OSHA Announces Upcoming Regulatory Changes

What changes are coming from OSHA in 2013, you ask?

Well, we just looked at our magic crystal ball OSHA’s Fall 2012 Unified Agenda and have some answers for you.

Some of the most significant changes are listed below. To see everything OSHA’s up to, check the Unified Agenda. Please note that neither the list below nor the Unified Agenda include the major changes to align the Hazard Communication Standard with GHS (HazCom 2012).

• New Combustible Dust Standard
• New Confined Space Standard for Construction

• New Injury & Illness Prevention Program Rule (I2P2)

• Updated Walking/Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems (Slips, Trips, and Fall Prevention) Standard
• Updated Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Standard
• Revision of Underground Construction and Demolition Standards (to make the Cranes and Derricks in Construction Rule apply to those activities)
• Revision of Cranes and Derricks in Construction Standard (to expand the scope of a partial exemption for work by digger derricks)

• New Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica PEL (would affect 29 CFR 1910, 29 CFR 1915, 29 CFR 1917, 29 CFR 1918, and 29 CFR 1926)
• New Occupational Exposure to Beryllium requirements
• Revisions to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses
• Updates to rules regarding signage in 29 CFR 1910.6, Incorporation by Reference (would also affect 1910.97, Nonionizing Radiation; 1910.145, Specifications for Accident Prevention Signs and Tags; and 1910.261, Pulp, Paper, and Paper-board Mills)

• Review/lookback of OSHA Chemical Standards
• Review of Bloodborne Pathogens Standard
• Potential revocation of periodic record-keeping requirements in Machinery and Machine Guarding Standard (1910.212)
• Review of regulations involving Vertical Tandem Lifts (would affect 29 CFR 1917.71, 29 CFR 1918.11, and 29 CFR 1918.85)

• Revisions of Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP)