[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27707-27708]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12876]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926
[Docket No. H-049]
RIN 1218-0099
Respiratory Protection
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Scheduling of a technical panel discussion on assigned
protection factors as part of the pending rulemaking hearing.
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SUMMARY: By this document, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) announces the convening, pursuant to 29 CFR
1911.4, of a panel to discuss certain science-policy issues involved in
respirator selection, focusing on the need for, and limitations of,
assigning protection factors for respirators by class. This panel
discussion will take place on June 15, 1995, as part of the scheduled
rulemaking hearing on respiratory protection. Details on the process
and procedures associated with the panel discussion are described
below.
DATES: The hearing on the proposed rule will begin on June 6, 1995. The
panel discussion is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on June 15, 1995.
ADDRESSES: The hearing and panel discussion will be held in the
auditorium of the U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Proposal: Mr. Richard Liblong, Office
of Information and Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N3647, Washington,
D.C. 20210; (202) 219-8151.
Hearing: Mr. Thomas Hall, Division of Consumer Affairs,
Occupational Safety [[Page 27708]] and Health Administration, 200
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N3649, Washington, D.C. 20210; (202)
219-8615.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On November 15, 1994, OSHA published a notice of proposed
rulemaking on its respiratory protection standard (59 FR 58884 et
seq.). The proposal is intended to update the current respirator
standard to reflect changes in methodology, technology and approach
related to respirator protection that have occurred since the existing
respiratory protection standard was adopted in 1971.
The hearing on this proposal is scheduled to begin on June 6, 1995,
(60 FR 4132 et seq.), and will last until at least until June 20, 1995.
OSHA is in the process of contacting parties who have submitted notices
of intention to appear at the hearing, to confirm the scheduling of
their oral testimony.
Scheduling of Science-Policy Panel
OSHA has scheduled, on June 15, 1995, a panel discussion concerning
technical, scientific, and policy issues surrounding the assignment of
protection factors (APFs). The panel will be comprised of
representatives of 6 parties invited by OSHA to participate in the
discussion, as well as an OSHA representative. The panel discussion
will be chaired by an additional OSHA official. Each invited party is
already a participant in the rulemaking by virtue of having submitted a
timely notice of intention to appear to testify and is already
scheduled to provide testimony on APFs. Each invited party may choose
its representative, who need not necessarily be an individual named in
the notices of intention to appear at the hearings which the parties
previously submitted. OSHA expects that the representatives will
possess technical expertise and a willingness to exchange views in a
constructive manner. The general agenda for the panel discussion
consists of the issues stated below, and a more detailed agenda will be
distributed during the hearing no later than June 9, 1995. Questions
and brief comments to the panel from hearing participants and, to the
extent time permits, from the audience, will be permitted until the
Administrative Law Judge adjourns the hearing for the day on June 15,
1995.
The purpose of the panel discussion is to provide a variety of
perspectives on the uncertainties surrounding the choice of APFs, so
that OSHA can rely upon informed judgement if the Agency decides to set
an APF for each respirator class as part of this rulemaking.
Conflicting information regarding APFs is emerging in this rulemaking
and warrants focused discussion. OSHA believes that additional
information and viewpoints on APFs would be useful in resolving various
open questions and in arriving at sensible conclusions.
OSHA contemplates that discussion topics will include: the validity
of results obtained from available protection factor studies; the range
of statistical uncertainty and person-to-person variability surrounding
the results of these studies; correlations between study results;
identification/specification of procedures and protocols that should be
used in determining APFs; and science-policy issues on the role of
protection factors in a required selection logic.
In choosing panel participants OSHA will attempt to include, if
possible, those participants who have expressed an interest in APFs,
and a willingness to exchange views on the record. It should be
emphasized that the panel is a device to gather testimony; by opening
the discussion to a broad range of parties and interests at once, OSHA
believes that information will be tested, that views will be shared,
and that the areas of uncertainty intrinsic to these issues will be
crystallized. For these reasons, OSHA finds that, pursuant to 29 CFR
1911.4, ``good cause'' exists for scheduling this panel discussion.
The panel's discussions will be facilitated by an OSHA official who
will guide the discussion to ensure that the Agency's information needs
are met. Since the discussion is ``on the record'', and is part of the
hearing procedure, the Administrative Law Judge will be the overall
presiding official, consistent with 29 CFR part 1911.
Although as noted above, OSHA is organizing and selecting the
makeup of the panel, all hearing participants will have the
opportunity, subject to the direction and reasonable discretion of the
Administrative Law Judge, to participate at appropriate intervals by
making their own comments and by asking clarifying questions of
participants. During the panel discussion, participants will discuss
the agenda issues and not repeat their testimony provided elsewhere in
the hearing. To avoid unproductive, irrelevant or repetitive
questioning by panel members, hearing participants, or the public, the
Administrative Law Judge will exercise discretion in disallowing such
questioning.
The rest of the hearing procedures are set out in 29 CFR 1911.15-
18, in the Federal Register notices of November 15, 1994 (59 FR 58884
et seq.) and also repeated in the notice of January 20, 1995 (60 FR
4132 et seq.) or in the Administrative Law Judge's prehearing
guidelines which will be sent to all persons who have filed notices of
intention to appear.
Authority and Signature
This document was prepared under the direction of Joseph A. Dear,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.,
20210. It is issued pursuant to section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1593, 29 U.S.C. 655).
Signed at Washington, D.C. this 19th day of May, 1995.
Joseph A. Dear,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 95-12876 Filed 5-24-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-25-P
