Construction stakeholders are applying new pressure on OSHA to take into account the long-term economic impact of the agency's proposed crystalline silica rule, sending new data to regulators that the sector argues show much deeper ripple effects than earlier estimated from the rule based on passed-along price increases for building materials.
OSHA and NIOSH are voicing concern about exposures to respirable silica dust in stone countertop manufacturing, as OSHA continues analyzing data toward a potential final rule on silica before the end of the Obama administration.
The Obama administration is trying to reassure congressional appropriators of OSHA's intent to exhaustively review the wide array of data it has collected over the years as it attempts to move forward with a crystalline silica rulemaking, but the move is also generating deep concern among organized labor officials that detailed analysis could derail the rulemaking once Obama leaves office.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through a new report from NIOSH scientists, cites continuing rates of silicosis in urging “primary prevention” and medical monitoring of workplace silica exposures through a range of measures recommended by federal health agencies, perhaps adding further data OSHA could use in the agency's recently accelerated effort on a rulemaking to reduce silica risks.
OSHA alerts employers in a new publication to a variety of safety and health concerns -- none tied directly to silica exposures -- arising at hydraulic fracturing sites around the country, where the primary issue emphasized until now has been the potential for workers to develop silicosis or other diseases linked to inhalation of silica dust.
Public interest advocate Ralph Nader worries that OSHA has increasingly been denied the authority it needs to carry out its mission to craft workplace safety and health rules and effectively enforce them across U.S industry sectors, with the White House under both parties gradually sapping the agency of the power to take forceful policy action, the activist and onetime presidential contender tells Inside OSHA Online.
Congressional appropriators sent a clear signal to OSHA that it needs to weigh “all currently available technology” when it crafts an envisioned final rule tackling crystalline silica hazards in the workplace -- echoing technical feasibility concerns voiced in the employer community.
A top OSHA official says the agency's regulatory initiatives to reduce exposures to crystalline silica, tackle hazards from confined spaces in construction, put in place an online injury recordkeeping system, and help prevent slips, trips and falls on working surfaces are among the major rules that OSHA is most intent on trying to finish in the waning years of the Obama administration.
The length of time it could still take for OSHA regulators to pore over the massive trove of documents related to their long-proposed rule to reduce exposures to crystalline silica dust in general industry and construction – with an analysis not wrapping up until at least next spring, they say – means it could be nearly impossible for the agency to finish the rule before President Obama leaves office, considering the Republican takeover of Congress, Washington insiders say.
The Republican takeover of the Senate likely foretells huge new difficulties for OSHA's regulatory and enforcement agenda, with one prediction especially dire for the agency: that the GOP will almost certainly try to obstruct, or even dash altogether, longtime efforts to issue a rule clamping down on crystalline silica exposures, Washington sources say.