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OSHA Will Issue PPE Rule by November
By Katherine Torres
March, 16 2007
http://www.occupationalhazards.com
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Feb.
16 ordered the Bush administration to respond to the the unions' lawsuit
by March 19. However, several days before that deadline, legal counsel
for Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao filed papers with the appeals court
asking it to hold the case “in abeyance” until the final rule is issued
in November.
“The secretary is moving forward with the PPE payment rulemaking,” the
Department of Labor asserts in its response to the lawsuit. “The
secretary has carefully reviewed the regulatory schedule and has
determined that absent unforeseen circumstances, she will publish a
final PPE payment rule in November 2007.”
The two unions in their lawsuit contend that the Department of Labor –
which houses OSHA – has been dragging its heels in promulgating the
proposed standard, which would require employers to pay for the costs of
worker PPE such as gloves, lifelines and face shields.
“We applaud the decision to finally issue a a final rule on employer
payment for their employee's protective equipment,” AFL-CIO President
John Sweeney said. “This rulemaking has taken far too long. We will be
monitoring the Department of Labor's actions to make sure they honor
this commitment and issue a strong, protective rule.”
“A Victory for Workers”
OSHA first announced the rule in 1997 and proposed it in 1999 after the
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission concluded that OSHA's
existing PPE standard could not be interpreted to require employers to
pay for workers' protective equipment. In 1999, OSHA promised to issue
the final PPE rule in July 2000, but it missed that deadline.
The unions in their lawsuit note that OSHA has missed every self-imposed
deadline since.
In an interview with
OccupationalHazards.com, AFL-CIO Director of Safety and
Health Peg Seminario hailed the turn of events as “a victory workers.”
“It's a shame that it has languished for 8 years and that it took a
lawsuit to get them to commit them to do their job,” Seminario added.
Congress Got Involved
Congressional leaders also have been seeking avenues to compel OSHA to
issue the standard.
On March 6, U.S. Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., a member of the
Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and
Education, and George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education
and Labor Committee, introduced H.R. 1327 – the “Protective Equipment
for America's Workers Act” – in an effort to require OSHA to release the
PPE ruling within 30 days.
Seminario said that the new legislation introduced by Roybal-Allard and
Miller will help ensure that OSHA's finalized rule will be “at least as
protective as the proposed rule” from 1999.
“The lawsuit has gotten the Department of Labor to commit to issuing the
final rule, but in the end of the day it has to be strong,” Seminario
said. “In that regard, the legislation will helpful in setting out a
standard that will not be weak.”
For more about the lawsuit, read
“Labor Department Ordered to Respond to Lawsuit.” |