Silica

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has quickly competed its review of OSHA’s draft request for information (RFI) that could help open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.

After months of delay, OSHA has formally submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a draft request for information (RFI) that could eventually open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.

In a new final agenda for construction safety research, a coalition convened by NIOSH is backing labor groups' calls for prioritizing research on protecting workers from falls and during natural or man-made disasters, while also softening past criticism of OSHA's lockout/tagout standard, which the Obama OSHA sought to revise, despite industry opposition.

With OSHA's silica rule slated to be enforceable on June 23, the agency is planning to provide compliance assistance to employers that make “good faith efforts” to meet the general industry and maritime standard's requirements, and any citations issued will be subject to federal review during the rule's first 30 days of enforcement.

OSHA's clear signal that it hopes to finish a landmark new rule tackling worker exposures to crystalline silica dust by early next year -- the agency's new regulatory agenda pegs February as the target -- means the almost-inevitable legal and political battles over the rule's specifics could play out during the Obama administration, likely easing the path for OSHA to ensure it gets fully implemented.

NIOSH experts have developed and tested a prototype called the “mini-baghouse” that the agency says can protect oil and gas extraction workers by controlling silica dust on hydraulic fracturing work sites. NIOSH presented research on the prototype Wednesday (Nov. 4) at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Progressive groups want lawmakers to turn back a provision attached in the 11th hour of committee talks on fiscal 2016 Labor Department spending legislation that mandates an independent study of the epidemiological data underpinning OSHA's controversial proposed silica rule, along with another small business review -- but the fight may be irrelevant in the hectic closing weeks of September, with Congress barreling toward a possible government shutdown.

OSHA's long-planned rule to reduce workplace silica dust exposures faces tough new opposition from Republican appropriators on Capitol Hill trying to derail the contentious rule through appropriations, though a new round of budget gridlock similar to recent years would likely prevent such provisions from becoming law, congressional observers say.

NIOSH says researchers have found that attaching a regular shop vacuum to a dust-collecting circular saw can provide a “simple, low cost solution” to reduce exposure to hazardous dust when construction workers cut fiber-cement siding -- findings that come as OSHA works intently to finalize a controversial rule to reduce exposures to crystalline silica dust, which is a major concern in dealing with that type of construction material.

OSHA fully expects before the Obama administration ends to finalize and enact new regulations aimed at reducing workplace hazards from crystalline silica dust, OSHA's top non-career deputy told safety and health activists at a Maryland conference Wednesday (June 3).