DB 1 OSHA 2

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Describe the regulation promulgation process. 3.1 Recognize how the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

are promulgated.

4. Differentiate between laws and regulations. 4.1 Identify distinguishing aspects of laws and regulations. 4.2 Differentiate between the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and OSHA standards.

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Corcoran, D. (2020). The OSH Act of 1970. Manuscript in preparation. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2001). OSHA standards development. United States

Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OCIS/stand_dev.html Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). The OSHA rulemaking process [Flow chart]. United

States Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf How laws are made and how to research them. (n.d.). USA.gov. https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made Unit Lesson Welcome! This course is essentially an introductory course to assist students in understanding how environmental and occupational safety and health (OSH) laws and regulations are made and the roles and responsibilities of various regulatory agencies at the state and federal level. This course covers both the environmental and OSH regulatory environment because many individuals working in OSH, particularly in small- to medium-sized organizations, are asked to wear the environmental hat as well. Thus, it is good to understand the similarities and differences in the two regulatory systems.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE Occupational Safety and Health Regulation Promulgation Process

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

The OSH Act

In the United States, laws enacted at the federal level go through a process (see Figure 1). The president can take other actions, of course, such as vetoing the bill or ignoring the bill, in which case one of two things can happen: One, if Congress is in session for 10 days following receipt of the bill by the president and he or she does not sign it, the bill becomes a law. Alternatively, if Congress is not in session, the bill does not become a law. This is called a pocket veto. Each state government has a similar process, but these processes vary somewhat from state to state. The governor of each state, however, is the top executive officer of the state who signs state-level bills into law. The primary federal law covering

occupational safety and health in the United States is the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This act was signed into law by then-President Richard Nixon. The law has been updated several times over the years. As indicated in your readings, the OSH Act was a pivotal document with respect to creating an infrastructure for regulating occupational safety and health in the United States. Some of the more important effects of the act include the following:

• enabled the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), • provided a means for OSHA to create a set of regulations based on existing consensus standards, • provided a process for promulgation of future standards, • required employers to keep their worksites free from recognized hazards, • outlined how OSHA would be administered and how regulations would be enforced, • enabled the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, • enabled the creation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), • provided states with a process and funding for running their own state-run OSH enforcement

agencies, and • provided states with a process and funding for free, on-site consultation programs for small

employers.

Standards and Standards Promulgation This list is not all-inclusive, but it does provide a good overview of the key tenets of the act. The first three items on the list deal with the creation of OSHA and the dissemination of OSH regulations. In order to establish the first set of enforceable regulations, the act allowed the Secretary of Labor to adopt standards that already existed that had been published by various nonprofit organizations. As a result, much of the first set of standards came from organizations like the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Many of those (40+-year-old) standards are still on the books today, and some have only recently been updated. Of course, the standards put in place 2 years after the passage of the act only served as a starting point. Since that point in time, a number of occupational safety and health standards have been added to the books. Some of the most well-known standards that have been added to the Code of Federal Regulations include the Hazard Communication, Confined Space, and Lockout/Tagout standards. These standards were added through a fairly convoluted process that involves participation from the public and industry (OSHA, 2001).

Figure 1: The legislative process (How Laws Are Made, n.d.)

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Essentially, the process starts with a perceived need of some sort typically associated with a specific hazard or set of hazards that need to be addressed. When OSHA recognizes such a need, it typically starts by asking for input from the public, industry, and/or subject matter experts. Inquiries may be made to different groups as well, such as industry leaders and associations. This input may be obtained through the process of forming advisory committees and/or by publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register in which they typically outline the problem, present available information, and may provide a rough outline of what they expect the proposed standard might look like. One of the main purposes behind the ANPRM is to solicit input and comments from the public and impacted industries. They typically also consult established stakeholders such as the Office of Management and Budget, small business groups, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), and the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. Expert groups are also consulted, such as the NIOSH (OSHA, n.d.). Information gathered from these stakeholder groups and from the public can then be reviewed by OSHA and used to assist the agency by serving as a foundation for the publication of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in the Federal Register. Obviously at this point, OSHA tends to have more information and input from industries on which to base a tentative regulation known as a proposed rule. The proposed rule provides a detailed outline of what OSHA thinks the new regulation should look like based on their information, along with a preamble to the proposed rule that includes input and comments from various individuals and groups that have made a contribution along the way (OSHA, n.d.). After all this, you would think that OSHA would be ready to promulgate their final rule but not so. Once the proposed rule is published, the agency asks for additional input and typically holds hearings for impacted stakeholders to provide input and present arguments and supporting evidence. Once again, this information is gathered, entered into the docket, and considered. From these deliberations, OSHA drafts its final rule to publish in the Federal Register. The final rule is essentially the standard that is published as an OSHA standard or regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations (OSHA, n.d.). There is typically an implementation period written to new standards that allows the industry to phase in all of the new requirements over a period of months or even years. As you should have ascertained at this point, the OSHA standard-setting process is quite elaborate and allows for a great deal of public input and opportunities for deliberation. This is important in order to get employers within a given industry to be willing to comply with standards. First, gaining input from the public and stakeholders helps OSHA to identify what is feasible and what is not with respect to protecting employees. Indeed, OSHA has been accused of going a bit overboard with some of its standards from time to time and getting input from industry is helpful in keeping expectations realistic.

Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Thus far, we have discussed the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations without much clarification on what those two publications are about. Basically, the Federal Register is a daily publication that includes the written documents and activities of the federal government to keep the public informed. It includes everything from notices of hearings, requests for information, notices of proposed rules, and final rules issued by federal agencies. The Code of Federal Regulations is a collection of final rules published by different agencies and the final rules are published under a system that codes the various regulations according to the agency of jurisdiction and the specific regulation codification system used by each governmental agency. OSHA is an agency that falls under the U.S. Department of Labor. Its regulations can be found under Title 29 where labor standards are found. OSHA standards are then broken down by numerical code indicating industry sector. All standards falling under general industry are coded 1910. All standards falling under construction are coded 1926. After that, standard numbers tend to focus on specific standard content. For instance, 29 CFR 1910.146 is the general industry confined space standard. Individual requirements in the standards are then separated with an outline-based numbering system starting with a lowercase letter in parentheses, then a number, then small Roman numerals. For instance, 29 CFR

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

1910.1200(e)(1)(i) is a specific requirement in OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard that requires a list of hazardous chemicals used in the facility. As you can see, there were a lot of moving parts related to occupational safety and health that were put into effect in the early 1970s as a result of the promulgation of the OSH Act. Several governmental bodies were formed including OSHA and NIOSH along with a process for accepting the first set of safety and health regulations and a process for promulgating new ones. Also, since the 1970s, there has been a marked decrease in the number of workplace-related fatalities. We have seen other significant improvements to workplace safety and health suggesting that the changes that were put into effect at the national level at that time have resulted in some significant changes in helping to make the American workplace safe.

References How laws are made and how to research them. (n.d.). USA.gov. https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). The OSHA rulemaking process [Flow chart].

https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2001). OSHA standards development. United States

Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OCIS/stand_dev.html

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Describe the regulation promulgation process. 3.1 Recognize how the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

are promulgated.

4. Differentiate between laws and regulations. 4.1 Identify distinguishing aspects of laws and regulations. 4.2 Differentiate between the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and OSHA standards.

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Corcoran, D. (2020). The OSH Act of 1970. Manuscript in preparation. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2001). OSHA standards development. United States

Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OCIS/stand_dev.html Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). The OSHA rulemaking process [Flow chart]. United

States Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf How laws are made and how to research them. (n.d.). USA.gov. https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made Unit Lesson Welcome! This course is essentially an introductory course to assist students in understanding how environmental and occupational safety and health (OSH) laws and regulations are made and the roles and responsibilities of various regulatory agencies at the state and federal level. This course covers both the environmental and OSH regulatory environment because many individuals working in OSH, particularly in small- to medium-sized organizations, are asked to wear the environmental hat as well. Thus, it is good to understand the similarities and differences in the two regulatory systems.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE Occupational Safety and Health Regulation Promulgation Process

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

The OSH Act

In the United States, laws enacted at the federal level go through a process (see Figure 1). The president can take other actions, of course, such as vetoing the bill or ignoring the bill, in which case one of two things can happen: One, if Congress is in session for 10 days following receipt of the bill by the president and he or she does not sign it, the bill becomes a law. Alternatively, if Congress is not in session, the bill does not become a law. This is called a pocket veto. Each state government has a similar process, but these processes vary somewhat from state to state. The governor of each state, however, is the top executive officer of the state who signs state-level bills into law. The primary federal law covering

occupational safety and health in the United States is the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This act was signed into law by then-President Richard Nixon. The law has been updated several times over the years. As indicated in your readings, the OSH Act was a pivotal document with respect to creating an infrastructure for regulating occupational safety and health in the United States. Some of the more important effects of the act include the following:

• enabled the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), • provided a means for OSHA to create a set of regulations based on existing consensus standards, • provided a process for promulgation of future standards, • required employers to keep their worksites free from recognized hazards, • outlined how OSHA would be administered and how regulations would be enforced, • enabled the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, • enabled the creation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), • provided states with a process and funding for running their own state-run OSH enforcement

agencies, and • provided states with a process and funding for free, on-site consultation programs for small

employers.

