An industry with perhaps the most obvious of all possible stakes in OSHA's rulemaking to tackle crystalline silica hazards -- the brick-making business -- has started expressing serious apprehensions with the agency's regulatory approach, saying there are many unanswered questions about the technical feasibility of the rule, on top of concerns about its potential economic impact on companies that manufacture the building materials.

OSHA's proposed silica rule, even if eventually finalized, would be opened up to substantial legal challenges if the agency continues to refute a need for separate, formal avenues by the small business community to review and offer criticism of the proposal, a pair of GOP lawmakers suggested in a recent letter to OSHA chief David Michaels.

OSHA has pushed until Feb. 11 the deadline for submitting comments on its proposed crystalline silica rule -- in what amounts to a 15-day extension -- due to an apparent posting error on the web-based regulations portal that Republicans say could have led some affected stakeholders to believe the window had already closed on putting comments in the record.

An umbrella group of health and safety advocacy groups decried what it termed major “shortcomings” in federal and state oversight following the recent West Virginia chemical spill that left hundreds of thousands without usable water as the substance infiltrated a regional water supply.

It was revealed soon after the spill that the chemical plant involved in the massive pollution of the Elk River had no OSHA inspection history (see related blog).

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, an alliance of consumer and public interest groups, small businesses and individuals that generally favors more federal regulation including by OSHA, issued a statement Jan. 14 calling the spill near Charleston, WV, “the latest in a series of environmental and safety disasters” related to a lack oversight that is often “driven by vociferous, industry-funded anti-regulatory campaigns.”

“From the BP explosion and oil spill to the West, Texas, refinery explosion to the new spill in West Virginia, we’ve seen that the public pays the price when regulatory agencies don’t have the legal tools and funding to do their jobs,” the group said. “If this facility had been required to meet some basic standards and had been inspected regularly, some critics surely would have called it red tape. But such protections are crucial. Standards and safeguards save lives and protect people from corporate bad actors who, left to their own devices, put profits over people’s health.”

The coalition argued that while there has been progress over several decades in making the environment and workplaces healthier and safer, “[i]t’s time to reform our chemical safety laws -- both at the state and federal levels -- to prevent the next dangerous accident or spill.”

The chemical plant where a storage tank leak led to massive pollution of the Elk River near Charleston, WV, over the weekend, causing a widespread water crisis, had no OSHA inspection history, according to regional agency officials. OSHA has deployed to the site of Freedom Industries to investigate the disaster. Occupational health advocates also expressed dismay at a lack of overall regulatory oversight by state and federal agencies at the plant.

The agency's enforcement database shows that compliance officers tried to inspect the facility in 2009 but the inspection did not take place. A regional OSHA spokeswoman said the inspection would have fallen under an OSHA national emphasis program (NEP) on amputation hazards, but when arriving on site, inspectors learned that the industrial code for the plant was not among those targeted under the NEP.

OSHA does not have an exposure limit for the chemical but does require a material safety data sheet for it.

A release of 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol into the river, just upstream from the intake of a major water supplier, caused the disaster, which cut off water to hundreds of thousands of residents and shut down numerous businesses. The OSHA spokeswoman said the incident did not cause any known worker injuries, however.

Some employers could try to suppress the number of injuries and illness reports that formally show up on their OSHA logs, resulting in incomplete and less useful overall data, under a proposed new system requiring large employers to submit the records electronically every quarter, say experts on both sides of a rapidly escalating debate over OSHA's planned rule.

OSHA chief David Michaels on Thursday (Jan. 9) urged public comments on OSHA's plan to change recordkeeping rules to mandate quarterly electronic reporting of injuries by large companies, as the agency convened a meeting in Washington to hear views on the proposed regulation.

A federal working group of OSHA and other agencies is floating a broad set of policy options to improve chemical facility safety, including controversial measures such as first-time rules requiring the use of "safer" technologies, prompting concern from industry groups over the sweeping range of new mandates that the group is considering.

OSHA has extended by 30 days the public comment period on a contentious planned rule unveiled last fall that would require quarterly electronic reporting of OSHA logs by large companies, to March 8, 2014 -- bowing to calls from industry for more time to review and prepare feedback on the proposed regulations, which eventually would result in injury and illness data logged by employers being put on the web.

Studies have shown the evidence of lung cancer risks from prolonged exposures to crystalline silica dust to be “strong and consistent” and OSHA is taking “appropriate” steps in trying to reduce the health hazard through a regulatory effort, two cancer researchers say in a new American Cancer Society journal article.