Occupational Safety and Health Administration March 4, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

With this notice, OSHA is revoking twenty-four (24) obsolete variances. Between 1975 and 1977, OSHA granted permanent variances to 24 companies engaged in the construction of cylindrical steel tanks. The variances specified several conditions that served as an alternative means of compliance to the falling-object-protection and fall-protection requirements of the standard governing general requirements for scaffolds in effect during this period. In 1996, OSHA revised its scaffolds standards for construction to include provisions that essentially duplicated the conditions specified by these variances. Therefore, OSHA believes the alternative means of compliance granted by the variances is no longer necessary and is revoking the variances. Based on comments received in response to a December 19, 2011, notice proposing to revoke these variances (76 FR 78698), on August 7, 2012, OSHA published a notice in the Federal Register correcting several cross references in OSHA's scaffolds standards for construction (77 FR 46948). Today's notice revoking the variances takes into consideration these newly corrected cross references.