OSHA standards: Short-term expectations

OSHA chiefs have a history of lasting roughly three years in the job. This narrow window has always been to the detriment of standards-setting. Standards are either rushed out to beat a changing of the guard in the White House (see ergonomics), or are dragged out through multiple reviews and revisions incurred by multiple regime changes.

The year 2011 will probably see the most standards-setting activity by the next OSHA chief. OSHA’s new boss won’t officially take office most likely until this fall, and most of 2010 will go to putting together a leadership team, setting a course, and getting the lay of the agency land. By 2012, the agency will be operating under the unofficial rules of election-year conduct, which basically mean do nothing to screw up the president’s reelection.

So advance notices of proposed rulemaking could come in 2010, with actual proposals in 2011. Final rules, particularly for complex and contested issues (such as a safety and health program management standard) would hinge on President Obama’s reelection and come sometime after 2012.

Already in the pipeline:
Hearings recently were held on OSHA’s proposed update of cranes and derricks regulations. Given the catastrophes involving cranes toppling over in Manhattan in the recent past, the agency will be hard-pressed not to push ahead with a final standard here, and quickly. The same pressure, again due to negative publicity, applies to regulating occupational exposure to food flavorings containing diacetyl.

Coming soon:
A caveat: in the world of OSHA standards-setting, “soon” is a rubbery term that can be stretched over years. Standards have a notoriously lengthy gestation period at the agency. That should change to a degree with a Department of Labor regime more supportive of organized labor’s standards goals, but small business advocacy review panels, comment periods, hearings, post-hearing comment periods and the Obama administration’s emphasis on transparency in rulemaking processes all will slow down standards writing.

Also, the current economic crisis, which could drag on who knows how long, will certainly act as a brake on standards-setting and the associated compliance cost burden.

What you can expect are more announcements of intentions to regulate in specific cases. To issue an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is a rather politically painless move. It draws media, professional, and employer attention to an issue before OSHA hunkers down for the time-consuming, devil-in-the-details work of writing a standard that is technologically and economically feasible, meets cost-benefit requirements, and then defends its proposal against all comers.

Prediction: Within the next 12 months, OSHA will make announcements concerning standards-setting actions for silica exposures, beryllium exposures, confined spaces in construction, global harmonization of MSDSs and hearing conservation in construction.