YOUNG, INHOFE LETTER URGES DOL TO DELAY BURDENSOME SILICA RULE
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) led a letter to Deputy Assistant Secretary Sweatt urging the Department of Labor to delay enforcement of the silica rule to give industries more time to comply with a rule for which the Department is still developing implementation guidance.
The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), John Barrasso (R-WY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Johny Isakson (R-GA), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Lee (R-UT), James Lankford (R-OK) and David Perdue (R-GA).
“We want to highlight a rulemaking of great concern to our constituents, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) final rule regulating occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica,” the Senators said.“As you know, the rule …imposes a wide variety of requirements such as engineering controls, exposure assessment, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, and housekeeping.
“We believe given the extensive requirements of the rulemaking and the ongoing discussions with OSHA on guidance documents, an extension of the compliance deadline is reasonable and warranted. Additionally, we request that you work with small businesses to improve their compliance efforts as you continue to develop guidance documents.”
A copy of the letter is available here and pasted below.
May 24, 2018
Loren Sweatt
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Room S-2315
Washington, D.C. 20210
Dear Deputy Assistant Secretary Sweatt:
We want to highlight a rulemaking of great concern to our constituents, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) final rule regulating occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica. As you know, the rule establishes a new permissible exposure limit for silica of 50 µg/m3, a significant reduction from the prior PEL of 100 µg/m3. It also imposes a wide variety of requirements such as engineering controls, exposure assessment, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, and housekeeping.
We are concerned about the additional burdens and regulatory cost this rule places on general industry and particularly on small manufacturers. With the compliance deadline for the crystalline silica rule for general industry set to commence on June 23, 2018, we write to request that OSHA extend the enforcement deadline for an additional 180 days.
Based on input from our constituents and the various stakeholder groups impacted by the rule, they report of having great difficulty complying with its requirements and in particular, having to exhaust all feasible work practices and engineering options to meet the permissible exposure limit. They continue to work diligently to come into compliance with the rule and place the highest priority on maintaining safe and healthful workplaces.
We understand that key stakeholder groups have been in discussions with OSHA staff and are working diligently on clarifying various portions of the rule, and on a guidance document which is not yet finalized. We believe given the extensive requirements of the rulemaking and the ongoing discussions with OSHA on guidance documents, an extension of the compliance deadline is reasonable and warranted. Additionally, we request that you work with small businesses to improve their compliance efforts as you continue to develop guidance documents.
Once again, we urge you to delay enforcement of the agency’s crystalline silica standard for general industry for 180 days. This will provide additional time for these key impacted businesses to work towards compliance on OSHA’s new crystalline silica rule and allow for the agency to develop meaningful guidance materials.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,