OMB Approves OSHA Walk Around Final Rule

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process”. The rule was submitted to OIRA on February 9^th, 2024, a fairly rapid turnaround for OIRA. The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was published on August 30^th, 2023

According to the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“This rulemaking will clarify the right of workers and certified bargaining units to specify a worker or union representative to accompany an OSHA inspector during the inspection process/facility walkaround, regardless of whether the representative is an employee of the employer, if in the judgment of the Compliance Safety and Health Officer such person is reasonably necessary to an effective and thorough physical inspection.”

While I did not describe the NPRM, I did note a chemical security issue that had been raised by the Alliance for Chemical Distribution. It will be interesting to see how OSHA addresses this issue in their final rule.

We could see the final rule published in the Federal Register next week.