[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 243 (Thursday, December 18, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 66275-66277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33027]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Part 1910

RIN 1218-AA95


Methylene Chloride; Partial Stay

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 
Department of Labor.

ACTION: Final rule; partial stay of start-up dates for compliance.

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SUMMARY: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has 
received a motion for reconsideration of certain provisions of its 
standard regulating occupational exposure to methylene chloride, 62 FR 
1494 (Jan. 10, 1997). The motion, filed jointly by the International 
Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers 
of America, UAW; the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, Inc., and 
others, requests, among other things, extensions of the current start-
up dates for installation of engineering controls and use of 
respiratory protection for certain employers. It also requests an 
interim stay of those compliance dates pending OSHA's ruling on the 
motion for reconsideration.
    OSHA has preliminarily evaluated the motion for reconsideration 
and, based on that evaluation, finds good cause to grant in part the 
movants' request for an interim stay of the start-up dates. 
Accordingly, for those employers subject to the motion who would 
otherwise need to use respiratory protection or install engineering 
controls on or before April 10, 1998, OSHA is hereby delaying until 
August 31, 1998 the requirement to use respiratory protection to 
achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL, and to December 10, 1998 the requirement to 
achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and the STEL through engineering controls.

DATES: The effective date of this partial stay is December 18, 1997. 
Under the stay, the start-up date for certain employers to use 
respiratory protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL is August 31, 
1998, and the start-up date for certain employers to install 
engineering controls is December 10, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bonnie Friedman, Director, OSHA Office of Public Affairs, U.S. 
Department of Labor, Room N3647, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 219-8151.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OSHA published a new methylene chloride (MC) 
standard on January 10, 1997 (62 FR 1494). The standard establishes an 
8-hour time-weighted-average permissible exposure limit (8-hour TWA 
PEL) for MC of 25 per million (ppm). It also sets a short term exposure 
limit (STEL) of 125 ppm averaged over a 15 minute period. Employers 
must achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and the STEL, to the extent feasible, 
by engineering and work practice controls. If such controls are unable 
to achieve the exposure limits, and during the time they are being 
implemented, employers must use respirators to protect employees 
against excessive MC exposure.
    The methylene chloride standard establishes different start-up 
dates for employers in different size categories. It requires 
compliance with the engineering control requirement by April 10, 2000 
for employers with fewer than 20 employees; April 10, 1999 for 
polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20 to 99 employees; and April 10, 
1998 for all other employers. As originally published, compliance with 
the requirement for respiratory protection was required by April 10, 
1998 for employers with fewer than 20 employees; January 5, 1998 for 
polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20 to 99 employees; and October 7, 
1997 for all other employers. OSHA subsequently extended certain start-
up dates, including the requirement for all other employers to use 
respiratory protection, to December 21, 1997. (62 FR 54382, Oct. 20, 
1997).
    On November 24, 1997, OSHA received a joint motion for 
reconsideration of certain aspects of the standard from the 
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural 
Implement Workers of America, UAW; the Halogenated Solvents Industry 
Alliance, Inc.; Benco Sales, Inc.; Brock Woodcraft; Masters Magic 
Products, Inc.; Bassco Foam, Inc; and Tupelo Foam Sales, Inc. Among 
other things, the movants ask that the compliance dates for 
installation of engineering controls and use of respiratory protection 
to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL be extended for employers who use 
methylene chloride in certain specific applications. Those applications 
are polyurethane foam

[[Page 66276]]

