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Volume XIV, Number 78
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Rules to Come? Future Regulatory Agenda for OSHA
Thursday, July 20, 2017

It’s that time of year again…when the federal government tells the regulated community what types of rulemaking initiatives that various agencies are undertaking for the year. Today, the semiannual regulatory agenda was published. This Regulatory Agenda provides a complete list of all regulatory actions that are under active consideration for promulgation, proposal, or review and covers regulatory actions for over 60 federal departments, agencies, and commissions.

The regulatory agenda for the Department of Labor includes a total of thirteen regulatory entries for OSHA specific actions.  In comparison, the regulatory agenda published in May 2016 had thirty two regulatory entries for OSHA specific actions. Additionally, sixteen agency actions have been removed completely from the current agenda, including Combustible Dust, Noise in Construction, Preventing Workplace Violence in Healthcare, Infectious Disease, and the Tree Care Standard.  These initiatives have been classified as “completed actions” and for each initiative OSHA states, “OSHA is withdrawing this entry from the agenda at this time due to resource constraints and other priorities.” The removal of these initiatives from the agenda aligns with the Trump Administration’s goal of effective and less burdensome regulation.

Of those initiatives remaining for OSHA, five of the thirteen rulemaking actions still are in the pre-rule stage.  At this stage, OSHA is simply gathering relevant information through stakeholder meetings or outreach measures.  The remaining eight regulatory actions are in the proposed rulemaking stage, and include rules that were promulgated and finalized under the Obama Administration and recently reopened under the Trump Administration, such as Occupational Exposure to Beryllium.

A summary of some of the regulatory actions under consideration by OSHA include:

 RULE

ANTICIPATED AGENCY ACTION

Communication Tower Safety

Complete SBREFA in August 2017

Powered Industrial Trucks

Request for Information in December 2017

Lock-Out/Tag-Out Update

Request for Information April 2018

Mechanical Power Presses Update

Crane Operator Qualification in Construction

Request for Information in February 2018

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in July 2017

Blood Lead Level for Medical Removal

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in April 2018

Occupational Exposure to Beryllium

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Comment Period Ends August 2018

Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in October 2017

 The full federal Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan can be found online at:

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain

 

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