Occupational Safety and Health Administration--Access to employee exposure and medical records. Final rule

This final occupational safety and health standard, promulgated today as a revised 29 CFR 1910.20, provides for employee, designated representative, and OSHA access to employer-maintained exposure and medical records relevant to employees exposed to toxic substances and harmful physical agents. Access is also assured to employer analyses using exposure and medical records. The final standard requires long term preservation of these records, contains provisions concerning informing employees of their rights under the standard, and includes provisions protective of trade secret information.     

Dipping and coating operations. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor. Final rule

OSHA's standards for dipping and coating operations, codified at sections 1910.108 and 1910.94(d), are designed to protect employees from fire, explosion, and other hazards associated with these operations. On April 7, 1998 (63 FR 16918), OSHA published proposed revisions to these standards in the Federal Register. The Federal Register announcement requested comments on the proposed rule, as well as on three major issues identified by OSHA. Based on these comments and other considerations, the Agency has developed the final standard to accomplish several goals: To rewrite the former standards in plain language; to consolidate the former requirements in sequential sections (sections 1910.122 through 1910.126 in subpart H of part 1910); and to update the former standards to increase the compliance options available to employers. In addition to achieving these goals, OSHA concludes that the final rule being published today will enhance employee protection by making it more understandable and useful to employers and employees and more flexible and performance-oriented than the former rules. The final rule accomplishes these goals without increasing the regulatory burden of employers or reducing employee protection.     

Occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor. Final rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is revising its rule addressing the recording and reporting of occupational injuries and illnesses (29 CFR parts 1904 and 1952), including the forms employers use to record those injuries and illnesses. The revisions to the final rule will produce more useful injury and illness records, collect better information about the incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses on a national basis, promote improved employee awareness and involvement in the recording and reporting of job-related injuries and illnesses, simplify the injury and illness recordkeeping system for employers, and permit increased use of computers and telecommunications technology for OSHA recordkeeping purposes. This rulemaking completes a larger overall effort to revise Part 1904 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Two sections of Part 1904 have already been revised in earlier rulemakings. A rule titled Reporting fatalities and multiple hospitalization incidents to OSHA, became effective May 2, 1994 and has been incorporated into this final rule as Section 1904.39. A second rule entitled Annual OSHA injury and illness survey of ten or more employers became effective on March 13, 1997 and has been incorporated into this final rule as Section 1904.41. The final rule being published today also revises 29 CFR 1952.4, Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements, which prescribes the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for States that have an occupational safety and health program approved by OSHA under Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (the "Act" or "OSH Act").     

Updating OSHA standards based on national consensus standards. Direct final rule

In this direct final rule, the Agency is removing several references to consensus standards that have requirements that duplicate, or are comparable to, other OSHA rules; this action includes correcting a paragraph citation in one of these OSHA rules. The Agency also is removing a reference to American Welding Society standard A3.0-1969 ("Terms and Definitions") in its general-industry welding standards. This rulemaking is a continuation of OSHA's ongoing effort to update references to consensus and industry standards used throughout its rules.     

Research on medical records without informed consent

Observational research involving access to personally identifiable data in medical records has often been conducted without informed consent, owing to practical barriers to soliciting consent and concerns about selection bias. Nevertheless, medical records research without informed consent appears to conflict with basic ethical norms relating to clinical research and personal privacy. This article analyzes the scope of these norms and provides an ethical justification for research using personally identifiable medical information without consent.     

Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens; approval of information collection requirements--OSHA. Final rule; approval of information collection requirements

On December 6, 1991, OSHA published a final standard governing occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens (56 FR 64004). The standard is designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure to Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other bloodborne pathogens. At that time OSHA submitted the information collection requirements to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under section 3504(h) of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1980. Public reporting burden for this collection of information was estimated to average five minutes per employer response to an OSHA compliance officer's request for access to the employer's records. OMB reviewed the collection of information requirements for occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens in accordance with the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., and 5 CFR part 1320. OMB approved all information requirements contained in 29 CFR 1910.1030 under OMB clearance number 1218-0180. The OMB clearance expires on February 28, 1995. This document will also amend the December 6, 1991 rule to properly display the OMB control number.     