manufacturing; foam fabrication; furniture refinishing; general 
aviation aircraft stripping; formulation of products containing 
methylene chloride; boat building and repair; recreational vehicle 
manufacture; van conversion; upholstery; and use of methylene chloride 
in construction work for restoration and preservation of buildings, 
painting and paint removal, cabinet making and/or floor refinishing and 
resurfacing.
    The motion for reconsideration requests that the standard's current 
final engineering control start-up date of April 10, 2000, which is now 
limited to employers with fewer than 20 employees, also apply to 
employers in the specified application groups with 20-49 employees and 
foam fabricators with 20-149 employees. According to the parties, 
employers in these size categories, like those with fewer than 20 
employees, have limited resources with which to develop and implement 
engineering controls and will be able to use those resources more 
efficiently if given sufficient time to develop and install effective 
controls and to take advantage of compliance assistance that OSHA plans 
to offer. The motion requests shorter extensions of the engineering 
control dates for larger employers in these application groups. The 
parties further request that respirator use to achieve the 8-hour TWA 
PEL not be required before the engineering control start-up dates for 
the employers covered by the motion. The parties assert that it would 
better protect workers to enable these employers to concentrate their 
resources on implementation of effective engineering controls rather 
than divert part of those resources to interim respiratory protection 
that would no longer be needed once full compliance with the 8-hour TWA 
PEL and STEL is achieved by engineering controls. Unlike for most 
substances, inexpensive respirators do not protect against MC 
exposures. Thus, the extensions of start-up dates the parties seek are 
designed to allow employers to allocate their resources effectively in 
developing permanent engineering solutions that will reduce worker MC 
exposures to below the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL.
    OSHA generally agrees that worker protection against MC exposure 
will best be achieved if employers develop and install effective 
engineering controls as soon as practicable. The agency recognizes that 
employers require a reasonable amount of time to develop and install 
such controls. OSHA's preliminary evaluation of the motion for 
reconsideration indicates that the parties have provided good cause for 
the extensions they seek. However, the agency intends to further 
evaluate the motion and to ask for public comment on it.
    In their motion, the parties ask that OSHA temporarily stay the 
start-up dates for which they request extensions until OSHA takes final 
action on the motion. OSHA finds good cause to grant in part the 
movants' request for an interim stay in order to avoid the need for 
employers to meet start-up dates that would no longer apply if the 
motion is granted. At present, certain start-up dates that would be 
extended if the motion is granted take effect on or before April 10, 
1998. These include: December 21, 1997 for employers with 20 or more 
employees (except polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20-99 employees) 
to use respiratory protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL; January 5, 
1998 for polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20-99 employees to use 
respiratory protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL; April 10, 1999 
for employers with fewer than 20 employees to use respiratory 
protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL; and April 10, 1998 for 
employers with 20 or more employees (except polyurethane foam 
manufacturers with 20-99 employees) to install engineering controls to 
achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL. The only start-up dates scheduled 
to take effect on or after April 10, 1998 are: April 10, 1999 for 
polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20-99 employees to use engineering 
controls to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL; and April 10, 2000 for 
employers with fewer than 20 employees to use engineering controls to 
achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL.
    OSHA recognizes that employers should receive a reasonable amount 
of notice before the start-up dates for installation of engineering 
controls and use of respirators take effect. Accordingly, to assure 
that employers who would receive extensions of the start-up dates if 
the motion is granted have sufficient notice, OSHA concludes it is 
appropriate to extend the start-up dates that would otherwise take 
effect on or before April 10, 1998. Accordingly, the agency is (1) 
extending the start-up date for all employers subject to the motion to 
use respiratory protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL to August 31, 
1998; and (2) extending the start-up for employers with 20 or more 
employees (except polyurethane foam manufacturers with 20-99 employees) 
to install engineering controls to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL 
to December 10, 1998. To further assure that employers are afforded a 
reasonable amount of notice of the date by which they must comply with 
these provisions, OSHA may further extend these start-up dates if a 
final ruling on the joint motion is not issued sufficiently far in 
advance of the August 31, 1998 start-up date for use of respiratory 
protection to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL that is being established by 
this partial stay.
    The parties request extensions of compliance deadlines only for 
installation of engineering controls and for use of respiratory 
protection to meet the 8-hour TWA PEL. As their motion points out, 
employees exposed to methylene chloride will still receive important 
protection from other provisions of the standard even if their motion 
is granted. Thus, during the period covered by this partial stay, 
employers will, by the start-up dates currently established by the 
standard be required to achieve the STEL (by either engineering 
controls or respiratory protection, at their option), implement all 
feasible work practice controls to reduce methylene chloride exposures, 
and comply with all other provisions of the MC standard that are not 
being stayed. Moreover, all employers must achieve the prior limits 
specified in 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-2 with feasible engineering 
controls until the new exposure limits take effect.
    OSHA further finds that there is good cause to issue this stay 
without notice and public comment because following such procedures 
would be impractical, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest in 
this case.
    Authority and Signature: This document was prepared under the 
direction of Charles N. Jeffress, Assistant Secretary of Labor for 
Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210.

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 1910

    Chemicals, Hazardous Substances, Occupational safety and health.

    Signed at Washington, DC this 12th day of December 1997.
Charles N. Jeffress,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.

    Part 1910 of title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended 
as follows:

PART 1910--[AMENDED]

    1. The general authority citation for subpart Z of 29 CFR part 1910 
continues to read, in part, as follows:

    Authority: Sections 4, 6, and 8 of the Occupational Safety and 
Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 653, 655, and 657); Secretary of 
Labor's Order No. 12-71 (36 FR 8754), 8-76

[[Page 66277]]

(41 FR 25059), 9-83 (48 FR 35736), 1-90 (55 FR 9033), or 6-96 (62 FR 
111), as applicable; and 29 CFR Part 1911.
* * * * *
    2. A note is added after paragraph (o) of Sec. 1910.1052 to read as 
follows:


Sec. 1910.1052  Methylene Chloride.

* * * * *
    [Note to paragraph (o): The requirement of 29 CFR 
1910.1052(g)(1) to use respiratory protection whenever an employee's 
exposure to methylene chloride exceeds or can reasonably be expected 
to exceed the 8-hour TWA PEL is hereby stayed until August 31, 1998 
for employers engaged in polyurethane foam manufacturing; foam 
fabrication; furniture refinishing; general aviation aircraft 
stripping; formulation of products containing methylene chloride; 
boat building and repair; recreational vehicle manufacture; van 
conversion; upholstery; and use of methylene chloride in 
construction work for restoration and preservation of buildings, 
painting and paint removal, cabinet making and/or floor refinishing 
and resurfacing.
    The requirement of 29 CFR 1910.1052(f)(1) to implement 
engineering controls to achieve the 8-hour TWA PEL and STEL is 
hereby stayed until December 10, 1998 for employers with more than 
100 employees engaged in polyurethane foam manufacturing and for 
employers with more than 20 employees engaged in foam fabrication; 
furniture refinishing; general aviation aircraft stripping; 
formulation of products containing methylene chloride; boat building 
and repair; recreational vehicle manufacture; van conversion; 
upholstery; and use of methylene chloride in construction work for 
restoration and preservation of buildings, painting and paint 
removal, cabinet making and/or floor refinishing and resurfacing.]

[FR Doc. 97-33027 Filed 12-17-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-M