Federal workplace safety regulators recently proposed a five-month delay in rules that would require companies to publicly disclose on-the-job injuries.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published the new rule more than a year ago, but the measure was not set to take effect until July 1. The agency last week moved to postpone the effective date until December in order to "further review and consider the rule."
"The delay will also allow OSHA to provide employers the same four-month window for submitting data that the original rule would have provided," the agency added.
The rule requires companies to report workplace injuries and illnesses electronically and, as a result, make them public record. OSHA officials under the Obama administration argued that the rule would give an additional "nudge" to employers to operate safely.
But critics, including manufacturers' groups, countered that the requirements would sacrifice both employee and employer privacy in order to conduct "unnecessary public shaming" of businesses.
The delay is just the latest proposed by OSHA during the Trump administration. Democrats previously questioned the agency over stalled rules regarding workplace exposure to beryllium and silica dust.
Although the new beryllium limits were allowed to take effect, OSHA subsequently offered a new rule to ease those standards for the construction and shipyard industries.
