Short Takes – 7-24-26 - Federal Register Edition

OSHA Comment Extensions  

OSHA published comment extension notices on following notices of proposed rule makings making changes to existing chemical safety standards: 

1, 3-Butadiene, 

1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane, 

13 Carcinogens (4-Nitrobiphenyl, etc.), 

Acrylonitrile, 

Asbestos,  

Cadmium, 

Ethylene Oxide,  

Formaldehyde, 

Inorganic Arsenic (1),  

Inorganic Arsenic (2), 

Lead,  

Methylene Chloride,  

Methylenedianiline,  

Vinyl Chloride. 

Space Geek Notice  

Agency Advisory Circular: AC 413.13-1A Guidance on Submitting an Application for a Part 450 Vehicle Operator License. FAA notice of availability. Summary: “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is seeking public comments on its revised draft advisory circular (AC) for the Guidance on Submitting an Application for a Part 450 Vehicle Operator License. This revised AC provides guidance on demonstrating compliance with the requirements of a license application in accordance with §§ 413.11 and 413.13 of title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). It details the criteria for submitting an application and the FAA's evaluation of the application for a license determination under 14 CFR part 450.” 

OSHA Publishes 16 Respirator NPRM Comment Extensions

Yesterday the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration published 16 notices in the Federal Register for extensions of comment periods for notices of proposed rulemakings related  respirator requirements for various OSHA safety standards, aligning those rules with the OSHA respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134). The related NPRMs were published on July 1^st, 2025. These are substances covered in the comment extension notices (first link is to the individual notice and the second to the standard being revised).

• 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (29 CFR 1910.1044) – OSHA-2025-0019,

• 1,3-Butadiene (29 CFR 1910.1051) – OSHA-2025-0020,

• 13 Carcinogens (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0013,

• Acrylonitrile (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0017,

• Asbestos (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0024,

• Benzene (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0023,

• Cadmium (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0021,

• Coke Oven Emissions (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0014,

• Cotton Dust (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0011,

• Ethylene Oxide (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0018,

• Formaldehyde (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0026,

• Inorganic Arsenic (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0016,

• Lead (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0022,

• Methylene Chloride (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0012,

• Methylenedianiline (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0025, and

• Vinyl Chloride (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0015

The revised close of comment date for each of the NPRM’s is now November 1^st, 2025. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov; docket numbers listed above).

OSHA Publishes 16 Respirator NPRMs – 7-1-25

Today the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published 1 notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs) in the Federal Register concerning respirator requirements for various OSHA safety standards, aligning those rules with the OSHA respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134). These are substances covered in the proposed rulemakings (first link is to the individual notice and the second to the standard being revised).

• 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (29 CFR 1910.1044) – OSHA-2025-0019,

• 1,3-Butadiene (29 CFR 1910.1051) – OSHA-2025-0020,

• 13 Carcinogens (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0013,

• Acrylonitrile (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0017,

• Asbestos (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0024,

• Benzene (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0023,

• Cadmium (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0021,

• Coke Oven Emissions (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0014,

• Cotton Dust (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0011,

• Ethylene Oxide (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0018,

• Formaldehyde (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0026,

• Inorganic Arsenic (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0016,

• Lead (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0022,

• Methylene Chloride  (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0012,

• Methylenedianiline (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0025, and

• Vinyl Chloride (29 CFR 1910 subpart Z) – OSHA-2025-0015

OSHA is soliciting public comments on these rulemakings. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking portal (www.Regulations.gov, see listings above for docket numbers). Comments should be submitted by September 2^nd, 2025.

Review – OMB Approves OSHA Injuries and Illnesses ICR Revision

On Friday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved an information collection request (ICR) from DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on “Recordkeeping and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (29 CFR Part 1904)”. Industry and OSHA use this data as a means to track changes in safety performance in the workplace.

The table below shows the change in burden estimate that was approved by OIRA.

 

OSHA reports that the reason for the burden estimate increase is that they are combining the “Improve Tracking of Injuries and Illnesses” ICR, OMB Control Number 1218-0279, with this collection.

 

For more details about the changes in the burden estimate, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/omb-approves-osha-injuries-and-illnesses - subscription required.

