Examiner

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced the forthcoming release of a final rule that streamlines and simplifies standards while reducing employer burdens. The rule, which soon will be published in the Federal Register, will help keep OSHA standards up-to-date and better enable employers to comply with their regulatory obligations.

Speaking on the issue, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels said, “The final rule is the third in OSHA's Standards Improvement Projects initiative that periodically reviews OSHA regulations with the goal of improving and eliminating those that are confusing, outdated, duplicative or inconsistent. OSHA estimates that the final rule, without reducing employee protection, will result in annual cost savings to employers exceeding $43 million and significant reductions in paperwork burden hours."

These updates will be in line with the goals of the president's Executive Order 13563, "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review," issued Jan. 18 to simplify standards and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.

The rule will update OSHA's standards and identify requirements for revision based on an agency review, comments from the public and recommendations from an Office of Management and Budget report (Regulatory Reform of the U.S. Manufacturing Sector, 2005). It builds on the success of SIP-Phase I published June 18, 1998, and SIP-Phase II published Jan. 5, 2005.

The new rule will result in several changes to OSHA's existing respiratory protection standard, including aligning air cylinder testing requirements for self-contained breathing apparatuses with U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, clarifying that aftermarket cylinders meet National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH quality assurance requirements and clarifying that the provisions of Appendix D, which contains information for employees using respirators when not required under the standard, are mandatory if the employee chooses to use a respirator.