OSHA is “determined” to finalize new regulations before the end of the Obama administration that lower exposure limits and put practices in place to control crystalline silica dust, agency chief David Michaels said Monday.
OSHA regulatory experts who are closely watching the agency's gradual progress on a complex new rule to tamp down on worker exposures to crystalline silica think it could take nine months to a year or even longer for OSHA to finish drafting and send to the White House budget office a final rule -- and the effort could stretch even to the last days of President Obama's term, informed sources tell Inside OSHA Online.
A key Washington advocacy group for stronger safety and health protections is holding up OSHA's proposed rule tackling crystalline silica exposures as one of 10 key federal rulemakings that the Obama administration should complete as the rules would purportedly not only save lives but carry greater net benefits than costs.
OSHA chief David Michaels put two related regulatory concerns -- a pending rule to tighten controls on crystalline silica dust and the agency's worry about antiquated chemical permissible exposure limits -- at the centerpiece of a push on Friday (April 25) for tougher OSHA protections ahead of Workers Memorial Day, April 28, sounding alarms about what he calls a host of “silent killers” rampant in the workplace.
OSHA is making the case for a much stricter standard on respirable crystalline silica by forming an alliance with several groups of occupational health experts in the Atlanta region -- a partnership designed to provide construction employers and workers with guidance and training to prevent overexposure to the toxic dust generated in some building activities.
Safety and health activists, in pressing for a new OSHA rule cutting down on worker exposures to crystalline silica dust across the spectrum of both large and small U.S. businesses, have tapped into a long-simmering source of grievance with the federal regulatory process: that agencies often rely heavily on the Small Business Administration's (SBA) expansive view of what constitutes a small entity and as a result over-estimate rules' impact on small businesses.
NIOSH officials say a multi-stakeholder partnership involving industry, union and government experts on respirable crystalline silica has evaluated a range of engineering controls in field studies that are effective at keeping exposures to the toxic dust during road milling below the research agency's 50-microgram recommended exposure limit (REL) for silica dust – a level mirroring the compulsory exposure cap in OSHA's planned silica rule – and suggest use of the developed controls could obviate a need for respirator use over full shifts in road milling operations.
President Obama's regulatory czar said Monday he feels no “particular pressure” to put an eventual final OSHA silica rule on a fast track for completion before the swiftly approaching end of the administration, and does not take that view toward any other rule despite a generally recognized 90-day window for the White House budget office to review agency standards -- a period often extended for lengthy stretches to the ire of pro-regulation groups.
The national paving industry, with key union backing, is urging OSHA officials to reexamine a mandate for respirator use under some exposure conditions that the agency included in a proposed new standard for silica control measures in construction activities, saying a requirement triggered by more than four hours of possible exposure actually creates new and greater hazards for road workers.
Construction industry trade groups are mounting an informal challenge to OSHA's crystalline silica rulemaking that hinges on an argument that agency officials did not adequately consult with their construction advisory panel on details of the planned regulations as required by OSHA procedures before issuing the proposal last year.