Regulations Pending OMB Review as of January 1st, 2025

The table below shows the regulatory actions pending at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) that I would expect to cover when published in the Federal Register.

11/21/2024	1625-AC77	1625-DHS/USCG	Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System
04/11/2023	1670-AA01	1670-DHS/CISA	Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)
10/21/2024	2137-AF51	2137-DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Gas Pipeline Leak Detection and Repair
02/01/2024	2137-AF60	2137-DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Safety of Carbon Dioxide and Hazardous Liquid Pipelines
12/05/2024	2060-AU73	2060-EPA/OAR	National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Chemical Manufacturing Area Source Technology Review
1/08/2024	1218-AC46	1218-DOL/OSHA	Infectious Diseases
12/17/2024	0694-AJ56	0694-DOC/BIS	Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Connected Vehicles

Note: The dates shown were the dates the actions were submitted to OIRA for review.

These were all (obviously) Biden Administration submitted rulemakings, so they are subject to review by the incoming Trump Administration after January 20^th, 2025. At some point we will see the CFATS rulemaking withdrawn, marking an official decision that the program is beyond resurrection.

OSHA Sends Infectious Disease NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking from the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSAH) on “Infectious Diseases”. OSHA published a request for information on this rulemaking in 2010, and held stakeholder meetings in 2011.

According to the Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“Employees in health care and other high-risk environments face long-standing infectious disease hazards such as tuberculosis (TB), varicella disease (chickenpox, shingles), Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), and measles, as well as new and emerging infectious disease threats, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and pandemic influenza. OSHA is examining regulatory alternatives for control measures to protect employees from exposure to pathogens that can cause significant infectious disease. Workplaces where such control measures might be necessary include: health care, emergency response, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, drug treatment programs, and other occupational settings where employees can be at increased risk of exposure to individuals who are potentially infectious. A standard could also apply to laboratories, which handle materials that may be a source of pathogens, and to pathologists, coroners' offices, medical examiners, and mortuaries.”

Commentary:

It will be interesting to see if the NPRM is written broadly enough to apply to farm workers handling infected animals (cows and chickens predominantly) like we have been seeing in the current bird flu problem.

I will be surprised if this rulemaking is approved by OMB early enough to be published in the Federal Register before the Inauguration next January. Even if it were published, I would expect this rulemaking to languish in the Trump Administration.

CSB Publishes Remote Isolation Safety Study

Yesterday, the Chemical Safety Board announced the publication of a new safety study on Remote Isolation of Process Equipment”. The RIPE study looks at the historical record of industrial chemical accidents, including a number of CSB accident investigation reports, to determine how useful remote isolation valves would have been in preventing or reducing damages, deaths and injuries. The Study resulted in the publication of three recommendations that were released on Wednesday:

• American Petroleum Institute (API) - 2024-01-H-1,

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - 2024-01-H-2, and

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - 2024-01-H-3

NOTE: No direct links are currently available to those recommendations, but they can be found listed on the CSB’s Recent Recommendation Status Updates page.

The three recommendations are:

API - “Develop a new publication or revise an existing publication or publications that should be applicable to various facility types such as refineries, chemical and petrochemical facilities, terminals, etc. with major process equipment and atmospheric storage tanks, that details conditions that necessitate the installation of remote isolation devices [use “shall” instead of “should” language] that may be automatically activated or remotely activated from a safe location, particularly during an emergency. When establishing these conditions refer to the guidance published by CCPS entitled Guidelines for Fire Protection in Chemical, Petrochemical, and Hydrocarbon Processing Facilities, Sections 8.1.10 and 8.1.11. At a minimum, the conditions should address major process equipment and atmospheric storage tanks, material volumes/weight as well as flammability, corrosivity, and toxicity”

 

EPA - “Update the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule by expanding the requirements of 40 CFR Part 68 to include an evaluation of the need for remote isolation devices for major process equipment that can be remotely activated from a safe location or automatically activated during a release. The evaluation should be included in hazard assessments, hazard reviews, and process hazard analyses.”

 

OSHA - “Update the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard by expanding the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) requirements under 29 CFR 1910.119(e)(3) to include an evaluation of the need for remote isolation devices for major process equipment that can be remotely activated from a safe location or automatically activated during a release.”

OSHA Sends Heat Illness NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking from the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) on “Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings”. An advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) was published on October 27, 2021.

