OSHA Rescinds "Union Walk-Around" Guidance

Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) withdrew controversial guidance detailed in an interpretation letter from 2013. Specifically, the interpretation letter, known as the Fairfax Memo (named after the former OSHA administrator) outlined that nonunionized workplace employees could designate a non-employee "person affiliated with a union or a community organization to act on their behalf as a walkaround representative" during an OSHA workplace inspection.

NRMCA welcomes this development, as the 2013 policy change was viewed as both unnecessary and titled toward furthering union organizing efforts on behalf of OSHA. OSHA alerted the OSHA regional administrators that this erroneous guidance will no longer be enforced by circulating a rescission memorandum last week. The OSHA field operations manual will also be updated to reflect the changes.