Tales from DC: NACOSH Meeting June 22
From Adele Abrams, Esq., ASSE's Federal Representative --
On June 22, 2011, I represented ASSE at a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health (NACOSH) at OSHA headquarters. There were a few handouts, which have been scanned and sent via email.
OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels gave the first presentation, first bringing attention to the 40th Anniversary of OSHA video available on OSHA’s website. He then mentioned the hearing that the House held on the subject: “Does OSHA kill jobs?” and countered that OSHA standards stop jobs from killing workers. He said there are about 100,000 OSHA inspections a year (state and federal) and that there were 164 significant cases and 20 egregious cases in FY 2010, an increase from the previous years. He said that OSHA enforcement is back to where it was in the mid-1990s now (Clinton Administration). He reviewed some initiatives, including residential construction fall protection, grain entrapments, and I2P2 (SBREFA panel coming soon). On I2P2 (also addressed in the afternoon session), Michaels said the agency was not waiting to get a standard out but had a website up with information for employers.
Michaels also referenced the OSHA recordkeeping proposed rule, published that day, which requires reporting within 8 hours of any injuries requiring hospitalization of a single worker, and reporting of amputations within 24 hours. The rule also makes changes from SIC to NAICS classification systems, and will alter which industries are exempt from recordkeeping. Another initiative is Global Harmonization, and a final rule will be out this summer. Silica is also a high priority, with updated PELs needed, as well as other health standard features such as exposure assessment, respiratory protection, engineering controls, and medical surveillance. He noted that OSHA can enforce distracted driving on the job through the General Duty Clause, and said that OSHA is partnering with the National Safety Council to get information out on this issue. Heat stress is also the subject of OSHA outreach, and OSHA will issue General Duty Clause citations for employers who do not protect workers from heat stress.
He also said that FACOSH has a federal employee PELs project, and that the federal government does not have to follow OSHA PELs but can adopt more protective ones. There is also POWER, a federal employee protection initiative, with the goal of reducing federal employee injuries by 4 percent per year. Another OSHA initiative deals with formaldehyde in hair salons, and there is a hazard alert. OSHA is also working with the FDA on this because of possible hazards to consumers. Michaels also discussed the recent court case allowing OSHA to subpoena insurance carrier records and reports, and he said this would be used in the future to establish employer knowledge and behavior and also to target employers. He acknowledged this could have a chilling effect on employers’ willingness to have insurance companies do safety inspections, but added that the only fear employers should have is if they fail to comply with the insurance company recommendations. OSHA will do a webinar for its staff on how to increase use of workers’ compensation carrier information in enforcement.
During the Q/A with Michaels, Peg Seminario expressed the union’s concern that OSHA was not moving quickly enough on MSD reporting, I2P2 and silica rulemakings. Michaels said that they had to do additional analysis on silica and could not predict when it would come out (he did not comment on the others).
The next presentation was by NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard, who opened by stating that relations between NIOSH and OSHA have never been better. He discussed research briefly on nanotechnology and said that this is a sensitive issue because the new technology holds lots of promise and no one wants it to die a “crib death”; NIOSH is working with other nano-groups on a unified approach.
NIOSH is also working to increase information in clinical notes to include better work history information and said that electronic health records that are complete may show trends. NIOSH has a new influenza topic page, and a Twitter site (#NIOSHnoise) on hearing loss prevention. NIOSH hopes to use social media more as a communication tool. Dr. Howard also discussed the WTC-oriented new program under the December 2010 legislation, concerning both first responder health issues and community health effects. A new federal advisory committee will be started relating to these issues. Dr. Howard also briefed NACOSH on the agency’s work on asbestos, including the finalized “Roadmap” and a new intelligence bulletin. NIOSH is also scrutinizing its carcinogen classification system, which tops out at “potential occupational carcinogen” – a term that is often misunderstood and differs significantly from the IARC and NTP systems.
Discussion with Dr. Howard and Dr. Michaels included questions about the status of the NIOSH/NCI Diesel study (the last papers are in final preparation and will be published “in due time”); NIOSH work on total worker health/wellness programs, and budget issues. Although the OSHA budget released by the president contained an increase, HR 1 contained a 20% budget cut, so it is difficult to see where it will end up. In relation to NIOSH, Dr. Howard said that NIOSH shows how valuable its research is and hopes that the appropriators will agree. He predicted that funding will be difficult for the next few years, with 2010 being the “last good year” and more cuts probable for 2012. He said funding at 20-30% above basic salary funding is needed to keep people working on projects. Dr. Michaels was also asked about the IG report on OSHA’s failure to measure effectiveness of state programs and its own programs, and Michaels said he was disappointed with the report, calling it “simplistic” and adding that there are different ways of looking at effectiveness, and I/I rates are only one of these measures. He suggested looking at the effect of specific standards, response time to hazard complaints, hazard abatement, and other metrics. Dr. Michaels was also asked about whistleblower programs, and said that they are high on the priority list and structural and process changes are in progress. OSHA now enforces the whistleblower provisions of 21 statutes.
There was also a presentation by Dr. TJ Lentz of NIOSH on the agency’s review of its policy on carcinogenicity (powerpoint provided). He added that the OSHA approach is in 29 CFR 1990.112, and he considers this most appropriate (based on IARC and NTP). He discussed the NIOSH RELs process, which was amended in 1995, and noted that a new committee is now addressing that policy’s shortcomings, classification and REL issues, including whether NIOSH should switch to existing systems such as NTP, IARC or REACH. They want to ensure consistency with OSHA’s forthcoming GHS rule. For RELs, currently, NIOSH’s default is a 1 in 1,000 risk, but they are considering 1 in 10,000. They are also looking at action levels, whether to have separate RELs for high risk subgroups, and whether to use 8 or 10 hr TWAs. There will be a topic page on this subject starting this month and the committee will work until Spril 2012, with a public meeting in November 2011 to discuss the issue.
The next formal presentation was from a panel of OSHA personnel on recordkeeping, but this was primarily an overview of how OSHA obtains its data from employers, how it is used in the SST enforcement program, and for development of NEPs, and the new rulemaking that was published June 22 to require more affirmative reporting of hospitalizations and amputations to OSHA.
The final presentation was an update on I2P2 by OSHA’s Mike Seymour. He ran through the OSHA webpage on I2P2, mentioning “The Buzz” and Jim Thornton specifically, as well as the AIHA white paper on the OSHA website. Information from the stakeholder meetings is accessible on the page, as well as resources such as guidelines, state program information, information on consensus standards, VPP and SHARP. When asked about the effectiveness of existing programs, Seymour said OSHA is looking for more data, and that no one has found the “Holy Grail” of a program that is always effective. There was also discussion about SBREFA, which he predicted would start in July 2011. A Regulatory Impact Analysis is also underway.