Department of Labor October 22, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 15, 2005, OSHA published a proposed rule to revise the general industry and construction standards for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution work and for electrical protective equipment. Public comments were received, a hearing was held, and the final posthearing briefs were due on July 14, 2006. The proposed general industry and construction standards for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution work included revised minimum approach distance tables. Those tables limit how close an employee (or a conductive object he or she is contacting) may get to an energized circuit part. After the rulemaking record on the proposal closed, the technical committee responsible for developing the tables in the consensus standards on which the proposal was based discovered what in their view was an error in their calculation of minimum approach distances for certain voltages. OSHA is reopening the record on this proposal to obtain comments related to the affected minimum approach distances. The record will remain open on this limited basis for 30 days.