The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with all other federal agencies, have published regulatory agendas that summarize the status of current rulemaking projects and highlight priorities for the next twelve months. Each agency has several major regulatory projects on their plates that will directly affect ILMA members.
The OSHA regulatory agenda also reveals that the Agency has decided to withdraw its controversial rulemaking proceeding on metalworking fluids (MWFs). The Department of Labor (DOL), including OSHA, has designated 17 proceedings as high-priority actions, and the Agency has removed several Clinton-era proceedings from the regulatory agenda because they are “stale, stalled or unrealistic,” according to DOL. This action, although expected, is understandable, as DOL rulemakings are known to take an extraordinarily long time. Some proceedings that were begun years ago simply do not mesh with the Bush Administration’s policy goals.
In a significant development, OSHA has released an 89-page health and safety guide for metalworking fluids, entitled “Metalworking Fluids: Safety and Health Best Practices Manual.” The Best Practices Manual had been under development by OSHA for nearly four years, and it draws upon recommendations from the Agency’s Metalworking Fluids (MWFs) Standards Advisory Committee (SAC), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH), and the Organization Resource Counselors (ORC). ILMA was represented on the SAC, and the Metal Working Fluids Product Stewardship Group helped develop ORC’s MWF guide. In December 1993, the International Union, United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), petitioned OSHA to take emergency regulatory action to protect workers from the risks of occupational cancers and respiratory illnesses due to exposure to MWFs.
In the regulatory agenda published by OSHA, the Agency noted that publication of the Best Practices Manual meets the objectives of the rulemaking proceeding. As a result, the action is being withdrawn from the agenda. The regulatory agenda states “OSHA believes that the availability of this comprehensive and authoritative outreach material will greatly reduce the health hazards machinists and others exposed to these fluids may face. Accordingly, and in light of resource constraints, OSHA is withdrawing this entry from the agenda at this time.” EPA has identified 25 major rules currently under consideration, including proposals to reduce emissions from off-road diesel engines and amendments to corrective action regulations concerning hazardous waste sites. EPA also is working on new national ambient air quality standards for particulate matter (PM), as a result of recent litigation over the Clinton-era revised ozone and PM standards.
