OMB Approves OSHA Anhydrous Ammonia Storage ICR

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved an information collection request (ICR) revision from DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) for “Anhydrous Ammonia Storage and Handling Standard (29 CFR 1910.111)”. The 60-day ICR notice was published on October 27^th, 2023 and the 30-day ICR notice was published on March 4^th, 2024.

OOOPS. Yes, OIRA approved the ICR on the same day as the 30-day comment period started; same day approval is typically only done for emergency ICRs where no public comments are required. That is not the only oddity. Yesterday’s notice explains the revision that OSHA requested:

“Upon further review, the agency determined that the documentation to certify custom-made and custom-built unit by a registered professional engineer or other person having special training or experience is a collection of information. Therefore, OSHA is requesting a program change of one burden hour and an adjustment of 5 burden hours (from 336 hours to 342 hours), a total difference of 6 burden hours.”

According to the notice, however, the ‘approved’ burden hours remains at 336 hours.

Okay, things get even odder when you go back and look at yesterday’s ICR notice in the Federal Register. The 30-day comment period published in the notice ends on March 4^th, 2024, that should have been April 3^rd, 2024 if it was actually a 30-day comment period. That notice does reflect the 342-hour burden estimate.