What You Need to Know for the Year Ahead

OSHA has been busy this last year issuing several significant updates and new rules regarding workplace safety. Employers must stay ahead of these changes to ensure compliance and foster a safer, healthier work environment for their employees. Here’s a rundown of the key updates for 2024 and beyond!

Worker Walkaround Representative Rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Act gives the employer and employees the right to authorize a representative to accompany OSHA officials during a workplace inspection. The final rule clarifies that, consistent with the law, workers may authorize another employee to serve as their representative or select a non-employee. For a non-employee representative to accompany the compliance officer in a workplace, they must be reasonably necessary to conduct an effective and thorough inspection.

Businesses have the right to designate either an employee or non-employee representative for OSHA inspections, enhancing the thoroughness and fairness of workplace safety evaluations. Find out more!

February 2024: New Safety Helmet Rule from OSHA

In February 2024, OSHA announced a shift in safety standards, replacing the traditional hard hat with safety helmets in certain workplace environments. These helmets offer better protection and are designed to be more comfortable for long-duration use. Check out OSHA’s bulletin on Safety Helmets in the Workplace for detailed information on the new requirements and guidelines.

Follow OSHA’s lead. Employers are encouraged to adopt safety helmets for better worker safety, especially in high-risk tasks.

Increased Penalties for OSHA and Cal/OSHA Violations

Both OSHA and Cal/OSHA have increased penalty amounts in 2025. This means that violations of safety standards could result in higher fines. Employers should take extra care to ensure compliance with all applicable safety regulations, as non-compliance will now come with a heavier financial burden.

Safety hazards can cost your business time and money. Avoid OSHA penalties by maintaining a hazard free workplace!

Cal/OSHA’s Workplace Violence
Prevention Program

Cal/OSHA has implemented a required Workplace Violence Prevention Program. This new rule mandates that employers take proactive steps to prevent workplace violence, which includes creating and enforcing a written program, conducting risk assessments, and providing training for employees.

If your workplace involves interaction with the public, or if you are in high-risk sectors, this new program should be a priority for implementation.

Proposed Rule for Heat Illness Prevention

OSHA has issued a proposed rule to address heat-related injuries and illnesses, both indoors and outdoors. This regulation comes after growing concerns about workers in high-heat environments, such as construction sites or agriculture environments.

In addition, Cal/OSHA has implemented its own indoor heat illness standard to ensure workers are protected from heat exposure when working indoors. Employers should begin to prepare for these rules by assessing heat risks in the workplace and taking necessary actions like providing hydration, rest breaks, and proper ventilation.

Provide workers in high heat working environments rest breaks, water, shade, cooling devices, and training to prevent heat illnesses.

Final Rule: Update to OSHA’s Hazard
Communication Standard

In 2024, OSHA announced updates to its Hazard Communication Standard, ensuring that employers communicate more effectively with employees about the risks of hazardous chemicals in the workplace. The updated rule includes changes that employers need to adhere to in order to properly label and communicate hazards in a more consistent and user-friendly manner.

Chemical manufacturers will need to take the proper steps to make their labels comply with this standard, but employers need to be aware of this rule as well and request proper labels as needed.

New Online Tool for OSHA’s Severe Injury Reports

The U.S. Department of Labor launched an online tool that allows users to search OSHA’s severe injury report database and view trends related to workplace injuries in states covered by federal OSHA. This is a great resource for identifying common workplace hazards and understanding the patterns of injuries across industries. Need help navigating the tool?

To comply with this new electronic submission rule, we recommend using OSHA’s ITA Coverage Tool to determine if your organization must submit reports.

Cal/OSHA: Naloxone in First Aid Kits

To help combat the opioid crisis, Cal/OSHA is considering an amendment that would require businesses to include Naloxone in workplace first aid kits. Naloxone is a life-saving medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, and its inclusion is a critical step in enhancing workplace safety for all employees.

Infectious Disease Standard

OSHA’s proposed rule on infectious diseases is aimed to protect workers in healthcare and other high-risk industries from emerging infectious disease threats. The proposed rule, focusing on COVID-19, was submitted for final review in November and officially pulled in January 2025.

OSHA has since pivoted their efforts to focus on a broader infectious disease standard for healthcare workers rather than a disease specific standard. 

Proper Fit Requirements for PPE

The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has finalized a revision to the personal protective equipment standard for construction. The final rule explicitly requires the equipment to properly fit any construction worker who needs it, improving protections from hazardous conditions. The revision to the standard adds specific language requiring that employers provide PPE that properly fits construction industry workers. The change aligns the construction industry standard with the standard already in place for general industry.

PPE must fit properly to work. Improperly sized PPE can be ineffective in protecting workers; create new hazards for the worker, such as oversized gloves or protective clothing being caught in machinery; and discourage use because of discomfort or poor fit.

OSHA Spotlight Topics:

• Mental Health: There was a big emphasis on Workplace Mental Health and Stress throughout the year. Mental health can play a significant role in accidents due to fatigue and lack of focus. Consider providing a wellness program to help increase employees’ energy and moods and improve their overall health.

• Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP): This program has been expanded to include more violations, increasing penalties for repeat offenders and broadening enforcement criteria.

• National Emphasis Programs (NEP): are temporary programs that focus OSHA’s resources on particular hazards and high-hazard industries. Existing and potential new emphasis programs are evaluated using inspection data, injury and illness data, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports, peer-reviewed literature, analysis of inspection findings, and other available information sources.

• Combustible Dust

• Infectious Disease

• Fall Prevention

• Hazardous Machinery

• Heat Illness Prevention

• Hexavalent Chromium

• Lead

• Primary Metal Industries

• Process Safety Management

• Shipbreaking

• Silica

• Trenching and Excavation

• Warehousing

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