It’s that time of year again…when OSHA tells us what is on the horizon for rulemaking activity. Earlier this week the fall semiannual regulatory agenda for federal agencies 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 twenty-one regulatory entries for OSHA specific actions. In this year’s regulatory agenda there are nine regulatory actions in the pre-rule stage, which is consistent with the spring regulatory agenda.  These pre-rule stage regulatory actions include Communication Tower Safety, Emergency Response and Preparedness, Mechanical Power Press Update and Prevention of Workplace Violence in Health Care and Social Assistance. Five regulatory actions are in the proposed rule stage including  Amendments to the Cranes and Derricks in Construction Standard, Exposure to Beryllium NPRM to Review General Industry Provisions and the addition of Puerto Rico as a State Plan and seven  regulatory actions are in the final rule stage, which is up from only four in the spring regulatory agenda. So despite a promise on regulatory rollback, OSHA is moving ahead with finalizing seven regulatory actions.  These include: Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in Construction and Shipyard Sectors, Crane Operator Qualification in Construction, Rules of Agency Practice and Procedure Concerning OSHA Access to Employee Medical Records and Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses.  Two of the agency’s final regulatory actions are non-substantive changes to rules, such as Standards Improvement Project IV, which is intended to remove or revise duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent safety and health standards and Technical Corrections to 35 OSHA Standards and Regulations, which corrects typographical errors and inaccurate graphics in OSHA standards.

Some of OSHA’s regulatory actions under consideration:

 

RULE

 

ANTICIPATED AGENCY ACTION

 

Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica; Revisions to Table 1 in the Standard for Construction

 

Request for Information in December 2018

 

Updates to Hazard Communication Standard

 

 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in March 2019

 

Lock-out/Tag-out Update

 

 

Request for Information in October 2018

 

Crane Operator Qualification in Construction

 

Final Rule November 2018

 

Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in Construction and Shipyard Sectors

 

Final Rule June 2019

 

Rules of Agency Practice and Procedure Concerning OSHA Access to Employee Medical Records

 

Final Rule June 2019

 

Tree Care Standard

 

SBREFA Small Business Review in June 2019

 

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

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

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Photo of Tressi L. Cordaro Tressi L. Cordaro

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state…

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state OSHA enforcement agencies.

Ms. Cordaro has advised employers faced with willful and serious citations as the result of catastrophic events and fatalities, including citations involving multi-million dollar penalties. Ms. Cordaro’s approach to representing an employer cited by OSHA is to seek an efficient resolution of contested citations, reserving litigation as the option if the client’s business objectives cannot otherwise be achieved. As a result, she has secured OSHA withdrawals of citations without the need for litigation.

Ms. Cordaro’s unique experience with government agencies involved in OSHA enforcement enables her to provide employers with especially insightful guidance as to how regulators view OSHA compliance obligations, and evaluate contested cases.

Ms. Cordaro served as the Presidentially-appointed Legal Counsel and Special Advisor to the past Chairman and Commissioner Horace A. Thompson, III at the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in Washington, DC, the agency that adjudicates contested federal OSHA citations. As the Commissioner’s chief counsel, Ms. Cordaro analyzed all cases presented to the OSHRC and advocated the Commissioner’s position during decisional meetings.

In addition, Ms. Cordaro worked at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration developing OSHA standards, regulations and enforcement and compliance policies, with emphasis on the construction industry. She has in-depth experience on technical issues including, in particular, issues related to cranes and derricks in construction.