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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8211.
The U.S. Department of Labor plans to eliminate or
reinvent over 47 percent of the regulations used to administer federal labor
laws governing the American workplace, Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich
announced today.
"The Labor Department administers and enforces more than
180 laws," Reich said." Over the years, defining these laws and developing
compliance guidelines has resulted in a maze of manuals and instructions. The
reinvention process will make this library of laws more understandable and user
friendly."
Regulatory reform is a central component of the
reinvention process, designed to review, revise and revoke obsolete, confusing
or unnecessary rules; reduce excessive compliance burden and cost; emphasize
plain language to make rules more user friendly; initiate cooperative
partnerships with business, labor, state government, interest groups,
professional societies, and other groups; set clear and sensible priorities for
hazards and issues that need to be addressed; and establish a foundation of
standards upon which future regulatory efforts can be built.
In response to an April 1995 Presidential directive
calling for agency reinvention of unnecessary, obsolete and confusing
regulations, the department plans to eliminate and modify over 2,000 pages of
regulations. Agency officials within the department, after reviewing over 5,000
pages of the Code of Federal Regulations, recommended removing 1,818 pages and
revising the remaining pages that relate to the department.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
plans to remove 32 percent of its regulatory pages in the Code of Federal
Regulations. Examples of OSHA regulations slated for elimination and revision
include:
- elimination of the requirement that employers burn high explosive
containers, a practice forbidden by the Environmental Protection Agency;
- elimination of the requirement that employers use a certain type of
battery that is no longer readily available;
"We will continue our efforts to simplify the myriad rules
that department inspectors and American businesses and workers must follow each
day," said Reich. "This is just the beginning of an overhaul that should make
life easier for everyone who follows workplace laws."
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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