Who is pressuring OSHA to enact new regulations?
January 9, 2012 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, New rules and regulations, OSHA news
PDF Within the last month, OSHA has received pressure from two sources to enact three new regulations. The pressure is coming from …
… two groups within the federal government.
At its December meeting, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) called on OSHA to adopt new regulations for respirable crystalline silica, and injury and illness prevention programs (I2P2).
In a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, NACOSH called on OSHA to update its permissible exposure limit for silica. Exposure to silica can cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
Regarding the silica regulation, the letter states:
“NACOSH is deeply distressed that the proposed silica standard has been held by OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) for more than 10 months, far longer than the 4.5 month review period provided for”
NACOSH sent a similar message about the apparent slow pace of enacting the I2P2 proposal:
“NACOSH continues to be concerned and disappointed that the June/July 2011 timeline for initiation of the [small business review] process … has not been met”
Another government group is also calling on OSHA to move faster.
Last week, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) recommended OSHA enact a combustible dust standard within one year.
“Dust fires and explosions continue to claim lives and destroy property in many industries,” said CSB Chairman Rafael Moure Eraso. “More must be done to control this hazard.”
The CSB included its call for quick action on a combustible dust standard in its final report on three fires and explosions at the Hoeganaes powdered metals plant in Gallatin, TN, in 2011 that killed five workers and injured three others.
One of the hot topics of debate in this election year is over government regulations and whether they negatively impact the economy and creation of new jobs.
During the G.W. Bush administration, OSHA enacted only two new regulations. So far in President Obama’s term in office, only two more have gone on the books. So that’s four new OSHA regulations in 11 years.
There’s no doubt that exposure to respirable silica causes fatal diseases. Accumulation of combustible dust in workplaces causes fires and explosions.
Do you think OSHA should push ahead with creating these two new regulations this year, even in the face of mounting complaints about “too much government regulation?” Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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Tags: combustible dust, injury and illness prevention programs, new OSHA regulations, silica
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January 10th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Businesses are drowning in regulations now. I spend at least half my time trying to stay in compliance with all the regulations. It is not only time consuming and expensive, but it is extremely stressful. We have reached the point in this country that simply being human and making a mistake can land you and other managers in jail. The government can literally put a company out of business almost overnight because of regulations.
For example, under the new CSA 2010 CDL regulations, a company that fails to meet any of the specified regulations can have their ability to operate their company fleet taken away. We recently received a warning letter from the federal Dept. of Transportation that we were in danger of being out of compliance with the safe driving regulation because three of our drivers had failed to wear a seat belt. We were informed that unless we got the problem corrected immediately, we could lose our ability to operate our fleet.
We are an electrical contractor. We use our trucks to deliver material and equipment to our jobsites. Without being able to get our material and equipment to the jobsites, we are out of business. How outrageous is it that because three of our drivers failed to wear their seat belts we might lose our ability to deliver our equipment and materials to our jobs?
The federal regulations are totally out of control. We have to get rid of a lot of them, or there won’t be any businesses in America.
January 10th, 2012 at 9:47 am
I agree these should be passed.
4 regs in 11 years is not the problem with our economy
January 10th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Even though these items need addreesd, I don’t think more federal regulations is the answer. the fedreal goverment is driving manufacturing companies out of America because of all the regfulations, please don’t think I don’t care about work safty as I do, But regulations are not the answer, education and standards and encourging industries to police them selves to keep the federal goverment out of inacting mor job killing regulations.
January 10th, 2012 at 10:25 am
if the industries could be trusted to put safety before profit, we wouldn’t need to regulate them.
unfortuneately that is not the reality of the situation
January 10th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
In response to Mr. Says, it is outrageous to say that most companies would rather make money than keep their employees safe. That is absolutely outrageous. In every industry there are shysters, but saying that most companies don’t care about the safety of their employees is simply not true. With or without government regulations, the companies I have worked for have been concerned about the safety of their employees. Just because companies make a profit does not mean they don’t care about their employees. If they didn’t make a profit, Mr. Says wouldn’t have a job.
January 10th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Strange that workers aren’t the ones clammoring for more regulations…
January 10th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
I guess I should have been more clear
i didn’t mean to say most companies don’t care. I work for a company that does care.
Still the fact remains that there will always be bad apples so we will always need to have
regulations to protect us from them.
January 10th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
The regulations need to be passed. People’s lives and families are destroyed by silca exposure. These people end up on government aid programs. Those businesses have had time to deal with the problem but choose not to protect their employees. Times up, let the regulations begin. Ditto with the dust standards. Fire & explosion prevention is immeasurabley better than blowing up the place. Businesses that can’t provide these basic safety practices need to close.
