The federal government’s decision to revoke final approval of the Arizona state OSHA plan has been delayed as the comment period has been re-opened and a public hearing postponed.
In April, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposal to revoke Arizona’s OSHA State Plan after a “nearly decade-long pattern of failures to adopt and enforce standards and enforcement policies at least as effective as those used by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”
State comments on last day of comment period
Comments on the proposal initially had to be submitted by May 26, 2022, and the DOL was going to hold an online hearing Aug. 16, 2022, if necessary.
However, the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) and its sub-agency, the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH), submitted a comment on the proposal on July 5, 2022, the last day of the comment period.
ICA and ADOSH told the DOL they completed a number of measures to address concerns federal OSHA identified in the proposal, including adoption of the increase in maximum penalty amounts and adoption of standards and enforcement directives that were past due.
Comment period re-opened, hearing pushed back
In response, the DOL re-opened the comment period for an additional 60 days and has postponed the Aug. 16, 2022, public hearing to a later date, which is undetermined at this time.
The additional comment period is meant to allow stakeholders the opportunity to comment on ADOSH’s actions and the impact those actions should have on OSHA’s proposed revocation of the State Plan’s final approval.
Further information will be published in a Federal Register entry, which will include a list of Arizona’s completed measures.