The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) acting regulatory chief is defending a proposed rule that critics say includes burdensome hazard assessment mandates for industry that could aid EPA’s chemical regulations, saying the new provisions merely codify existing guidance and require industry to take “reasonable” steps.
The United Steelworkers (USW) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) are urging President Joe Biden to nominate new members to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and increase its budget, arguing that CSB’s current status as a one-person panel has rendered it “dysfunctional.”
OSHA is extending the comment period on its proposed hazard communication standard (HCS) update, giving industry critics more time to build legal and policy cases against the rule after one attorney said it appears designed to aid EPA chemical evaluations by forcing many chemical companies to conduct elaborate new hazard analyses.
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which investigates releases of hazardous or toxic chemicals and other industrial incidents, will soon draw up a new board order as recommended by EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that oversees CSB, while embarking on a hiring push to bolster the ranks of its investigators.
An industry attorney says chemical makers and users could soon face an “absurd,” onerous mandate to assess the hazards posed by chemicals they produce or use, not only in their own operations but in all possible downstream uses and combinations -- a duty he says could be aimed at supporting EPA’s risk evaluations of existing chemicals.
A small business representative says that shortly before the presidential transition EPA risk managers signaled they were considering occupational exposure limits for uses of the acutely toxic solvent methylene chloride at levels more stringent than those set by OSHA and an occupational hygienists group, in an early marker for the forthcoming rule.
EPA’s acting chemicals chief is detailing a series of steps to toughen reviews of new chemicals, including dropping what critics said were overly optimistic assumptions on workers’ use of protective gear, expanding the scope of the reviews and increasing the use of enforcement orders after approving pre-manufacture notices (PMNs).
OSHA is floating the first update to its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) since 2012 -- a move that would more closely align the policy with current international guidelines for chemical labeling in the workplace and could also drive a new effort to incorporate those same requirements into EPA rules.
Employers say EPA’s finding that workers face “unreasonable risks” from the dye ingredient pigment violet 29 (PV29) rests in large part on misunderstandings of industrial hygiene practices, and they are urging the agency to work with OSHA and other safety regulators to address those flaws before crafting any rules based on its assessment.
Unions and environmental groups are asking courts to overturn EPA’s findings on whether workers face “unreasonable risks” from a host of chemicals including asbestos and the solvent methylene chloride, even as the agency itself is wrestling with whether to craft new rules for the substances in addition to OSHA standards.