The Top 5 upcoming OHS regulatory events you need to know about: #5

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Paul Leavoy

U.S. agencies and regulatory bodies are constantly proposing, reviewing, and finalizing new rules that often mean significant changes for businesses across the nation. Almost any company of any size needs to be aware of forthcoming changes that will impact how they manage their impacts and responsibilities related to occupational health and safety (OHS).

However, between proposed rules, final rules, pre-rules, long-tem actions and the dozens upon dozens of rules being reviewed at any given time, it can be hard for businesses to separate the wheat from the chaff and determine which events will directly affect how they do business.

In an attempt to ensure the most important issues are on your radar, I’ve put together a list of the Top 5 OHS regulatory events on the immediate horizon business leaders as well as OHS managers and staff need to know about.

We’ll start with number five and countdown to number one throughout the week.

5. The crystalline silica rule:

Earlier this year, OSHA started preparing a rule that would protect workers exposed to crystalline silica, a basic component of sand, granite, soil and other minerals that has been classified as a human lung carcinogen and can cause silicosis and tuberculosis.

More than 2 million U.S. workers, at least 100,000 of which operate in high-risk jobs like stonecutting, rock drilling, foundry work, blasting, quarry work and tunneling are exposed to crystalline silica on an ongoing basis. When the rule is implemented, thousands of employers in industries where crystalline silica is present will have to take an array of precautions to minimize exposure of workers to the dangerous compound.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has already gone over the rule, and it has been returned to OSHA, which is well passed the typical deadline for review – it should have published a proposed rule by May 15. In a web chat this past Monday, an OSHA representative stated that the agency has made no final decision on the scope of a proposed rule and added “OSHA continues to work with OMB and is confident that a proposed rule will be published soon.” Since the agency has been working on the framework and scope of this rule since at least 2003, it is about time.

Check back tomorrow for the fourth most important upcoming OHS regulatory event you need to know about.

Thousands of businesses to be affected by OSHA’s proposed recordkeeping rules

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Paul Leavoy

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is planning changes that would affect how businesses track and report on workplace injuries.

The proposed revisions to injury and illness recordkeeping rules would require employers to report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations within eight hours of occurrence, and all work-related amputations within 24 hours. Reporting amputations is not required under the existing regulation.

Also, the rule would update the section of OSHA’s recordkeeping rule that list industries exempt from injury and illness reporting requirements. Currently, some industries aren’t required to report due to their relatively low injury and illness rates. However, these industries are currently classified under the old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, not the more widely used North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The proposed rule would update the list to reflect NAICS classification, as well as more current Injury and Illness rates and, as a result, some industries formerly exempt from injury and illness reporting requirements might have to report when the rule is issued, including liquor stores, bakeries, auto parts stores, and more. In fact, OSHA estimates nearly 200,000 establishments will be affected by the changes.

However, these rules are by no means set in stone. The public has until September 20, 2011 to provide feedback. Head to regulations.gov to find the proposed rule and submit comments.

In the meantime, if you are not currently tracking and reporting on injury and illness data electronically, now is the time to start. A streamlined solution will significantly ease the burden of reporting in a timely, accurate and legally compliant manner, and make adjusting to these changes much easier.

EPA extends power plant emissions deadline…slightly

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Paul Leavoy

While its ambitious agenda to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) has been delayed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still moving ahead in full force to have power plants – one of the biggest contributors of GHGs – cut emissions drastically.

The EPA announced late last year it would move to push new, strict emissions performance standards on plants and refineries. The move faced stiff opposition from U.S. Republicans, as well as some others opposed to imposed limits on emissions, since it was viewed as a move by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to make up for the fact President Barack Obama failed to pass promised environmental legislation in his first term in office. However, the EPA had a legal mandate from the Supreme Court to move forward on carbon emissions cuts.

This week the EPA indicating it is budging, but only slightly. Its new deadline for proposing a GHG performance standard has been moved to September 30, two months later than the initially proposed July 26 deadline.

While power plants across the U.S. may breathe a collective sigh of relief that the deadline is not mere weeks away, this is but an eight week extension. Tracking, reporting, and mitigating GHG emissions will be the new reality for all power plants and refineries by the end of the year.

What’s the best plan? Well, since you can’t manage what you don’t measure, start tracking carbon emissions immediately.

While the current rule may apply only to the biggest emitters – refineries and power plants represent more than 40 per cent of nationwide emissions, according to the EPA – eventually all businesses will need to move towards emissions reporting and reduction. So what’s stopping you? Track and report on emissions now. It can be cost-effective, cheap and – counterintuitively – generate substantial financial rewards.

Did I mention we make software for that?