Standards and Standards Promulgation This list is not all-inclusive, but it does provide a good overview of the key tenets of the act. The first three items on the list deal with the creation of OSHA and the dissemination of OSH regulations. In order to establish the first set of enforceable regulations, the act allowed the Secretary of Labor to adopt standards that already existed that had been published by various nonprofit organizations. As a result, much of the first set of standards came from organizations like the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Many of those (40+-year-old) standards are still on the books today, and some have only recently been updated. Of course, the standards put in place 2 years after the passage of the act only served as a starting point. Since that point in time, a number of occupational safety and health standards have been added to the books. Some of the most well-known standards that have been added to the Code of Federal Regulations include the Hazard Communication, Confined Space, and Lockout/Tagout standards. These standards were added through a fairly convoluted process that involves participation from the public and industry (OSHA, 2001).

Figure 1: The legislative process (How Laws Are Made, n.d.)

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Essentially, the process starts with a perceived need of some sort typically associated with a specific hazard or set of hazards that need to be addressed. When OSHA recognizes such a need, it typically starts by asking for input from the public, industry, and/or subject matter experts. Inquiries may be made to different groups as well, such as industry leaders and associations. This input may be obtained through the process of forming advisory committees and/or by publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register in which they typically outline the problem, present available information, and may provide a rough outline of what they expect the proposed standard might look like. One of the main purposes behind the ANPRM is to solicit input and comments from the public and impacted industries. They typically also consult established stakeholders such as the Office of Management and Budget, small business groups, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), and the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. Expert groups are also consulted, such as the NIOSH (OSHA, n.d.). Information gathered from these stakeholder groups and from the public can then be reviewed by OSHA and used to assist the agency by serving as a foundation for the publication of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in the Federal Register. Obviously at this point, OSHA tends to have more information and input from industries on which to base a tentative regulation known as a proposed rule. The proposed rule provides a detailed outline of what OSHA thinks the new regulation should look like based on their information, along with a preamble to the proposed rule that includes input and comments from various individuals and groups that have made a contribution along the way (OSHA, n.d.). After all this, you would think that OSHA would be ready to promulgate their final rule but not so. Once the proposed rule is published, the agency asks for additional input and typically holds hearings for impacted stakeholders to provide input and present arguments and supporting evidence. Once again, this information is gathered, entered into the docket, and considered. From these deliberations, OSHA drafts its final rule to publish in the Federal Register. The final rule is essentially the standard that is published as an OSHA standard or regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations (OSHA, n.d.). There is typically an implementation period written to new standards that allows the industry to phase in all of the new requirements over a period of months or even years. As you should have ascertained at this point, the OSHA standard-setting process is quite elaborate and allows for a great deal of public input and opportunities for deliberation. This is important in order to get employers within a given industry to be willing to comply with standards. First, gaining input from the public and stakeholders helps OSHA to identify what is feasible and what is not with respect to protecting employees. Indeed, OSHA has been accused of going a bit overboard with some of its standards from time to time and getting input from industry is helpful in keeping expectations realistic.

Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Thus far, we have discussed the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations without much clarification on what those two publications are about. Basically, the Federal Register is a daily publication that includes the written documents and activities of the federal government to keep the public informed. It includes everything from notices of hearings, requests for information, notices of proposed rules, and final rules issued by federal agencies. The Code of Federal Regulations is a collection of final rules published by different agencies and the final rules are published under a system that codes the various regulations according to the agency of jurisdiction and the specific regulation codification system used by each governmental agency. OSHA is an agency that falls under the U.S. Department of Labor. Its regulations can be found under Title 29 where labor standards are found. OSHA standards are then broken down by numerical code indicating industry sector. All standards falling under general industry are coded 1910. All standards falling under construction are coded 1926. After that, standard numbers tend to focus on specific standard content. For instance, 29 CFR 1910.146 is the general industry confined space standard. Individual requirements in the standards are then separated with an outline-based numbering system starting with a lowercase letter in parentheses, then a number, then small Roman numerals. For instance, 29 CFR

OSH 2302, Introduction to Regulatory Compliance 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

1910.1200(e)(1)(i) is a specific requirement in OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard that requires a list of hazardous chemicals used in the facility. As you can see, there were a lot of moving parts related to occupational safety and health that were put into effect in the early 1970s as a result of the promulgation of the OSH Act. Several governmental bodies were formed including OSHA and NIOSH along with a process for accepting the first set of safety and health regulations and a process for promulgating new ones. Also, since the 1970s, there has been a marked decrease in the number of workplace-related fatalities. We have seen other significant improvements to workplace safety and health suggesting that the changes that were put into effect at the national level at that time have resulted in some significant changes in helping to make the American workplace safe.

References How laws are made and how to research them. (n.d.). USA.gov. https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). The OSHA rulemaking process [Flow chart].

https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2001). OSHA standards development. United States

Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/OCIS/stand_dev.html