January 10th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Sue & Steve have to be kidding. The government is only good at generating bad ideas. Just look at the non-sensical aurgument our discussion is based on. Two government agencies are mad at a third governement agency, so they send our smarmy emails to each other. Whose pays for this idiocy? Oh ya… we the people do, but on the other hand approximately 47% of the “people” pay no federal income tax. Hmmm… so tax the businesses (the rich) to pay for “unknown”, unelected, nannies, to further increase the businesses costs. Our founding fathers would be proud. We currently have the largest historical expenditures for food stamps, welfare, and unemployment benifits. So ….More government please?
And BTW my father dead from mesothemioma (caused by asbestos) when I was 12 yrs old and I dont remember going on government aid. But I do remember my mother working for minimum wage, going to school, finishing her degree and getting a nursing job. We we should have just gotten on the government dole… I guess after all this is handout America now. How about individual responsibility as a concept… or am I just old fashioned.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Mark,
I’m not sure if you get it or not, but keeping people safe from unsafe products has nothing to do with “getting on the government dole” but has everything to do with keeping people like your father from getting sick in the first place
peace
January 11th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Developing and implementing a safety culture is an employer thing. We are a heavy highway and bridge contractor. We make every attempt to minimize silica exposure during our concrete operations. Medical evaluations, X-rays if needed, full-face or half-face respirators, etc. We do not require a bunch of rules with 50 forms to have in place to keep our employees safe.
I’ve done this for over 35 years with 12 years with Federal OSHA. I’ve found over-regulating does not make your work environment safer. The employer’s culture is what makes his workplace safe.
There are already rules and regulations in place to follow. For the bad actors? Put them out of business.
I know the government loves the paper trail as well as the insurance companies. But believe me more paperwork is not the answer. A safety professional belongs in the field not in an office trying to CYA.
I quit OSHA because of all this beauracratic garbage.
A safe workplace begins with you not the government. Safety professionals must use their ingenuity to provide a safe work environment and not having a regulation for something does not make your workplace unsafe. If I think something is unsafe I deal with it. I could care less if there is a regulation.
January 13th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
How much of the problem with Silica exposure is due to aging workforces with people overexposed years ago? I think we should quantify that before cutting the limit in half.
I’m sure the problems with silica exposure are solely to be blamed on manufacturing and construction, I mean where else could people be exposed to such a harmful substance?
“Crystalline silica is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust (12%) and is found almost everywhere as a component of rocks, sand, and soils. As a result, silica is released during agricultural, construction, road building, mining, quarrying, and other activities in which rocks, sand, and soils are disturbed.”
“While cases of silicosis still occur in the U.S., they are most likely attributable to the higher silica exposures that were prevalent three and four decades ago and to continuing widespread overexposures compared with the existing PEL. Year after year, about 30% of the silica samples taken by OSHA’s compliance officers show overexposures as measured with reference to the current PEL—many by large margins. This failure to achieve compliance with the current PEL appears to be the real problem; correcting that failure should be the focus of OSHA’s efforts.”
I don’t see decreasing the limit increasing compliance, and therby not increasing health. Enforce the existing standard.
“the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 93% reduction in silicosis mortality from 1968 to 2002 and an 83% reduction in silicosis-related discharges from short-stay, non-federal hospitals from 1970 to 2004.”
That sounds to me like we are already on the right track with addressing silica issues. Education, not Regulation my friends.
“Measurability issues also are a concern. To determine compliance with the OSHA PEL, employers generally submit their employee exposure samples to commercial laboratories for analysis, while OSHA uses its own lab. However, because of technical issues…
January 13th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Continuing from previous post:
“…related to analytical methodologies for silica, there is no assurance that the labs can perform accurate and reliable analyses when silica levels are below the level of the current PEL.”
The quoted information above was from an open letter submitted to OMB from several industry groups.
http://www.artba.org/mediafiles/regulatorylegalcrystallinesilicacoalitionletter.pdf
January 17th, 2012 at 10:55 am
It is not just government agencies that are pleading for the issuance of these and other standards which have been on hold in limbo for far too long. There are many workers and worker advocate groups (National COSH, local Committees on/for Occupational Safety and Health, unions and others) have been seeking these, and other standards, issued for many years.
Enforcement of current standards is a separate issue from new or revised standards. There has been a concerted effort on the part of large manufacturers, service providers and capatalists/banks to defund and destaff OSHA and repeal all standards. These are the same people who set industry “best practices” which seldom concerned with worker health or safety unless forced to due to the increasing stack of bodies and public outcry.
