The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will hold a public hearing October 6 and 7 to receive comments on its proposal to clarify the remedies available for violations of its personal protective equipment (PPE) and employee training requirements. The hearing will be held at the U.S. Department of Labor's Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Avenue N.W., Conference Room C-5320 #6, in Washington, D.C.
OSHA encourages all interested members of the public to participate. A notice of hearing is available at http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-21852_PI.pdf and includes instructions for submitting a required notice of intention to appear by no later than Sept. 26.
The proposed revisions are to implement OSHA's longstanding position that its PPE and training standards impose a separate compliance duty to each employee covered by the PPE or training requirements. An employer who violates one of these provisions commits a separate violation for each employee who is not trained or does not receive the proper PPE.
In this proposal, OSHA seeks to amend its PPE and training standards to clarify the nature of the employer's obligation to each employee and to conform with the language that the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has approved as the basis for per-employee citations. More information about the proposal may be found in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in the Aug. 19 edition of the Federal Register (73 FR 48335).
Members of the public with questions about the hearing may contact Veneta Chatmon at 202-693-1999.