|
 Printer-Friendly Version
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
today announced plans to establish a negotiated rulemaking advisory committee
to address fire protection in shipyard employment.
"The strong support and encouragement we have received
from stakeholders within the shipyard employment industry for a consensual
approach have convinced me that negotiated rulemaking is the best way to
develop an effective fire protection standard," said Assistant Secretary Joseph
A. Dear.
Dear praised the cooperative and collaborative
give-and-take of negotiated rulemaking and said that OSHA had gained valuable
experience in the process through the negotiated rulemaking advisory committee
for steel erection. "Getting interested parties together in a collegial
atmosphere under the guidance of a trained facilitator can be an excellent way
to develop a proposal. For appropriate issues and constituencies like shipyard
employment, we believe this common sense approach to developing standards and
eliminating red tape that President Clinton has endorsed will prove effective,"
Dear said.
Nominations for membership on the advisory committee are
due to OSHA by July 8. The committee will include about 15 members representing
such "significantly affected" interests as shipyard owners; contractors; labor
organizations representing employees who perform fire protection work; fire
fighters, including both in-yard/plant and municipal; government entities,
particularly the Navy and the Coast Guard; professional associations; and
manufacturers and suppliers of fire protection equipment. OSHA is also seeking
public comment on whether additional interests should be included.
Current OSHA fire protection standards address hazards of
landside operations but not on-board risks. Key issues that OSHA expects the
advisory committee to consider include the scope of the fire protection
standard, training for firefighters, other regulations and consensus standards
that can provide guidance for the OSHA proposal and the use of fire brigades at
shipyards.
The agency also wants the committee to evaluate the need
for written fire plans, changes in technology since OSHA's 1978 general
industry fire protection standards were adopted, costs and/or savings created
by new fire protection provisions and the need for advisory or mandatory
appendices. OSHA expects to use the draft standard developed by consensus as
the basis for a proposed rule to be published in the Federal Register.
The Shipyard Employment Standards Advisory Committee,
formed in 1991, submitted a draft fire protection standard for the maritime
industry to OSHA in 1991. OSHA believes the draft will serve as an excellent
starting point even though some provisions must be recast in regulatory
language and some issues remain to be addressed.
Nominations for the negotiated rulemaking advisory
committee should include the applicant's name and the interest that he or she
is to represent, evidence that the individual is authorized to represent the
parties and a written commitment that the nominee will actively participate in
good faith in developing the shipyard employment fire protection rule.
Nominations and any comments on the negotiated rulemaking
process should be sent, in quadruplicate, postmarked no later than July 8, to
Docket S-051, OSHA Docket Office, U.S. Department of Labor, Rm. N2625, 200
Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.
Notice of OSHA's plans to form a negotiated rulemaking
advisory committee was scheduled to appear in the June 6, 1996, Federal
Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
| 
