The Audacity of 2010

Regulatory Watch

Following are issues currently being addressed by regulatory organizations that directly impact material handling.

Solid Wood Packaging Material

The U.S. Animal Plant & Health Inspection Service (APHIS) plans to implement a national treatment and certification rule for solid wood packaging material. Though no rule has been finalized, APHIS has suggested that implementing ISPM-15, the international voluntary standard, on a domestic basis may be the best initial step to stop the spread of wood pests associated with the movement of wood packaging, firewood and other wood products.

Combustible Dust

This month, OSHA is holding two meetings in Washington to discuss the workplace hazards of combustible dust. The agency says it will use comments from the meetings to develop a comprehensive standard that addresses fire and explosion hazards related to combustible dust. Additional meetings are planned for early 2010.

State Safety Programs

Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary for OSHA, told a Congressional committee in late October that federal OSHA will strengthen oversight, monitoring and evaluation of all state OSHA programs. In testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor, Barab said federal OSHA will immediately begin conducting a baseline evaluation for each state that administers its own program. Federal OSHA also plans to make all national emphasis programs and other similar initiatives mandatory rather than voluntary.

Workplace Injury Records

In September, OSHA introduced a national emphasis program (NEP) on recordkeeping “to assess the accuracy of injury and illness data recorded by employers.” Under the recordkeeping NEP, OSHA will inspect occupational injury and illness records prepared by businesses and enforce regulatory requirements if it determines employers are under-recording injuries and illnesses. Inspections include a records review, employee interviews and a “limited” safety and health inspection of the workplace. The NEP will focus on industries with high injury and illness rates, according to OSHA.

OSHA also proposed a rule that would align the hazard communication standard (HCS) with provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Under the current HCS, employers must implement a hazard communication plan (HCP) for workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. An HCP includes container labels, safety data sheets and employee training, among other measures. The GHS is a single system for classifying chemicals and designing labels and safety data sheets. Under GHS, labels include signal words, pictograms and hazard and precautionary statements. Information on safety data sheets are presented in a designated order.

Material Handling and Climate Change

American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454)

H.R. 2454 is the infamous “cap and trade” legislation that passed the House in late June. The American Clean Energy and Security Act seeks to improve overall U.S. energy productivity by at least 2.5% per year by 2012. If passed into law, the Act would establish a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions and set a goal to reduce emissions by 83% of 2005 levels by 2050.

A related bill pending in the Senate, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733), also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.