Occupational Safety and Health Administration June 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (MACOSH) was established under Section 7 of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 to advise the Secretary of Labor through the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health on issues relating to occupational safety and health in the maritime industries. The purpose of this Federal Register notice is to announce that the Committee and workgroups will meet on July 19-20, 2011 in San Diego, CA.

OSHA is proposing to update Appendix A to Subpart B of its Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting regulation. Appendix A contains a list of industries that are partially exempt from maintaining records of occupational injuries and illnesses, generally due to their relatively low rates of occupational injury and illness. The current list of industries is based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In 1997, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was introduced to classify establishments by industry. The proposed rule would update Appendix A by replacing it with a list of industries based on NAICS and more recent injury and illness data. The proposed rule would also require employers to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and all work-related in-patient hospitalizations; and within 24 hours, all work-related amputations. The current regulation requires an employer to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees.

Phase III of the Standards Improvement Project (SIP-III) is the third in a series of rulemaking actions to improve and streamline OSHA standards. The Standards Improvement Project removes or revises individual requirements within rules that are confusing, outdated, duplicative, or inconsistent. OSHA identified several requirements for SIP-III (e.g., rigging, NIOSH records, and training certifications) for improvement based on the Agency's review of its standards, suggestions and comments from the public, or recommendations from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OSHA believes that improving these standards will help employers to better understand their obligations, promote safety and health for employees, lead to increased compliance, and reduce compliance costs. OSHA estimates that these changes will result in annualized savings for employers of over $45 million, and will reduce paperwork burden by 1.85 million hours annually.