According to the rather lengthy abstract for this rulemaking in the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda:

“OSHA was petitioned by Public Citizen for a heat stress standard in 2011. The Agency denied this petition in 2012, but was once again petitioned by Public Citizen, on behalf of approximately 130 organizations, for a heat stress standard in 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and 2021, some members of the Senate also urged OSHA to initiate rulemaking to address heat stress.

 

“Given the potentially broad scope of regulatory efforts to protect workers from heat hazards, as well as a number of technical issues and considerations with regulating this hazard (e.g., heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, exposure monitoring, medical monitoring),  OSHA published an ANPRM on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings (October 27, 2021) to begin a dialogue and engage with stakeholders to explore the potential for rulemaking on this topic.  For additional information, please see the Department’s fall regulatory plan narrative statement.”

I will probably not cover this rulemaking in any detail, but its eventual publication announcement will be noted in my daily Short Takes post.

OMB Approves OSHA HAZCOM Update Final Rule

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on “Update to the Hazard Communication Standard”. The rule was submitted to the OIRA on October 11^th, 2023.

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

“OSHA and other U.S. agencies have been involved in a long-term project to negotiate a globally harmonized approach to classifying chemical hazards, and providing labels and safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals. The result is the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The GHS was adopted by the United Nations, with an international goal of as many countries as possible adopting it by 2008.  OSHA incorporated the GHS into the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) in March 2012 to specify requirements for hazard classification and to standardize label components and information on safety data sheets, which will improve employee protection and facilitate international trade.  However, the GHS is a living document and has been updated several times since OSHA’s rulemaking. While OSHA's HCS 2012 was based on the third edition of the GHS, OSHA’s current rulemaking is to harmonize the HCS to the seventh edition of the GHS, improve harmonization with international trading partners such as Canada, and to codify a number of enforcement policies that have been issued since the 2012 standard.”

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

Commentary

Having worked on the change-over from MSDS to SDS that was a major portion of the 2012 final rule in two different relatively small chemical companies, I know how much of a pain a HAZCOM update can be. Every chemical manufacturer or importer is going to have to review/update the SDS for each chemical in its repertoire to meet the new requirements. If ever there was an area that needed a well-designed artificial intelligence, this is it.

Review - OSHA Publishes Worker Walkaround Final Rule

Today, the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) published a final rule in the Federal Register (89 FR 22558-22601) on “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process”. This final rule was approved by OMB on March 21^st, 2024. The notice of proposed rulemaking was published on August 30^th, 2023. This rulemaking revises the OSHA Representatives of Employers and Employees regulation to clarify that the representative(s) authorized by employees may be an employee of the employer or a third party.

This final rule is effective on May 31^st, 2024.

 

For more details about this final rule, including a discussion of comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/osha-publishes-worker-walkaround - subscription required.

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.

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.

Review - OSHA Emergency Response Standard NPRM – Part 3 – Risk Management Plan

Earlier this month, the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (89 FR 7774-8023) on “Emergency Response Standard”. This is the third part of a series of articles looking at that complex rule making. Here, I will look at the requirements for WERE’s and ESO’s to establish a risk management plan in the proposed 29 USC 1910.156. Specifically, this looks at the proposed §1910.156(f).

Earlier articles in the series included:

Overview, and

Scope

Definitions

The following terms defined in the proposed rule that are pertinent to this discussion include:

WERE,

ESO,

Risk Management Plan

The new paragraph (f)(1) proposed by this NPRM would require “WEREs and ESOs to develop and implement a written comprehensive risk management plan [RMP] based on the type and level of service(s) that would be established in proposed paragraphs (c) [WERE] and (d) [ESO] [links added] of the proposed rule.” Based upon NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health, and Wellness Program, the RMP would be designed to “ensure that risks to the team members' and responders' health and safety have been identified and evaluated, and a control plan has been developed and implemented by the WERE and ESO in a manner that mitigates or reduces the risk to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable”.

 

For more details about the risk management plan requirements, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/osha-emergency-response-standard - subscription required.

OSHA Sends Walk-Around Rep Final Rule to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule from DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process”. The NPRM was published on August 30^th, 2023.

According to the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda entry for the 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.”

