Good News From OSHA Spring Regulatory Agenda

The U.S. Department of Labor finally recently published its 2013 Spring Regulatory Agenda. Despite the extra time, a number of dates are still shown as "00″ or undetermined / to be determined.

But hey, at least they're not handling our healthcare…

But tucked in the 67 pages of Spring Regulatory Agenda we found good news regarding two items affecting our precision machining industry.

Item 1, Cooperative Agreements

According to the Regulatory Agenda, OSHA has "withdrawn" RIN # 1218-AC32, effective 07/00/2013, (whatever "00″ means) which would have-

• eliminated exemptions from inspections for companies regardless of participation in Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) exemption status;
• allow Compliance Safety and Health Officers to proceed with enforcement visits resulting from referrals at sites undergoing Consultation visits and at sites that have been awarded SHARP status;
• limit the deletion period from OSHA's programmed inspection schedule for those employers participating in the SHARP program.

I guess someone figured out that there would be no incentive at all for companies to participate in these programs if their was no employer benefit at all.

Item 2, Revising Record Requirements in the Mechanical Power Press Standard

The other good news item in the Spring Agenda was the notice that OSHA is Revising Record Requirements in the Mechanical Power Press Standard, RIN: 1218-AC80. Notice of proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and Direct Final Rule dated 07/00/2013:

"As part of the Department of Labor's burden hour and cost reduction initiatives, OSHA will examine revoking requirements for employers to prepare and maintain periodic records certifying that the employer performed the required tests and inspections on machinery. The purpose of revoking these records is to minimize paperwork burdens imposed on employers. Recently, OSHA revoked requirements that employers develop and retain training records for a number of standards when the revocation did not adversely affect worker safety and health."

The other 8 OSHA items have potential major impact on our shops. We're analyzing them for reporting to our members.

We call our attention to regulatory issues "PMPA Regulatory Assurance."

Who is working on this for you? Where do you go for OSHA regulatory guidance? Are your HR people proactively working these issues?

Thanks to EndUserSharePoint for the photo

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Milo for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.