OSHA has posted its regulatory priorities.
There’s action where little has existed before. Some of these items have been on the list for years and years (crystalline silica’s standard, especially for construction, actually requires an analytical method no longer used). There’s a step towards acknowledging ergonomics, with the proposed rule on recordkeeping. Airborne infectious diseases have never been addressed by OSHA. The movement there is quite justifiably a baby step (a Request for Information), and we have some doubts about the right way to address that issue from a rulemaking perspective. The big one, in terms of its far-reaching effect, is GHS – the Global Harmonization System. That will change the way labels and MSDSs look. It isn’t likely to have major changes for chemical end users.