The Senate on Friday confirmed David Keeling as the new leader of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as part of a resolution including more than 100 other nominations made under the Trump administration.

Louisville, Kentucky-based Mr. Keeling, who was nominated in February for Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, had lead safety roles at United Parcel Service and most recently Amazon.

At Amazon, he was director of road and transportation safety before becoming an independent safety consultant in 2023, according to his LinkedIn account.

As the clock struck midnight on October 1, 2025, appropriated funds to much of the federal government, including the Department of Labor (DOL), lapsed, leading to a shutdown of all “nonessential” operations. Even though an operation may be deemed nonessential, such operations still play a critical role in the overall operation of federal enforcement agencies with DOL such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). As a result, the impact of a federal government shutdown will be substantial for employers navigating a federal OSHA enforcement action or involved in OSHA-related litigation. Note that state occupational safety and health agencies operating under an OSHA-recognized state plan, including large states such as California, will continue to operate normally, as they are subject to different funding streams.

The Department of Labor is providing phone numbers that stakeholders can use instead of agency websites during the federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1.

One thing you can say about workplace safety violations: companies are very consistent in their noncompliance. Every year, OSHA releases their findings of the top 10 most frequently cited violations, and for the third year in a year, it’s the exact same violations on the list. While the rankings within the Top 10 shifted slightly over the past year, the same group of violations that made the 2024 list, and the 2023 list, appear again on the 2025 list.

A year since California established heat rules for indoor workplaces, labor organizers say employees are still being exposed to dangerously high temperatures on the job.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened inquiries regarding tools used inside spray booths, and an investigation at a non-compliant shop could result in $32,000 in fines. 

Each year, millions of U.S. workers are injured on the job, yet the full scope of workplace injuries remains unclear. A recent article published in the American Journal of Public Health highlights the gaps in current injury reporting systems — and proposes a new path forward.

In response to a “troubling rise” in struck-by fatalities on jobsites in the state, Michigan OSHA has issued a hazard bulletin.

Between Jan. 16 and July 4, MIOSHA recorded five worker deaths resulting from struck-by incidents. That’s more than half of the workplace deaths investigated this year by the agency, which operates as a State Plan program under federal OSHA.

OSHA has extended to Nov. 1 the deadline to comment on 20 of the 25 proposed rules the agency published on July 1.

One of the proposals concerns the enforcement of the General Duty Clause. OSHA is seeking to codify the principle that the General Duty Clause doesn’t authorize the agency to “prohibit, restrict, or penalize inherently risky activities that are intrinsic to professional, athletic, or entertainment occupations.”