Review - OSHA Publishes Emergency Response Standard NPRM – Part 2 – Scope

Last Monday, the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (89 FR 7774-8023) on “Emergency Response Standard”. This is the second part of a series of articles looking at that complex rule making. The first article in this series provided an overview of the proposed regulation. Here, I will look at the scope of the coverage of the new Emergency Response Standard found in the proposed 29 USC 1910.156. Specifically, this looks at the proposed §1910.156(a).

This rule would replace the existing Fire Brigade Standard (29 USC 1910.156). It extended the coverage of existing fire brigades to include a somewhat expanded definition of employers that have a workplace emergency response team (WERT) as well as new coverage of Emergency Service Organizations (ESOs). It would also include the ‘volunteers’ in a VFD whose members receive ‘direct remuneration. Additionally, since the new §1910.156(a) expands the coverage of to include ESOs, State Plans will have to be adapted to cover ESO’s including those of ‘public agencies of the State and its political subdivisions’.

For a more detailed discussion of the scope of coverage of the proposed Emergency Response Standard see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/osha-publishes-emergency-response-b39 - subscription required.

OSHA Publishes Emergency Response Standard NPRM – Part 1

Today the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (89 FR 7774-8023) on “Emergency Response Standard”. The proposed rulemaking would replace the existing Fire Brigade Standard (29 CFR 1910.156) with a new Emergency Response Standard, and make supporting revisions to other parts of §1910.

Coverage

In general, OSHA regulations and standards apply only to the private sector (excluding volunteer fire companies). Interestingly, the preamble notes that States with OSHA-approved State Plans under 29 USC 667 “would be required to treat public-sector employees the same as they do private-sector employees when adopting and enforcing a standard at least as effective as any final standard which may result from this rulemaking.” That would also apply to volunteer fire companies in those States.

I will discuss the changes being proposed for §1910.156 in a future post.

Request for Comments

OSHA is soliciting comments on the proposed rule. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # OSHA-2007-0073). Comments should be submitted by May 6^th, 2024.

 

For more information on this proposed rule, including a discussion of the need for this rulemaking and other subsections of §1910 being revised to support this rule, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/osha-publishes-emergency-response - subscription required.

Review - CSB Publishes Well Blowout Incident Report

Yesterday, the Chemical Safety Board published their final report on an oilwell blowout incident that occurred in Burleson County, Texas, on January 29^th, 2020. The flash fire that occurred as a result of that blowout killed three workers and injured another. The report identified four key safety issues that contributed to the severity of the incident and made four recommendations that would help prevent the reoccurrence of this type of incident.

The four identified safety issues were:

• Well planning,

• Well control for completed wells in underpressured reservoirs,

• Ignition source management, and

• Federal safety regulatory requirements

Recommendations

The CSB included four recommendations in this report:

• 2020-04-I-TX-1 - Chesapeake Operating, LLC - Develop or revise policies incorporating the recommendations of API RP 59 regarding well planning, specifically the inclusion of well history review in conjunction with workover well control planning,

• 2020-04-I-TX-2 - American Petroleum Institute (API) - Publish specified information in an appropriate document such as API RP 59 Recommended Practice for Well Control Operations,

• 2020-04-I-TX-3 - Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – Remove the exemption for oil and gas drilling and well servicing from the Control of Hazardous Energy standard (29 CFR 1910.147) and expand its applicability to cover oil and gas production and workover operations, and

• 2020-04-I-TX-4 - Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - Promulgate a new standard with prescriptive requirements, similar to the Control of Hazardous Energy Standard, as well as a performance-based safety management system framework, similar to the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard, that applies to the drilling, production, and servicing/workover activities surrounding onshore oil and gas wells.

As a result of this investigation, the CSB is closing 2018-01-I-OK-1 as it is now being superseded by 2020-04-I-TX-3. This now leaves the CSB with 177 open recommendations.

Commentary

With the publication of this report, the CSB has cleared their backlog of investigations. This has been a long road and it has impeded the ability of the Board to initiate new investigations. There is only one active investigation on the books (BP - Husky Oregon Chemical Release and Fire). It dates back to 2022, so this investigation should be close to done (we hope). It will be interesting to see how aggressive the CSB is in initiating new investigations.

 

For more details about the investigation report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/csb-publishes-well-blowout-incident - subscription required.