OSHA Wants More Changes – Here’s A Sneak Preview
This proposed revision would remove all requirements to include a worker’s social security number on exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, and other records for the purpose of protecting workers’ privacy and prevent identity fraud…
by, Robert Box
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing 19 changes and revisions to its standards.
The proposed changes and revisions are based on responses to a public Request for Information issued in 2012 as well as recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, OSHA staff, and the Office of Management and Budget.
Comments may be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Comments must be submitted by Dec. 5, 2016.
A sneak preview of the proposed 19 changes and revisions are listed here:
Recordkeeping
- Reporting job-related hearing loss
OSHA recordkeeping regulations require employers to record and report occupational injuries and illnesses beyond first aid. The proposed revision would better organize current enforcement policy and would seek to establish clear criteria for determining whether a worker’s hearing loss is “work related.”
- Collection of Social Security Numbers
The proposed revision would remove all requirements to include a worker’s social security number on exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, and other records for the purpose of protecting workers’ privacy and prevent identity fraud.
- Chest X-Ray (CXR) Requirements
The proposed revision would remove the requirement for periodic CXR in the standards for inorganic arsenic, coke oven emissions, and acrylonitrile. The change would make OSHA’s requirement more consistent with current medical practices.
- X-Ray Storage
The proposed revision would permit storage of x-rays in digital formats.
- Lung-function testing
The proposed revisions would update the lung-function testing (spirometry) requirements for the cotton dust standard to make them consistent with current medical practices and technology.
General Industry
- Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
The existing general industry standard requires protections against the “unexpected energization” of machinery during servicing. The proposed revision to remove the term “unexpected” would hopefully eliminate confusion regarding applicability of the standard.
Construction
- Lanyard/lifeline Break Strength
The proposed revision would standardize break-strength limits for lanyards and lifelines throughout the construction and general industry standards.
- 911 Emergency Services at Worksites
Existing construction regulations require employers to conspicuously post telephone numbers for emergency response at worksites located in areas where 911 emergency dispatch services are not available. The proposed revision would update this requirement to reflect the predominance of the use of mobile telephones at construction sites and the widespread adoption of 911 emergency dispatch services. The proposed revision would require posting of location information at worksites in areas that do not have “Enhanced 911” (a feature that automatically supplies the caller’s location information to the dispatcher).
- Personal Protective Equipment
The proposed revision to require employers to select PPE that properly fits each employee would clarify the construction PPE requirements and makes them consistent with general industry requirements.
- Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals
To avoid unnecessary duplication, OSHA proposes to replace the entire thirty-one pages of regulatory text for the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (PSM) Standard for construction with a cross reference to the identical general industry standard.
- Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs)
The proposed revisions to the construction PELs requirements would make this standard consistent with other OSHA PELs standards.
- Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)
The proposed revisions would seek to better align with DOT requirements by updating and clarifying requirements related to traffic signs and devices, flaggers and barricades.
- Load Limit Postings (Home Construction)
Presently, home construction employers must post maximum safe-load limits for floors in buildings under construction. The proposed revision would remove that requirement of employers.
Excavation Hazards
The proposed revision would clarify employers’ duties in the excavation standard by specifying that a hazard would be presumed to exist when loose rock or soil and excavated material or equipment is beside a trench.
- Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS)
The proposed revision would replace the outdated construction standard with references to the appropriate consensus standards.
- Regulation of coke oven emissions in construction
The proposed revision would remove the regulation of coke oven emissions provisions from the construction standards since the current standard is not consistent with construction work.
- Underground Construction
The proposed revision would replace outdated decompression tables used to protect workers operating in pressurized underground construction sites. The proposal would allow employers to use more modern French decompression tables.
- Underground Construction – Diesel Engines
Currently, mobile diesel-powered equipment used underground must comply with outdated Mine Safety Health Administration’s (MSHA) provisions. The proposed revision would update the regulatory language to cross-reference to the revised MSHA provisions.
Maritime
- Feral Cats
Current requirements in the sanitation standard for Shipyard Employment specify workplaces to be maintained in a manner that prevents vermin infestation, including control of feral cats. OSHA would remove the term “feral cats” from the definition of vermin in the standard, if approved.
Safety First Consulting is a contributor of SM Corridor News and helps businesses identify OSHA compliance issues in their workplaces, manage their safety programs, and we become accountable for the results. In addition to offering custom written safety programs for companies, Safety First Consulting provides required safety training, industrial hygiene sampling, noise sampling, and workplace inspections. You can read more from Robert Box under Business.
