business casual dress option is observed.
*** Roundtable meetings are open to all interested persons, except the press, in order to facilitate an open and frank discussion about issues of interest to small business. Agendas and presentations are available to all, including the press. Anyone who would like to receive roundtable agendas or presentations, or be included in the regular distribution, should contact bruce.lundegren@sba.gov. The purpose of these roundtable meetings is to exchange opinions, facts, and information and to obtain the attendees’ individual views and opinions regarding regulatory and policy issues affecting small business. The meetings are not intended to communicate or achieve any consensus positions of the attendees.
Topics Summary
- On March 30, 2022, OSHA proposed to amend and reinstate its occupational injury and illness recordkeeping regulation to require certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness information to OSHA. Specifically, OSHA proposed to amend its regulation to require establishments with 100 or more employees in certain designated industries to electronically submit information from their OSHA Forms 300, 301, and 300A to OSHA each year. Establishments with 20 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries would continue to be required to electronically submit information from their OSHA Form 300A annual summary to OSHA once a year. OSHA also proposes to update the classification system used to determine the list of industries covered by the electronic submission requirement, remove the current requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees, not in a designated industry, to electronically submit information from their Form 300A to OSHA on an annual basis, post the data from the electronic submission requirement on a public website, and require establishments to include their company name when making electronic submissions to OSHA. Lee Anne Jillings, the Director of OSHA’s Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management, will provide an overview of the proposed rule (technically entitled “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses”) and answer questions about how it would impact small businesses.
- On May 3, 2022, OSHA hosted a stakeholder listening session on “Initiatives to Protect Workers from Heat-Related Hazards.” This meeting was held in furtherance of OSHA’s National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) work group on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Indoor and Outdoor Activities. OSHA has tasked the work group to consider and develop recommendations for OSHA going forward, including that effort, NACOSH has created a work group to consider on strategies and methods to mitigate and control employee exposures to hazardous heat in the workplace. The work group represents various sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and defense, The work group held its first meeting on February 25, 2022, and will report its findings and recommendations back to NACOSH in the future. Wesley Wheeler, the National Director of Safety at the National Electrical Contractors Association, who testified at the meeting, will discuss the stakeholder meeting and the various issues that were raised. The National Electrical Contractors Association represents numerous small businesses in electrical contracting and supply that would be directly impacted by any OSHA regulatory or enforcement actions in this area.
- From Wednesday, April 27, 2022, through Monday, May 2, 2022, OSHA held a four-day informal public hearing on its notice to possibly finalize its Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings that was issued on June 21, 2021, and technically expired after 180 days. The hearings included scores of witnesses from the labor, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and construction sectors concerning employee exposure and injury and illness impacts from COVID-19 exposure and what a possible standard should entail. A panel of experts who participated and closely monitored the hearing will provide their insight into the hearing and OSHA’s rulemaking process. First, Courtney Krier Bishnoi, the Vice President for Quality and Programs at the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, will discuss the issue from the healthcare providers perspective. Next, Beeta Lashkari, an attorney with the OSHA Workplace Safety Group at Conn Maciel Carey LLP, whose firm represents manufacturers and retail pharmacies that could be impacted by the rule, will discuss their views. Finally, Melissa K. Peters, a Shareholder at Littler Mendelson, P.C., who represents the Construction Industry Safety Coalition, will discuss some of the key issues and unique work environment associated with the construction sector. Each of the panelists will provide an overview of the hearing, as well as some observations about the regulatory environment and legal issues confronting small businesses as OSHA moves forward with the rulemaking and enforcement process.
- Open Discussion/Other Small Business Issues. A general discussion and open forum to discuss other current events and regulatory topics of specific interest to small business, including items on OSHA and MSHA’s Regulatory Agendas, draft proposed and final rules pending review at OMB, and other pending policy and regulatory actions.
To attend, please send your RSVP via email to Bruce Lundegren at bruce.lundegren@sba.gov. A meeting link will be provided to you when you RSVP.
The Office of Advocacy takes its direction from small businesses and hosts roundtables to receive input on what issues are of greatest importance. We need your help, as representatives of small businesses, to set our priorities in the labor safety area. Please join us as we review regulatory actions by OSHA and MSHA and discuss which issues are of key importance to small business.
Roundtable meetings are open to all interested persons, with the exception of the press, in order to facilitate an open and frank discussion about small business-related issues. Agendas and presentations are available to all, including the press. Anyone who would like to receive roundtable agendas or presentations, or be included in the regular distribution, should forward such requests to bruce.lundegren@sba.gov. The purpose of these roundtable meetings is to exchange opinions, facts, and information and to obtain the attendees’ individual views and opinions regarding small business concerns. The meetings are not intended to communicate or achieve any consensus positions of the attendees