Final rules relating to use of electronic communication and recordkeeping technologies by employee pension and welfare benefit plans. Notice of final rulemaking

This document contains final rules under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), concerning the disclosure of certain employee benefit plan information through electronic media, and the maintenance and retention of employee benefit plan records in electronic form. The rules establish a safe harbor pursuant to which all pension and welfare benefit plans covered by Title I of ERISA may use electronic media to satisfy disclosure obligations under Title I of ERISA. The rules also provide standards concerning the use of electronic media in the maintenance and retention of records required by sections 107 and 209 of ERISA. The rules affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, including group health plans, plan sponsors, administrators and fiduciaries, and plan participants and beneficiaries.     

Office of Management and Budget control numbers under the Paperwork Reduction Act--OSHA. Final rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is adding new sections to its Safety and Health REgulations for General Industry, Construction and Shipyard Employment. These new sections will be used to consolidate and display all of the control numbers assigned by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for "approved" information collection requirements. OSHA is also identifying information collection requirements found in certain of its other regulations and displaying the OMB control number at the end of each section containing a collection of information. None of the requirements are new; they have been promulgated by OSHA at various times over the past 25 years. The display of OMB control numbers is required under the implementing rules and regulations of OMB and under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.     

Updating OSHA standards based on national consensus standards. final rule; confirmation of effective date

OSHA is confirming the effective date of its direct final rule that revises a number of standards for general industry that refer to national consensus standards. The direct final rule states that it would become effective on March 13, 2008 unless OSHA receives significant adverse comment on these revisions by January 14, 2008. OSHA received no adverse comments by that date and, therefore, is confirming that the rule will become effective on March 13, 2008.     

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide; Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Advance notice of proposed rulemaking

Notice is given that OSHA is undertaking, through rulemaking procedures under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act), 29 U.S.C. 655(b), a reevaluation of the current occupational health standard regulating employee exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), 29 CFR 1910.1000, Table Z-1. This notice summarizes the information currently available to OSHA concerning the production and use of EtO, estimates of employee exposure, and the potential health effects of employee exposure to EtO. The notice also invites interested parties to submit data, views and comments regarding the development of a new standard for EtO and the appropriate scope of coverage.     

Analyzing the Equity and Efficiency of OSHA Enforcement

Our study evaluates the equity and efficiency of OSHA enforcement relating to the nature of the firm, the intensity of the inspection, and the size of penalty, based on the experience of 6,842 firms between 1979 and 1985. We found that: (1) enforcement actions against firms with one hundred to five hundred employees had greater general and specific deterrence effects than against larger or smaller firms; (2) superficial inspections that checked only the firm's injury records were ineffective. Health inspections, which tend to be more intense, also reduced injuries, but repeated inspections in the same year did not; and (3) larger penalties did not increase either general or specific deterrence. Small penalties decreased injuries as much as larger ones, and took considerably less inspection time. We discuss implications for policy, and emphasize the need for further research on the equity and efficiency of enforcement.     

Respiratory protection--OSHA. Final rule; request for comment on paperwork requirements

