[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 40 (Thursday, March 2, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12318-12319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04040]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

[Docket No. OSHA-H005C-2006-0870]
RIN 1218-AB76


Occupational Exposure to Beryllium: Proposed Delay of Effective 
Date

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

ACTION: Proposed delay of effective date.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in 
the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President 
and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,'' this 
action proposes, following a brief 10-day comment period, to further 
temporarily delay until May 20, 2017 the effective date of the rule 
entitled Occupational Exposure to Beryllium, published in the Federal 
Register on January 9, 2017 (82 FR 2470). The current effective date is 
March 21, 2017. This additional delay will allow OSHA officials the 
opportunity for further review and consideration of the new 
regulations.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or 
received) by March 13, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Written comments. You may submit comments, identified by 
Docket No. OSHA-H005C-2006-0870, by any of the following methods:
    Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments 
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal e-
Rulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions on-line for making 
electronic submissions. When uploading multiple attachments into 
Regulations.gov, please number all of your attachments because 
www.Regulations.gov will not automatically number the attachments. This 
will be very useful in identifying all attachments in the beryllium 
rule. For example, Attachment 1_title of your document, Attachment 2_
title of your document, Attachment 3_title of your document, etc. 
Specific instructions on uploading all documents are found in the 
Facts, Answer, Questions portion and the commenter check list on 
Regulations.gov Web page.
    Fax: If your submissions, including attachments, are not longer 
than 10 pages, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-
1648.
    Mail, hand delivery, express mail, messenger, or courier service: 
You may submit your comments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. 
OSHA-H005C-2006-0870, Room N-3653, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350 
(TTY (887) 889-5627). OSHA's Docket Office accepts deliveries (hand 
deliveries, express mail, and messenger/courier service) from 10 a.m. 
to 3 p.m. e.t., weekdays.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and the 
docket number for this rulemaking (Docket No. OSHA-H005C-2006-0870). 
All comments, including any personal information you provide, are 
placed in the public docket without change and may be made available 
online at http://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions you 
about submitting personal information such as Social Security numbers 
and birthdates.
    Docket: To read or download comments and materials submitted in 
response to this Federal Register document, go to Docket No. OSHA-
H005C-2006-0870 at http://www.regulations.gov, or to the OSHA Docket 
Office at the address above. All comments and submissions are listed in 
the http://www.regulations.gov index; however, some information (e.g., 
copyrighted material) is not publicly available to read or download 
through that Web site. All comments and submissions are available for 
inspection at the OSHA Docket Office.
    Electronic copies of this Federal Register document are available 
at http://www.regulations.gov. Copies also 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. This document, as well as news releases and other relevant 
information, is also available at OSHA's Web site at http://www.osha.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Meilinger, Director, Office of 
Communications, Room N-3647, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-
1999; email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OSHA published a final rule entitled 
Occupational Exposure to Beryllium on January 9, 2017 (82 FR 2470). On 
February 1, 2017, OSHA published a document in the Federal Register 
delaying the effective date of this rule from March 10, 2017 until 
March 21, 2017 (82 FR 8901 (February 1, 2017)). OSHA based this 
extension on the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum 
of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of 
Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review'' (82 FR 8346 
(January 24, 2017)) (``Memorandum''). The Memorandum directed the heads 
of Executive Departments and Agencies to temporarily postpone for sixty 
days from the date of the memorandum the effective dates of all 
regulations that had been published in the Federal Register but had not 
yet taken effect. The Memorandum also noted certain exceptions that do 
not apply here. OSHA therefore delayed the effective date for the rule 
entitled ``Occupational Exposure to Beryllium'' to March 21, 2017.
    The Memorandum also directed agencies to consider further delaying 
the effective date for regulations beyond that 60-day period. After 
further review, OSHA has preliminarily determined that it is 
appropriate to further delay the effective date of this rule, for the 
purpose of further reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy raised 
therein. Therefore, in accordance with the Memorandum, OSHA proposes to 
further delay the effective date for the rule entitled ``Occupational 
Exposure to Beryllium'' to May 20, 2017. The proposed extension of the 
effective date will not affect the compliance dates of the beryllium 
rule.
    OSHA seeks comment by March 13, 2017 on its proposal to extend the 
effective date by 60 days to May 20, 2017.


[[Page 12319]]


    Signed at Washington, DC, on February 24, 2017.
Dorothy Dougherty,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2017-04040 Filed 3-1-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-26-P