There are a large amount of PELs that need updating beyond silica. There is a huge number of chemicals and materials that have no established PEL. The PELs now in place are often based on very old data and scientific procedures and processes. NIOSH, the investigatory agency created by the OSH Act of 1970, has fairly consistently found that actual safe exposure levels to be half, or less, of the current permissible exposure limits for those chemicals or materials that have PELs.
January 24th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Worker safety is an employee thing-I have been in the safety business for 30 years and am struggling with the same issues as when I first started. I have not found one employer who scoffed at safety, but I have found workers-over and over again think it didn’t apply to them. Buy them PPE instruct them on use and maintenance, let them know it is a requirement, enforce the requirement and employees still refuse to comply-the same with lock out / tag out. I found it is not companies that fight safety it is workers not wanting to “do” it. A program, a poster, a book anywhere does not a safe workplace make. Cal OSHA has just proven that the IIPP has not reduced injuries. In this information age, workers have access to what makes them safe on the job. It is up to them to commit to their own safety.
January 24th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I hate to jump back into this, but Heidi is absolutely correct on all of her remarks and Mr. Schultz’s response shows him to be some kind of elite regulatory government insider (or maybe a college professor or better yet…. a lawyer). His anti-capitalist and anti-industrial stance also shows his prevalence for desiring a big government, statist utopia. That system worked so well in the Soviet Union and China. Unfortunately, for your belief system they had real “stacks” of bodies there. All of whom died from (and I’ll use NIOSH/OSHA lingo) “acute” lead poisoning, which was directly applied via an AK47. Wherever you work Mr. Schultz, how many “stacks of bodies” are you actually witness to? I’m 51 years old and for my entire work life I have worked in an industrial setting. For the last 20 years in environmental and safety. To date, I have not found an area in a chemical plant, a refinery, an “abrasive blasting” work place or a strip mine labeled “Body Stacking Area”. We do not live in the Soylent Green era…. yet. It’s these fanatical liberal elite beliefs that bring us regulatory non-sense. If things are so bad, why are we living longer? Because of big, over reaching government? I doubt it. Why not try and impose all of these rules on China, India, or Russia where your socialist policies already exist.
February 7th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Uh-Ha!!!!!!! Sometimes I am amazed over these posts
Remember OSHA, NIOSH the Unions the labor board and other Governmental agencies of the “Big” Government that is how we have a 40 hour work week and employee protections.
I was around before OSHA and the RTK programs and remember the complete lack of training you received in most jobs as to how to keep yourself and co-workers safe.
If “Big” business and most business were responsible and had safety as a rule then the agencies would not be needed. I know this for a fact as I have also have worked around and when entering the workforce I received next to no training on the dangers of chemicals or the machinery I had to use. Training was this is what you do and the supervisors walked away. Also PPE was almost unheard of unless there was an obvious proved direct threat to health and safety.
One place I worked in I had to unload 50 lb bales of “Angel Hair” or spun glass that was used in stuffing pillows. I was given protective clothing to handle the bales but the seamstresses were stationed outside a rubber curtained room where I worked. They had no protective apparatus at all and the spun glass was floating all around there were no fans the windows were sealed rubber curtains did not close were not up to the ceiling or to the floor the air was thick with particles of spun glass that was kicked out of the machine that ground up the “Angel Hair” into the sizes so it could be stuffed into pillows.
On another job we made the plates used to print news papers no machine guards no gloves eye or respiratory protection even though the plates had to be manufactured and tested there were no divisions between the different areas and odors in particular VOC odors were abundant but again no education or PPE supplied. At the time I did not know what a VOC odor was.
Another job we were stationed by large machines that manufactured bomb and war machine parts again even though there were metal particle flying through the…
February 7th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Unfortunately I went over the word limit so here is theresty if you are still interested.
Another job we were stationed by large machines that manufactured bomb and war machine parts again even though there were metal particle flying through the air no PPE and no machine guards nor safety training you were taken to your job and shown rapidly how to operate the machine. I operated a machine that drilled three holes in a valve 1 hair, 2 hair and 5 hairs thick. No PPE for breathing or eye protection etc.
Even in hospitals I worked as a housekeeper we were give corrosive chemicals with dangerous equipment and minimum protections with minimum training.
I lived with someone that had chemical scarring in lungs from having to use chemicals in rooms with no ventilation and no PPE and that was supposedly a safe industry (motion picture labs). Unfortunately they died an average of 20 years early because of lung damage and that person was the last of a class action suit against the chemical manufacturer and the lab so the class action suit was dropped.
To constantly hear about this stuff about business will do it for it is good for business just look up the Chemical Safety Board, OSHA, NIOSH sites and think of the human costs not just to the workers but to their families…….