[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 181 (Tuesday, September 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57520-57522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20261]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Docket No. OSHA-2013-0020]


Process Safety Management (PSM); Stakeholder Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of stakeholder meeting; updated date after postponement.

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SUMMARY: On August 30, 2022, OSHA announced an informal stakeholder 
meeting regarding the rulemaking project for the Process Safety 
Management (PSM) standard, to be held on September 28, 2022. With this 
notice, OSHA is postponing the informal stakeholder meeting until 
October 12, 2022. OSHA is also reissuing the invitation to interested 
parties to participate in the informal stakeholder meeting. 
Additionally,

[[Page 57521]]

OSHA invites participants to provide public comments related to 
potential changes to the standard that OSHA is considering and is 
extending the deadline for submitting comments.

DATES: The stakeholder meeting will be held virtually from 10 a.m. to 4 
p.m. ET, on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Registration to participate in 
or observe the stakeholder meeting will be open until all spots are 
full. Written comments must be submitted by November 14, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The stakeholder meeting will be held virtually on Webex. If 
you wish to attend the meeting or provide public comment, please 
register online as soon as possible at https://www.osha.gov/process-safety-management/background/2022stakeholdermtg. If you are interested 
in providing public comments at the meeting, you must indicate that 
while registering. In order to accommodate many speakers, public 
commenters will be allowed approximately three minutes to speak. 
Although OSHA welcomes all comments and seeks to accommodate as many 
speakers as possible, it may not be possible to accommodate all 
stakeholder requests to speak at the meeting. Stakeholders who register 
to speak in advance of the meeting will receive confirmation and a 
schedule of speakers via email prior to the event. Those who cannot 
attend the meeting and those who are unable or choose not to make 
verbal comments during the meeting are invited to submit their comments 
in writing (see instructions in Section III below).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Press inquiries: Mr. Frank Meilinger, Director, OSHA Office of 
Communications, Room N-3647, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-1999; email: 
[email protected].
    General and technical information: Ms. Lisa Long, Director, Office 
of Engineering Safety, OSHA Directorate of Standards and Guidance, Room 
N-3621, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-2294, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    OSHA published the PSM standard, 29 CFR 1910.119,\1\ in 1992 in 
response to several catastrophic chemical-release incidents that 
occurred worldwide. The PSM standard requires employers to implement 
safety programs that identify, evaluate, and control highly hazardous 
chemicals. Unlike some of OSHA's standards, which prescribe precisely 
what employers must do to comply, the PSM standard is ``performance-
based,'' and outlines 14 management system elements for controlling 
highly hazardous chemicals. Under the standard, employers have the 
flexibility to tailor their PSM programs to the unique conditions at 
their facilities. For more information on the PSM standard, please 
visit https://osha.gov/process-safety-management/background.
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    \1\ Section 1910.119 is made applicable to construction work 
through 29 CFR 1926.64.
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    Since its publication in 1992, the PSM standard has not been 
updated. The 2013 ammonium nitrate explosion at a fertilizer storage 
facility in West, Texas renewed interest in PSM. In response to this 
incident, on August 1, 2013, Executive Order (E.O.) 13650, Improving 
Chemical Facility Safety and Security, was signed. The E.O. directed 
OSHA and several other federal agencies to, among other things, 
modernize policies, regulations, and standards to enhance safety and 
security in chemical facilities by completing certain tasks, including: 
coordinating with stakeholders to develop a plan for implementing 
improvements to chemical risk managements practices, developing 
proposals to improve the safe and secure storage handling and sale of 
ammonium nitrate, and reviewing the PSM and Risk Management Plan (RMP) 
rules to determine if their covered hazardous chemical lists should be 
expanded. For more specifics on the Executive Order and OSHA's 
collaboration with other government agencies and stakeholders, please 
visit https://www.osha.gov/chemical-executive-order.
    Additionally, the E.O. directed that within 90 days, OSHA should 
publish a Request for Information (RFI) to identify issues related to 
modernization of its PSM standard and related standards necessary to 
meet the goal of preventing major chemical accidents. OSHA published 
the RFI in December 2013, and subsequently initiated and completed a 
Small Business Advocacy Review Panel (SBAR) in June 2016. Following the 
SBAR panel, PSM was moved to the Long-Term Actions list on the Unified 
Agenda. OSHA has continued to work on the PSM standard rulemaking and 
PSM was placed back on the Unified Agenda in the spring of 2021. OSHA 
is holding this stakeholder meeting to reengage stakeholders and 
solicit comments on the modernization topics mentioned in the RFI and 
SBAR panel report, as well as any additional PSM-related issues 
stakeholders would like to raise. The list of modernization topics is 
listed below in Section II.
    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a separate, pending 
proposal addressing RMP requirements. In the Clean Air Act Amendments 
of 1990, Congress required OSHA to adopt the PSM standard to protect 
workers and required EPA to protect the community and environment by 
issuing the RMP rule. The PSM and RMP rules were written to complement 
each other in accomplishing these Congressional goals. Since the E.O. 
13650, EPA has published amendments to the RMP rule in 2017 and 2019. 
Any comments on the EPA's RMP proposal should be submitted in writing 
to the docket for that rulemaking and will not be discussed during 
OSHA's stakeholder meeting. More information regarding the RMP rule is 
available at https://www.epa.gov/rmp. OSHA and EPA will continue to 
coordinate as both agencies consider revisions to their respective 
rules.

