Worker safety

Some rules have been pending for more than a year at the White House.

Business groups are weighing in on an ObamaCare proposal governing incentives for employees to stay healthy.

The White House is currently reviewing a proposed rule for wellness programs that give workers incentives to take part in healthy habits such as joining a gym, signing up for a weight-loss plan or participating in a scheme to stop smoking. The proposal is part of the Affordable Care Act. 

Proponents say that the programs have a documented history of lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol and making workers healthy. Plus, they make good business sense.

Goodell said the NFL was doing everything it could to keep the sport entertaining, but safe.

Members have questioned the league’s lack of testing for performance-enhancing drugs, and have voiced concerns about head injuries.

Former Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.), a National Football League (NFL) Hall of Farmer, says the federal government should not interfere as the league and players address the problem of head injuries.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would make it illegal for workplaces not to "reasonably accommodate" pregnant employees.

Commissioner Roger Goodell will discuss prospects for testing players for human growth hormones and other issues plaguing the league.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is floating revised legislation aimed at toughening mine safety rules and oversight in the wake of the April 2010 explosion at a West Virginia coal mine that killed 29 workers.

Rockefeller has floated versions of the bill several times since the blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine, the worst U.S. mining disaster in 40 years. Massey was acquired last year by Alpha Natural Resources.

Here’s what Rockefeller’s office had to say Thursday about the bill:

In the two years since the Upper Big Branch tragedy, both Congress and the administration have enacted some targeted laws and regulations to improve the health and safety of coal miners. However, comprehensive legislation still is needed to achieve important safety improvements, including those specifically recommended by West Virginia miners’ families and investigations into the Upper Big Branch disaster.

After public outcry, the Obama administration confirmed that it will offer health insurance to the government's seasonal firefighters, many of whom have been battling fierce blazes in the West.

A White House official told Reuters that the administration would formally announce the policy change soon.

Thousands of federal firefighters are considered temporary employees of the U.S. Forest Service because they work six months out of the year. 

Unions, public health scholars and Washington watchdogs pushed Thursday for a simpler and more transparent regulatory process for creating workplace health and safety rules.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is bogged down under more procedural requirements and higher evidence standards than other agencies, witnesses argued at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. 

“In the years since its creation, OSHA’s charge to protect workers from harm has been undermined by Kafkaesque demands for additional reviews of existing rules mandated by new statutes and executive orders,” said Randy Rabinowitz, OMB Watch’s director of regulatory policy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce shot back that the real problem is OSHA’s inability to prioritize and follow through on regulations.