This final standard, which replaces the respiratory protection standards adopted by OSHA in 1971 (29 CFR 1910.134 and 29 CFR 1926.103), applies to general industry, construction, shipyard, longshoring, and marine terminal workplaces. The standard requires employers to establish or maintain a respiratory protection program to protect their respirator-wearing employees. The standard contains requirements for program administration; worksite-specific procedures; respiratory selection; employee training; fit testing; medical evaluation; respiratory use; respirator cleaning, maintenance, and repair; and other provisions. The final standard also simplifies respirator requirements for employers by deleting respiratory provisions in other OSHA health standards that duplicate those in the final standard and revising other respirator-related provisions to make them consistent. In addition, the standard addresses the use of respirators in Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) atmospheres, including interior structural firefighting. During interior structural firefighting (an IDLH atmosphere by definition), self-contained breathing apparatus is required, and two firefighters must be on standby to provide assistance or perform rescue when two firefighters are inside the burning building. Based on the record in this rulemaking and the Agency's own experience in enforcing its prior respiratory protection standards, OSHA has concluded that compliance with the final rule will assist employers in protecting the health of employees exposed in the course of their work to airborne contaminants, physical hazards, and biological agents, and that the standard is therefore necessary and appropriate. The final respiratory protection standard covers an estimated 5 million respirator wearers working in an estimated 1.3 million workplaces in the covered sectors. OSHA's benefits analysis predicts that the standard will prevent many deaths and illnesses among respirator-wearing employees every year by protecting them from exposure to acute and chronic health hazards. OSHA estimates that compliance with this standard will avert hundreds of deaths and thousands of illnesses annually. The annual costs of the standard are estimated to be $111 million, or an average of $22 per covered employee per year.     

Dealing with a changed regulatory climate: OSHA under the Auchter administration

Traditionally, the relationship between OSHA and the employer faced with an OSHA inspection has been an adversarial one. Employers have tended to perceive OSHA inspectors as nitpicking and antagonistic rather than helpful in performing their functions as agents monitoring occupational safety and health in the work place. With the appointment of Thorne Auchter as assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, however, the climate for cooperation between employers and OSHA has substantially improved. Auchter has taken steps to improve the image of the Agency and its inspectors while at the same time correcting federal overregulation of the work place. In the following article, the author outlines the changes Auchter has brought to OSHA in his efforts at redirecting the Agency's operations. He also provides a step-by-step guide for employers to follow during an OSHA inspection.     

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide--OSHA. Final standard

In this Final Standard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) establishes a permissible exposure limit for occupational exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO) of 1 part EtO per million parts of air (1 ppm) determined as an 8-hour time-weighted average concentration. The basis for this action is a determination by the Assistant Secretary, based on animal and human data, that exposure to EtO presents a carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic, reproductive, neurologic and sensitization hazard to workers. The standard provides for, among other requirements, methods of exposure control, personal protective equipment, measurement of employee exposures, training, medical surveillance, signs and labels, regulated areas, emergency procedures and recordkeeping. An "action level" of 0.5 ppm as an 8-hour time-weighted average is established as the level above which employers must initiate certain compliance activities such as periodic employee exposure monitoring and medical surveillance. In instances where the employer can demonstrate that employee exposures are below the action level, the employer is not obligated to comply with most of the requirements set forth in this final rule. The 1 ppm 8-hour limit reduces significant risk from exposure to EtO and is considered by OSHA to be the lowest levels feasible.     

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide--Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Proposed rule and notice of hearing

By this notice, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing to amend its existing occupational standard that regulates employee exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO). The basis for this action is a determination by the Assistant Secretary, based on animal and human data, that exposure to EtO at OSHA's current permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 50 parts EtO per million parts of air (50 ppm) as an eight (8)-hour time-weighted average (TWA) is inadequate for employee health protection. OSHA proposes to reduce the PEL for EtO to a TWA of 1 ppm. An "action level" of 0.5 ppm as a TWA is included in the proposal as a mechanism for exempting an employer from the obligation to comply with certain requirements, such as employee exposure monitoring and medical surveillance, in instances where the employer can demonstrate that the employees exposures are at very low levels. The proposal would provide for among other requirements certain methods of exposure control, personal protective equipment, measurement of employee exposures, training, medical surveillance, signs and labels, regulated areas, emergency procedures and recordkeeping.     

