Before too long the US Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies should be issuing their annual regulatory plans and semi-annual agendas. These documents serve as official public notice of agencies' regulatory (and deregulatory) priorities. The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order (EO) 12866 direct agency heads to release these documents in April (agenda) and October (plan and agenda), but the Obama Administration doesn't have a good track record meeting those deadlines.
I'm not going to predict when the next agenda and plan will be issued or, as I did in the Spring, on what will be in DOL's agenda on worker safety protections. I'll only say that I'm going to pay close attention to what the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says about its plans to propose a rule to protect workers in the mining industry from respirable crystalline silica. It's a hazard that is associated with the progressive, fibrotic lung disease silicosis, as well as lung cancer, and autoimmune and kidney disorders. I'm going to cringe if the next regulatory agenda MSHA issues suggests that progress on its proposed silica rule is linked to OSHA's efforts to address the same hazard.
