The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is giving you the opportunity to share your thoughts on phase three of its Standards Improvement Project (SIPs III), the third in a series of rulemaking actions the agency says are intended to streamline standards and reduce the regulatory burdens. Notice of the proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register in mid-December 2006. Comments will be accepted until Feb. 20.

Through the SIPs III rulemaking, OSHA aims to help employers better understand their obligations, which should lead to increased compliance, ensure greater safety and health for employees, and reduce compliance costs and paperwork burdens.

In the Dec. 21 notice, considered changes include revisions to 11 standards that OSHA has preliminarily identified to be addressed during the SIPs III rulemaking, according to a U.S. Department of Labor announcement (via Safety Online). OSHA is asking for comments on updating medical testing and industrial hygiene sampling requirements in the various health standards. The agency is also considering methods to make training requirements in both health and safety standards consistent.

The agency has already published two Standards Improvement Project final rules, in 1998 and 2005: SIPs I (1998) revised 147 provisions in 20 standards and, according to OSHA, saved $9.65 million per year in compliance costs; and SIPs II (2005) addressed 41 provisions in 21 standards, reduced compliance costs by $6.79 million per year and annual paperwork burdens by 210,105 hours, according to the agency.

In addition to the SIPs III considerations, OSHA's semi-annual regulatory agenda — published in the Dec. 11 Federal Register — lists cranes and derricks, crystalline silica and incorporating Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) into the agency's hazard communication standard as high priorities, according to Occupational Hazards.

Updating the cranes and derricks portion of Subpart N has been on OSHA's agenda since 2001. In the most recent activity on this standard, the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement and Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel for the standard submitted its report on Oct. 17. OSHA plans to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for cranes and derricks in October 2007.

Further, OSHA seeks to control silica hazards in general industry through enforcement of a permissible exposure limit (PEL) for silica based on a formula recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) in 1971. According to the agency, more than 2 million workers are exposed to crystalline silica dust in general industry, construction and the maritime industries. Occupational exposure to crystalline silica over long periods of time can result in chronic silicosis. Exposure to high levels of respirable crystalline silica causes acute or accelerated forms of silicosis that are ultimately fatal. Development of a crystalline silica standard has been elevated to priority status, of late.

Also noted in the most recent regulatory agenda, OSHA is considering modifying its hazard communication standard to make it consistent with GHS. According to the agency, this would involve changing the criteria for classifying health and physical hazards, adopting standardized labeling requirements and requiring a standardized order of information for safety data sheets. In its regulatory agenda, OSHA says that by February 2007 it should have completed its review of comments that were received in response to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued on Sept. 12.

You can submit comments regarding phase three of the Standards Improvement Project via fax at (202) 693-1648 or electronically here or here. Again, comments must be submitted by Feb. 20, 2007.