Standards Improvement Project-Phase II. Final rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) through this final rule is continuing to remove and revise provisions of its standards that are outdated, duplicative, unnecessary, or inconsistent, or can be clarified or simplified by being written in plain language. The Agency completed Phase I of the Standards Improvement Project in June 1998. In this Phase II of the Standards Improvement Project, OSHA is again revising or removing a number of health provisions in its standards for general industry, shipyard employment, and construction. The Agency believes that the changes streamline and make more consistent the regulatory requirements in OSHA health and safety standards. In some cases, OSHA has made substantive revisions to requirements because they are outdated, duplicative, unnecessary, or inconsistent with more recently promulgated health standards. The Agency believes these revisions will reduce regulatory requirements for employers without reducing employee protection.     

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide--OSHA. Final rule: supplemental statement of reasons

On June 22, 1984, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final standard for ethylene oxide (EtO) that established a permissible exposure limit of 1 part EtO per million parts of air determined as an 8-hour time--weighted average (TWA) concentration (29 CFR 1910.1047, 49 FR 25734). The standard also includes provisions for methods of exposure control, personal protective equipment, measurement of employee exposure, training, signs, and labels, medical surveillance, regulated areas, emergencies and recordkeeping. The basis for this action was a determination by OSHA, based on human and animal data, that exposure to EtO presents a carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic, reproductive, neurologic, and sensitization hazard to workers. During the rulemaking proceedings that led to the establishment of the 1 ppm TWA, the issue of whether there was a need for a short-term exposure limit (STEL) for workers protection from EtO was raised. OSHA reserved decision on the adoption of a STEL at the conclusion of the rulemaking in order to permit peer review of the available evidence and to review more fully the arguments and pertinent data regarding the STEL issue. Upon receipt of the analyses from most of the peer reviewers, OSHA published a notice to that effect on September 19, 1984 (49 FR 36659) and invited public comment on the pertinent issues addressed in the peer reviews. Based on the entire rulemaking record, including the peer reviews and public comments received since June 22, the Assistant Secretary has determined that adoption of a STEL for EtO is not warranted by the available health evidence, and that a STEL is not reasonably necessary or appropriate for inclusion in the final EtO standard. OSHA has also asked that NIOSH fund certain additional studies related to whether a dose-rate relationship can be established for EtO, and OSHA will review the results of those studies when they become available.     

Standards for privacy of individually identifiable health information. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS. Final rule

This rule includes standards to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information. The rules below, which apply to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers, present standards with respect to the rights of individuals who are the subjects of this information, procedures for the exercise of those rights, and the authorized and required uses and disclosures of this information. The use of these standards will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public and private health programs and health care services by providing enhanced protections for individually identifiable health information. These protections will begin to address growing public concerns that advances in electronic technology and evolution in the health care industry are resulting, or may result in, a substantial erosion of the privacy surrounding individually identifiable health information maintained by health care providers, health plans and their administrative contractors. This rule implements the privacy requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.     

Occupational health ethics: OSHA and the courts

Recent court decisions have stressed the necessity for cost-benefit analysis in evaluating Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) standards, thus raising difficult ethical questions which this paper analyzes using classical approaches of deontology and teleology. Since both modes of analysis have deficiencies, the need for a synthesis using economic and noneconomic measures is suggested.     

Occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements. Final rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is delaying the effective date of three provisions of the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements rule published January 19, 2001 (66 FR 5916-6135) and is establishing interim criteria for recording cases of work-related hearing loss. The provisions being delayed are sections 1904.10 (a) and (b), which specify recording criteria for cases involving occupational hearing loss, section 1904.12, which defines "musculoskeletal disorder (MSD)" and requires employers to check the MSD column on the OSHA Log if an employee experiences a work-related musculoskeletal disorder, and section 1904.29(b)(7)(vi), which states that MSDs are not considered privacy concern cases. The effective date of these provisions is delayed from January 1, 2002 until January 1, 2003. OSHA will continue to evaluate sections 1904.10 and 1904.12 over the next year. OSHA is also adding a new paragraph(c) to section 1904.10, establishing criteria for recording cases of work-related hearing loss during calendar year 2002. Section 1904.10(c) codifies the enforcement policy in effect since 1991, under which employers must record work related shifts in hearing of an average of 25 dB or more at 2000, 3000 and 4000 hertz in either ear.