29 CFR Part 1915 - OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to revoke the ancillary provisions for the construction and the shipyard sectors that OSHA adopted on January 9, 2017 but retain the new lower permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 0.2 μg/m 3 and the short term exposure limit (STEL) of 2.0 μg/m 3 for each sector. OSHA will not enforce the January 9, 2017 shipyard and construction standards without further notice while this new rulemaking is underway. This proposal does not affect the general industry beryllium standard published on January 9, 2017.

On January 9, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a rule entitled “Occupational Exposure to Beryllium” with an effective date of March 10, 2017 (“Beryllium Final Rule”). OSHA subsequently delayed the effective date of the Beryllium Final Rule to March 21, 2017 (February 1, 2017) and proposed to further delay the effective date to May 20, 2017 (March 2, 2017). This action finalizes that proposal. The additional time will allow OSHA the opportunity for further review of the new Beryllium Final Rule, including review of concerns that commenters raised, and is consistent with the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.”

In accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” this action proposes, following a brief 10-day comment period, to further temporarily delay until May 20, 2017 the effective date of the rule entitled Occupational Exposure to Beryllium, published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2017 (82 FR 2470). The current effective date is March 21, 2017. This additional delay will allow OSHA officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of the new regulations.

In accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” this action temporarily delays until March 21, 2017 the effective date of the rule entitled Occupational Exposure to Beryllium, published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2017 (82 FR 2470), to allow OSHA officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is amending its existing standards for occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. OSHA has determined that employees exposed to beryllium at the previous permissible exposure limits face a significant risk of material impairment to their health. The evidence in the record for this rulemaking indicates that workers exposed to beryllium are at increased risk of developing chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer. This final rule establishes new permissible exposure limits of 0.2 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of air (0.2 μg/m 3 ) as an 8-hour time-weighted average and 2.0 μg/m 3 as a short-term exposure limit determined over a sampling period of 15 minutes. It also includes other provisions to protect employees, such as requirements for exposure assessment, methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, personal protective clothing and equipment, housekeeping, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. OSHA is issuing three separate standards—for general industry, for shipyards, and for construction—in order to tailor requirements to the circumstances found in these sectors.

On October 4, 2016, OSHA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Standards Improvement Project-Phase IV.” The period for submitting comments is being extended 30 days to allow parties affected by the rule more time to review the proposed rule and collect information and data necessary for comments.

In response to the President's Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review,” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is continuing its efforts to remove or revise outdated, duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent requirements in its safety and health standards. The current review, the fourth in this ongoing effort, is called Standards Improvement Project-Phase IV (SIP-IV). The goal of the proposed rulemaking is to reduce regulatory burden while maintaining or enhancing employees' safety and health. SIP-IV focuses primarily on OSHA's construction standards.

OSHA is considering revising and updating its safety standards that address access and egress (including stairways and ladders), fall and falling object protection, and scaffolds in shipbuilding, ship repair, shipbreaking, and other shipyard related employment (collectively referred to as “shipyard employment” in this document). The Agency has not updated these standards since adopting them in 1971. To assist with this determination, OSHA requests comment, information and data on a number of issues, including: The workplace hazards these standards address, particularly fall hazards; the current practices employers in shipyard employment use to protect workers from those hazards; any advances in technology since OSHA adopted the standards in subpart E; and the revisions and updates to subpart E that stakeholders recommend. OSHA will use the information received in response to this RFI to determine what action, if any, it may take.

OSHA published a final rule on occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica on March 25, 2016 which became effective on June 23, 2016. This document corrects typographical errors in the final rule by revising these sections.

This rule is a technical amendment announcing that OMB has approved the collections of information contained in OSHA's standards for Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and revising OSHA's regulations to reflect that approval. The OMB approval number is 1218-0266.

