Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials June 29 discussed the agency's priorities at the annual meeting of the American Society of Safety Engineers in San Antonio. OSHA must address ergonomics in the workplace and its own rulemaking procedures, according to Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary of Labor for occupational safety and health.

Jim Maddux of OSHA’s standards and guidance directorate said the agency will be moving forward on diacetyl and silica rulemakings and a guidance document on pandemic flu preparations.

Ergonomics Tops To-Do List

OSHA must address ergonomics “in some way, shape, or form” within a few years, according to acting OSHA chief Barab.

Staff members currently are discussing how to address the issue, which Barab called a “huge political football” and “huge safety and health problem.”

Barab also said agency officials currently are reviewing OSHA’s penalty structure.

He provided no further details. Limits on OSHA fines are set by statute and last were adjusted in 1990.

The average serious penalty now is below $1,000, Barab said. “That doesn’t provide much of a disincentive,” he said. “It’s a low cost of doing business.”

Rulemaking Process Still Slow

Barab said one of his priorities will be to work with Congress and the White House to seek ways of speeding up the standard-setting process, which he called “way too slow.”

“It impacts our effectiveness and credibility,” Barab said of the slow pace of rulemaking.

“There’s a long way to go, and it’s not an easy path.”

Barab also said OSHA’s pending recordkeeping National Emphasis Program will scrutinize companies in high-risk industries that post strikingly low accident and injury rates. OSHA inspectors not only will look at a company’s records but also its safety policies, he said.

In particular, agency inspectors will look for companies that discourage their employees from reporting workplace accidents, Barab said.

He further called on occupational safety and health practitioners to engage more actively with the agency by submitting best practices or volunteer to testify in Congress. “We want strongly protective standards but also ones that make sense,” Barab said.

VPP Here to Stay

Barab also stressed OSHA is not shutting down the Voluntary Protection Program. However, the program, will be reviewed thoroughly, he said, in light of the recent Government Accountability Office report criticizing the agency's failure to properly oversee the program (see related story, p. 102).

“The days of signing up companies into the program just to serve arbitrary goals are over,” Barab added.

The administration likely will not name a permanent OSHA chief until September or October, Barab said, noting Congress's August recess was one month away.

Barab confirmed that after a permanent head is confirmed, he will continue with the agency as a deputy assistant secretary.

New Face Mask Guidance

OSHA also is moving forward on new guidance advising employers on how many face masks and respirators they should stockpile in case of an influenza outbreak, Maddux said.

The guidance will include a formula employers can use to calculate how many respirators they will need to stockpile, Maddux noted.

Many U.S. employers’ stockpiles of face masks currently fall well short of the number needed to protect their workers, especially in the health-care sector, he said.

In case of a sudden outbreak, OSHA also would not be opposed to “working on the fly” and modifying its guidance to employers based on the kind of work their employees are performing and severity of exposure risk they face.

“We will be adapting our position as we go,” Maddux said.

Diacetyl, Silica Rules

Within “one or two months,” OSHA expects a report from the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel convened in May to review a draft proposed rule on diacetyl exposure, Maddux said.

At the same time, OSHA has contracted with a third party to select risk assessors to take part in the peer review of the agency’s proposed crystalline silica standard, while the Office of Management and Budget is expected to complete its review of OSHA’s Globally Harmonized Labeling System proposed rule by autumn, Maddux added.

OMB also currently is reviewing OSHA’s personal protective equipment standard proposal, which would be updated based on national consensus standards. OMB is “probably getting close” to finalizing that process, Maddux said.

OSHA is readying guidance to help employers identify the presence of combustible dust hazards in their workplaces, he noted. The agency has become aware that many employers are unable to recognize combustible dust hazards, he said.

Maddux speculated future guidance initiatives or rulemaking may include ergonomics, noise abatement, process safety management, and safety and health management systems.

Copyright 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.