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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202/219-6091
Joseph A. Dear, Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), testified today that negotiated
rulemaking has helped the regulatory agency develop partnerships among
adversaries and cut through red tape. Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA) is being
reviewed by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative
Law for possible reauthorization.
"Negotiated rulemaking is a core component of OSHA's
effort to reinvent itself," Dear said. "Our goals are focusing on results,
cutting red tape, and developing partnerships with those we regulate. Neg/reg
meets all our criteria."
Dear told the Subcommittee that neg/reg helped OSHA
develop protections for workers engaged in steel erection. Although it employs
only five percent of the workforce, construction accounts for more than 20
percent of the occupational fatalities occurring annually; approximately
one-third result from falls from high places. Among construction workers, those
erecting steel structures are most at risk.
OSHA formed the Steel Erection Negotiated Rulemaking
Advisory Committee (SENRAC), which consisted of, among others, the Ironworkers
International, the Associated General Contractors of America, the Associated
Builders and Contractors, the National Erectors Association, the United
Steelworkers of America, and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH). Essentially, all parties with a vested interest in this
rulemaking were able to participate at Committee and workgroup meetings.
Over an 18-month period, SENRAC met 11 times to hammer out
longstanding differences that, until negotiated rulemaking, could not be
resolved. The flexibility of neg/reg allowed the committee to consider needs of
all elements of the industry. OSHA staff are presently preparing a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) based on the SENRAC's consensus text, which OSHA
hopes to publish by the end of this calendar year.
Dear also told the subcommittee that rulemaking is
advantageous only when all interests in a particular rulemaking are
represented. Otherwise, he said, "there is almost a guarantee that the final
rule will end up in litigation. The legal process can take years to run its
course, and already tight resources, which could be used for other purposes,
are spent on litigation costs. Workers continue to be injured in the
interim."
Dear noted that not all rules are suitable for negotiated
rulemaking, but if a determination is made that public interest is better
served through neg/reg, an agency should not be reluctant to use the
process.
As another indication of OSHA's commitment to the process,
the agency this month published a Notice of Intent to Form Negotiated
Rulemaking Advisory Committee to Develop a Proposal Rule on Fire Protection in
Shipyard Employment in the Federal Register. The Committee will include about
15 members representing such significantly affected interests as shipyard
owner, contractors, labor organizations representing employees who perform fire
protection work, firefighters (both in-yard/plant and municipal), government
entities, professional associations, and manufacturers and suppliers of fire
protection equipment. OSHA will also seek public comment on whether additional
interests should be included.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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