[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 93 (Friday, May 14, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27188-27189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11586]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

[Docket No. OSHA-H054A-2006-0064]
RIN 1218-AC43


Revising the Notification Requirements in the Exposure 
Determination Provisions of the Hexavalent Chromium Standards

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

ACTION: Final rule; confirmation of effective date.

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SUMMARY: OSHA is confirming the effective date of its direct final rule 
(DFR) revising the employee notification requirements in the exposure 
determination provisions of the standards for Hexavalent Chromium 
(Cr(VI)). In the March 17, 2010, DFR document, OSHA stated that the DFR 
would become effective on June 15, 2010, unless one or more significant 
adverse comments were submitted by April 16, 2010. OSHA did not receive 
significant adverse comments on the DFR, so by this document the Agency 
is confirming that the DFR will become effective on June 15, 2010.

DATES: The DFR published on March 17, 2010, becomes effective on June 
15, 2010. For purposes of judicial review, OSHA considers May 14, 2010 
as the date of promulgation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information and press 
inquiries contact Ms. Jennifer Ashley, Director, OSHA Office of 
Communications, Room N-3647, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-1999. For 
technical inquiries, contact Maureen Ruskin, Office of Chemical 
Hazards--Metals, Directorate of Standards and Guidance, Room N-3718, 
OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-1950; fax: (202) 693-1678.
    Copies of this Federal Register notice are available from the OSHA 
Office of Publications, Room N-3101, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-
1888. Electronic copies of this Federal Register notice and other 
relevant documents are available at OSHA's Web page at 
http:[sol][sol]www.osha.gov.

ADDRESSES: For purposes of 28 U.S.C. 2112(a), OSHA designates the 
Associate Solicitor of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health as the 
recipient of petitions for review of the direct final rule. Contact the 
Associate Solicitor at the Office of the Solicitor, Room S-4004, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20210; telephone: (202) 693-5445.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Confirmation of Effective Date

    On March 17, 2010, OSHA published a DFR in the Federal Register (75 
FR 12681) amending the employee notification requirements in the 
exposure determination provisions of the Cr(VI) standards, 29 CFR 
1910.1026, 29 CFR 1915.1026, and 29 CFR 1926.1126. As originally 
promulgated in 2006, the Cr(VI) standards required employers to notify 
employees of any exposure determinations indicating exposures in excess 
of the applicable permissible exposure limit (PEL). As amended, the 
standard requires employers to notify employees of all exposure 
determinations, whether above or below the PEL. Interested parties had 
until April 16, 2010, to submit comments on the DFR. The Agency stated 
that it would publish another notice confirming the effective date of 
the DFR if it received no significant adverse comments.
    Eight comments were submitted in response to the DFR. OSHA has 
determined that they are not significant adverse comments. Three of the 
comments were nonsubstantive and did not object to the planned 
amendments to the Cr(VI) standards. See OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0003; 
OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0004; OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0005. Four commenters--
the Building and Construction Trades Department, Ameren (an investor 
owned electric and natural gas utility), Public Citizen, and the AFL-
CIO--strongly supported the DFR. See OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0006; OSHA-
H054A-2006-0064-0007; OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0008; OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-
0009. The eighth commenter was Edison Electric

[[Page 27189]]

Institute (EEI), the association of shareholder-owned electric 
companies. See OSHA-H054A-2006-0064-0010.
    EEI supported the DFR, commenting: ``EEI has no objection to 
informing employees of exposure determinations regardless of the 
results. Indeed, EEI members have long been sharing the results of 
exposure monitoring with their employees, regardless of whether 
overexposures have been revealed.'' EEI went on, however, to ask OSHA 
for clarification of the Cr(VI) standards' requirements that employers 
provide affected employees with notice of exposure determination 
results within 15 work days in general industry, and within 5 work days 
in construction. These deadlines for providing required notices were in 
the Cr(VI) standards as originally promulgated in 2006, and are not 
being changed in this direct final rulemaking. OSHA noted as much in 
the DFR notice. (See 75 FR at 12683 (``[T]he number of work days 
employers have to provide notice to employees will remain 
unchanged.'').)
    Because EEI's interpretive request is beyond the scope of this 
narrow direct final rulemaking, and EEI did not explain why the 
amendment to the scope of the notification requirement would be 
ineffective without clarification on the timing issue, the Agency has 
concluded that this is not a significant adverse comment. (See 75 FR at 
12683 (``OSHA will not consider a comment recommending an additional 
amendment to be a significant adverse comment unless the comment states 
why the direct final rule would be ineffective without the 
addition.'').) Moreover, because the issues raised by EEI are unrelated 
to this rulemaking, OSHA will not be addressing them in this notice. 
EEI may submit its inquiries to OSHA via a written request for a letter 
of interpretation from the Directorate of Enforcement Programs.
    As the Agency did not receive any significant adverse comments, 
OSHA is hereby confirming that the DFR published on March 17, 2010, 
will become effective on June 15, 2010.

II. OMB Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    The DFR amends a notification requirement that is subject to review 
by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA-95), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., and OMB's 
regulations at 5 CFR part 1320. The information collection requirements 
(``paperwork'') currently contained in the Chromium VI (Cr(VI)) 
standards are approved by OMB (Information Collection Request (ICR), 
Chromium (VI) Standards for General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1026), 
Shipyard Employment (29 CFR 1915.1026), and Construction (29 CFR 
1926.1126)), under OMB Control number 1218-0252. The Department notes 
that a federal agency cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it is approved by OMB under the PRA and displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. The public is not required to 
respond to a collection of information requirement unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. Also, notwithstanding any other 
provisions of law, no person shall be subject to penalty for failing to 
comply with a collection of information requirement if the requirement 
does not display a currently valid OMB control number.
    On June 22, 2009, OSHA published a preclearance Federal Register 
notice, Docket No. OSHA-2009-0015, as specified in PRA-95 (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), allowing the public 60 days to comment on a proposal to 
extend OMB's approval of the information collection requirements in the 
Cr(VI) standards (74 FR 29517). This notice also informed the public 
that OSHA was considering revising the notification requirements in the 
Cr(VI) standards to require employers to notify employees of all 
exposure determination results. OSHA estimated the new burden hours and 
costs that would result from this amendment to the standard, and the 
public had 60 days to comment on those estimates in accordance with the 
PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2). OSHA estimated that a requirement to notify 
employees of all exposure determination results would result in an 
increase of 62,575 burden hours and would increase employer cost, in 
annualized terms, by $1,526,731.
    The preclearance comment period closed on August 21, 2009. OSHA did 
not receive public comments on that notice. On October 30, 2009, OSHA 
published a Federal Register notice announcing that the Cr(VI) ICR had 
been submitted to OMB (74 FR 56216) for review and approval, and that 
interested parties had until November 30, 2009, to submit comments to 
OMB on that submission. No comments were received in response to that 
notice either. OMB approved the Cr(VI) ICR, but because this direct 
final rulemaking was still ongoing, the total burden hours approved did 
not include the additional burden that OSHA had estimated would need to 
be added to the ICR as a result this DFR (75 FR 13783, Mar. 23, 2010).
    In the DFR published on March 17, 2010, OSHA provided an additional 
30 days for the public to comment on the estimated paperwork 
implications of the revised notification requirements. The Agency did 
not receive any comments on paperwork in response to that notice.
    On April 23, 2010, OSHA submitted a Change Worksheet to OMB 
requesting modification of the Cr(VI) ICR to reflect the additional 
paperwork burdens that need to be added as a result of this DFR. OMB 
approved OSHA's request on May 4, 2010.

List of Subjects

29 CFR Part 1910

    Exposure determination, General industry, Health, Hexavalent 
chromium (Cr(VI)), Notification of determination results to employees, 
Occupational safety and health.

29 CFR Part 1915

    Exposure determination, Health, Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), 
Notification of determination results to employees, Occupational safety 
and health, Shipyard employment.

29 CFR Part 1926

    Construction, Exposure determination, Health, Hexavalent chromium 
(Cr(VI)), Notification of determination results to employees, 
Occupational safety and health.

Authority and Signature

    David Michaels, PhD, MPH, Assistant Secretary of Labor for 
Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210, directed the 
preparation of this direct final rule. The Agency is issuing this rule 
under Sections 4, 6, and 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
1970 (29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657), Secretary of Labor's Order 5-2007 (72 
FR 31159), and 29 CFR part 1911.

    Signed at Washington, DC, on May 11, 2010.
David Michaels,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2010-11586 Filed 5-13-10; 8:45 am]
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