OSHA Silica Rule Needs to Extend Public-comment Period, Says Lawmaker

By Anonymous -

The head of the House Small Business Committee asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to delay a workplace safety rule that has been in the works for years.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said in a letter to the agency on Thursday that small companies need more time to weigh in on the draft rule setting an exposure limit for silica dust, which has been linked to fatal lung disease.
The 755-page proposed regulation, which was revealed earlier this year, along with a report about how it would affect small businesses, is “a significant amount of information and analysis for small businesses to review,” he wrote.
“Extending the deadlines associated with the rule making will help ensure that small businesses and their representatives are able to provide OSHA meaningful comments and data,” he added.

The letter from Graves comes days after the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, which looks out for the small businesses’ interests in the regulatory process, asked the agency to give the public more time to comment on the rule. 

Currently, the comment period for the proposed regulation is set to close on Dec. 11, three months after it was published in the Federal Register.
Graves and the Advocacy Office both want OSHA to keep the docket open for an additional 90 days.
Last month, the House committee chairman highlighted the regulation for the public. 
The rule limiting workers’ exposure to silica dust has been in the works for a decade.
Proponents of the rule, who note that it would save nearly 700 lives each year, according to OSHA analysis, say that efforts to delay the rule would just leave workers at construction sites and other industrial workplaces exposed to the dust at risk.

They also add that small-business interests already had a chance to weigh in on the rule while it was still under development at OSHA, due to restrictions that require the agency to survey small-business representatives for some rules.


(From NRCA Smartbrief)

Trenton H. Cotney

Florida Bar Certified Construction Lawyer
Trent Cotney, P.A.
1211 N Franklin St
Tampa, FL 33602

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dotted Line: When Contractors Can Walk Off the Job

By -
When general contractors or subcontractors sign on to construction projects, they usually start off believing everything will run smoothly. But, during the course of the work, issues sometimes arise that force all parties to go running back to their contracts in order to evaluate their options. One of those options for construction companies is to simply stop work, but contractors need to take care when making such a big decision. “Stopping work and ultimately terminating the contract is one of the most radical things you can do,” said Joseph McManus Jr., attorney and shareholder at law firm Carlton Fields.   Luckily, most of the circumstances under which contractors are clearly entitled to stop work are included in the most popular standard forms of contracts. Nonpayment The most common reason that contractors find it necessary to stop work, McManus said, is that they haven’t been paid for approved invoices. In that scenario, he said, contractors have the ...
Read more

"Mass-timber" Sees Greater Use in Roofing and Construction Projects in Europe

By -
Image
The use of "mass-timber," or prefabricated engineered wood components is becoming more common in construction and roofing applications in Europe. In projects such as the galleria roof of a central city building in Surrey, it helps meet demand for wood structures to add visual appeal. From NRCA Trenton H. Cotney Florida Bar Certified Construction Lawyer Trent Cotney, P.A. 407 N. Howard Avenue Suite 100 Tampa, FL 33606 www.trentcotney.com
Read more