OSHA regulators are taking a close look at removing from the agency's process safety management (PSM) standard a longtime exemption for flammable liquids kept inside atmospheric storage tanks, a move they believe would override a 1997 administrative law judge ruling that OSHA says has allowed companies to skirt the PSM requirements even when the tanks are connected to a process covered by the safety standard.

An advocacy group in Washington notes recent progress by OSHA on several substantial regulatory initiatives – especially a proposed new rule on crystalline silica and changes to recordkeeping requirements that would put data on workplace injury reports online – as signaling a departure from what the group calls a static regulatory process.

Federal chemical safety experts are urging California regulators to adopt the “safety case” approach to chemical plants that is used in some European countries, saying similar regulations at the state level would effectively patch holes in federal OSHA's regulatory regime, and citing a report from their probe of the 2012 Chevron refinery blast in Richmond, CA, as underscoring the need for a change in direction.

Public Citizen was planning a lawsuit to force the Obama administration's hand on OSHA's long-sought regulatory proposal to clamp down on worker exposures to crystalline silica and probably would have gone forward with the suit if the agency had not recently issued a proposed rule tackling the issue, the consumer interest group's president tells Inside OSHA Online in an exclusive interview.

A Louisiana petrochemical plant has been cited for OSHA safety procedure violations following a deadly blast earlier this year that drew national attention to chemical facility safety and security, including one “willful” citation by the federal agency -- a development that could also reflect intensifying pressure by OSHA on the industry through enforcement tools as well as a growing focus on process safety management (PSM).

Just a few straightforward lines OSHA slipped into an otherwise routine set of guidelines for written feedback on the agency's recently unveiled regulatory proposal on silica hazards has led to the rulemaking equivalent of a firestorm, with industry furious that OSHA is asking stakeholders with technical comments to voluntarily disclose the funding sources and by implication, who has a financial stake in the policies they are advocating.

OSHA is eying the possibility of making several major changes to its process safety management (PSM) standard, designed to protect workers from catastrophic events inside chemical plants, and process safety enforcement policies, according to sources who say the agency's thinking may be reflected in a series of questions OSHA is asking about how regulators could improve the PSM and related standards.

OSHA released its long-awaited proposed rule tackling crystalline silica exposures on Friday (Aug. 23), rolling out a comprehensive regulation that if eventually adopted would cut the permissible exposure limit to 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter and take broad measures to limit worker exposures across industries.

The proposed rule is split between two separate standards -- one for general industry and maritime, and the other for construction.

Editor's note: The following is a letter to the editor from industry attorney Lawrence Halprin of Keller and Heckman regarding OSHA's proposed silica rule. Inside OSHA Online invites reader comments on this subject, which may be sent to ccole@iwpnews.com.

OSHA is forcefully pushing back against Republican calls on Capitol Hill for a second small business review of the agency's planned crystalline silica rule, with a top agency official telling Inside OSHA Online the agency did a “very thorough panel” in the early 2000s and afterward fully addressed small business concerns in the proposed rule unveiled this summer.