Top 4 rules on OSHA’s regulatory action list
A top OSHA official recently gave an overview of where the agency stands with creating new and updating existing regulations.
OSHA deputy administrator Jordan Barab updated attendees at a U.S. Small Business Labor Safety Roundtable. An attendee gave an overview of Barab’s presentation in The National Law Review.
Barab said these four rules pending final agency action are on top of OSHA’s to-do list:
– Confined Space in Construction
– Silica
– Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems, and
– Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses (electronic recordkeeping).
Of those four, Barab said Confined Space in Construction would be released first. The standard would mostly align with the confined space standard for general industry.
The silica rule will be “innovative, but OSHA is trying to make it user friendly,” according to Barab. OSHA’s proposal would reduce the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air from 100.
OSHA’s proposed injury record-keeping revisions would require:
Fred Hoiser