Department of Labor March 17, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 29, 2009, OSHA announced that it would hold informal public hearings on its proposal to revise the Hazard Communication Standard in Washington, DC; Pittsburgh, PA; and Los Angeles, CA (74 FR 68756). OSHA will hold the Pittsburgh hearing at the Marriott Pittsburgh City Center on March 31, 2010. OSHA is canceling the Los Angeles, CA, hearing.

Section 101(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and 30 CFR Part 44 govern the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for modification. This notice is a summary of petitions for modification filed by the parties listed below to modify the application of existing mandatory safety standards published in Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

On February 28, 2006, OSHA published a final rule for Occupational Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium (Cr(VI). Public Citizen Health Research Group (Public Citizen) and other parties petitioned for review of the standard in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The court denied the petitions for review on all but one issue. The Third Circuit remanded the employee notification requirements in the standard's exposure determination provisions for further consideration. More specifically, the court directed the Agency to either provide an explanation for its decision to limit employee notification requirements to circumstances in which Cr(VI) exposures exceed the permissible exposure limit (PEL) or take other appropriate action with respect to that paragraph of the standard. After reviewing the rulemaking record on this issue, and reconsidering the provision in question, OSHA has decided to revise the notification requirements, by means of this direct final rule, to require employers to notify employees of the results of all exposure determinations.