II. Stakeholder Meeting

    The meeting will feature a brief presentation from OSHA on the 
background of the PSM standard and some of the issues outlined in this 
notice. After the presentation, there will be time for registered 
commenters to provide verbal comments. PSM rulemaking topics are 
outlined in the lists below, but commenters may provide feedback on 
additional PSM-related issues. More information on most of the topics 
in the lists below can be found in the Small Entity Representative 
(SER) Background Document (docket no. OSHA-2013-0020-0107) and SER 
Issues Document (docket no. OSHA-2013-0020-0108) located on the PSM 
SBAR web page, https://www.osha.gov/process-safety-management/sbrefa. 
The purpose of the meeting is to gather information from stakeholders, 
and OSHA will not be responding to the comments during the meeting. The 
public may also submit written comments to the rulemaking docket (see 
Section III for instructions). More information on registration is 
provided above. The meeting will be recorded.
    The potential changes to the scope of the current PSM standard that 
OSHA is considering include:
    1. Clarifying the exemption for atmospheric storage tanks;
    2. Expanding the scope to include oil- and gas-well drilling and 
servicing;
    3. Resuming enforcement for oil and gas production facilities;

[[Page 57522]]

    4. Expanding PSM coverage and requirements for reactive chemical 
hazards;
    5. Updating and expanding the list of highly hazardous chemicals in 
Appendix A;
    6. Amending paragraph (k) of the Explosives and Blasting Agents 
Standard (Sec.  1910.109) to extend PSM requirements to cover 
dismantling and disposal of explosives and pyrotechnics;
    7. Clarifying the scope of the retail facilities exemption; and
    8. Defining the limits of a PSM-covered process.
    The potential changes to particular provisions of the current PSM 
standard that OSHA is considering include:
    1. Amending paragraph (b) to include a definition of RAGAGEP;
    2. Amending paragraph (b) to include a definition of critical 
equipment;
    3. Expanding paragraph (c) to strengthen employee participation and 
include stop work authority;
    4. Amending paragraph (d) to require evaluation of updates to 
applicable recognized and generally accepted as good engineering 
practices (RAGAGEP);
    5. Amending paragraph (d) to require continuous updating of 
collected information;
    6. Amending paragraph (e) to require formal resolution of Process 
Hazard Analysis team recommendations that are not utilized;
    7. Expanding paragraph (e) by requiring safer technology and 
alternatives analysis;
    8. Clarifying paragraph (e) to require consideration of natural 
disasters and extreme temperatures in their PSM programs, in response 
to E.O. 13990;
    9. Expanding paragraph (j) to cover the mechanical integrity of any 
critical equipment;
    10. Clarifying paragraph (j) to better explain ``equipment 
deficiencies;''
    11. Clarifying that paragraph (l) covers organizational changes;
    12. Amending paragraph (m) to require root cause analysis;
    13. Revising paragraph (n) to require coordination of emergency 
planning with local emergency-response authorities;
    14. Amending paragraph (o) to require third-party compliance 
audits;
    15. Including requirements for employers to develop a system for 
periodic review of and necessary revisions to their PSM management 
systems (previously referred to as ``Evaluation and Corrective 
Action''); and
    16. Requiring the development of written procedures for all 
elements specified in the standard, and to identify records required by 
the standard along with a records retention policy (previously referred 
to as ``Written PSM Management Systems'').

III. Submitting and Accessing Comments

    Regardless of attendance at the stakeholder meeting, interested 
persons may submit written comments electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal. All 
comments, attachments, and other material must identify the agency's 
name and the docket number for this stakeholder meeting (OSHA-2013-
0020). You may supplement electronic submissions by uploading document 
files electronically. All comments and additional materials must be 
submitted by November 14, 2022. All comments, including any personal 
information, are placed in the public docket without change and may be 
made available online at https://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA 
cautions commenters about submitting personal information such as 
Social Security Numbers and dates of birth.
    To read or download comments or other material in the docket, go to 
https://www.regulations.gov, and search for docket no. OSHA-2013-0020. 
All documents in the docket are listed in the https://www.regulations.gov index; however, some information (e.g., copyrighted 
material) is not publicly available to read or download from this 
website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available 
for inspection and copying at the OSHA Docket Office. Contact the OSHA 
Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627) for assistance in 
locating docket submissions.
    Information on using the https://www.regulations.gov website to 
submit comments and access the docket is available at https://www.regulations.gov/faq.

Authority and Signature

    James S. Frederick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for 
Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210, authorized the 
preparation of document under the authority of 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 No. 08-2020 (85 FR 58393); and 29 CFR 
part 1911.

    Signed at Washington, DC, September 8, 2022.
James S. Frederick,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2022-20261 Filed 9-19-22; 8:45 am]
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