Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) led a group of 15 lawmakers on Thursday in calling on the Obama Administration to carry out assessments of a proposed rule on silica exposure in the workplace.
In a letter to Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels, the senators asked that the period for comment on OSHA’s proposed rule on exposure to reparable silica in the workplace be extended so the Small Business Advocacy Review Panel could be convened.
“…We believe OSHA should provide stakeholders a full 90-day extension to give them adequate time to fully review this complex proposal and provide valuable feedback,” the senators said. “We also request all other corresponding dates within the proposed rule be extended by the full 90 days. In addition, we respectfully request that OSHA convene a SBAR Panel under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. This is an important step to ensure that the concerns of small businesses are properly accounted for.”
A SBAR Panel was convened on the silica exposure rule approximately 10 years ago.
“…The economy has changed significantly in ten years,” the senators said. “With the U.S. economy still recovering from a major economic downturn, stakeholders have been forced to reexamine their operations and deal with increased regulatory burdens.”