OSHA is rescheduling the informal public hearing on its proposed rule “Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds.” The public hearing will now begin on Monday March 21, 2016 at 2 p.m., local time. The public hearing notice was published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2015. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2015 and the 90-day public comment period ended on November 5, 2015. The December 30, 2015 Federal Register notice of informal public hearing describes the procedures that will govern this hearing http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-H005C-2006-0870-1706. All other information from this Federal Register notice remains the same.

OSHA is scheduling an informal public hearing on its proposed rule “Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds.” The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2015 and the 90-day public comment period ended on November 5, 2015. This document describes the procedures that will govern this hearing.

OSHA is extending the comment period on the Request for Information on Chemical Management and Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) to October 9, 2015.

OSHA is reviewing its overall approach to managing chemical exposures in the workplace and seeks stakeholder input about more effective and efficient approaches that addresses challenges found with the current regulatory approach. This review involves considering issues related to updating permissible exposure limits (PELs), as well as examining other strategies that could be implemented to address workplace conditions where workers are exposed to chemicals. The notice details the role of past court decisions on the Agency's current approach to chemical management for the purpose of informing stakeholders of the legal framework in which the Agency must operate. It then describes possible modifications of existing processes, along with potential new sources of data and alternative approaches the Agency may consider. The Agency is particularly interested in information about how it may take advantage of newer approaches, given its legal requirements. This RFI is concerned primarily with chemicals that cause adverse health effects from long-term occupational exposure, and is not related to activities being conducted under Executive Order 13650, Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is extending the deadline for submitting comments and written testimony on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is extending the deadline for submitting comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica for an additional 47 days and extending the deadline for submitting notices of intention to appear at its informal public hearings for an additional 30 days. OSHA also is delaying the start of the public hearings by two weeks.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to amend its existing standards for occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The basis for issuance of this proposal is a preliminary determination by the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health that employees exposed to respirable crystalline silica face a significant risk to their health at the current permissible exposure limits and that promulgating these proposed standards will substantially reduce that risk. This document proposes a new permissible exposure limit, calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average, of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air (50 μg/m 3 ). OSHA also proposes other ancillary provisions for employee protection such as preferred methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. OSHA is proposing two separate regulatory texts—one for general industry and maritime, and the other for construction—in order to tailor requirements to the circumstances found in these sectors.

OSHA is correcting its regulations that were amended by the Hazard Communication Standard final rule, published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2012. The majority of the corrections are to references inadvertently missed in the original publication of the final rule. Other corrections include correcting values or notations in tables, and updating references to terms.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is announcing that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the revised information collection requirements contained in the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) (29 CFR parts 1910, 1915, and 1926) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA-95). The OMB control number is 1218-0072.

OSHA is aware of employee safety risks in two areas, reinforcing operations in concrete work (construction only) and fatal backovers by vehicles and equipment (all industries), and is requesting information from the public on these risks. This RFI requests information that will assist the Agency in determining what steps, if any, it can take to prevent injuries and fatalities in these two areas.

In this final rule, OSHA is modifying its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to conform to the United Nations' Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). OSHA has determined that the modifications will significantly reduce costs and burdens while also improving the quality and consistency of information provided to employers and employees regarding chemical hazards and associated protective measures. Consistent with the requirements of Executive Order 13563, which calls for assessment and, where appropriate, modification and improvement of existing rules, the Agency has concluded this improved information will enhance the effectiveness of the HCS in ensuring that employees are apprised of the chemical hazards to which they may be exposed, and in reducing the incidence of chemical-related occupational illnesses and injuries. The modifications to the standard include revised criteria for classification of chemical hazards; revised labeling provisions that include requirements for use of standardized signal words, pictograms, hazard statements, and precautionary statements; a specified format for safety data sheets; and related revisions to definitions of terms used in the standard, and requirements for employee training on labels and safety data sheets. OSHA is also modifying provisions of other standards, including standards for flammable and combustible liquids, process safety management, and most substance-specific health standards, to ensure consistency with the modified HCS requirements. The consequences of these modifications will be to improve safety, to facilitate global harmonization of standards, and to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings.