The subcommittee took a more specific look at how private consensus standard setting organizations may be better able to work with OSHA -- both in OSHA’s rulemaking process and also in providing their technical expertise in partnerships with OSHA.

     “Improving safety and health in the workplace is why we are here today,” Norwood said. “We’ve got a rulemaking process that is slow. We’ve got a number of OSHA standards that most would agree need to be updated. And we’ve got a number of private, voluntary consensus standard setting organizations that may have much to offer, and that do good work, but cannot meet all the requirements we expect in OSHA rulemaking, in terms of transparency, due process, creation of a public record, and ability of the regulated community to comment.”

     “When designing buildings or manufacturing processes, or installing electrical wiring and safety systems, employers use today’s safety standards,” said John Biechman, vice president for government affairs for the National Fire Protection Association. “Unfortunately, OSHA has not been able to easily update its regulations to today’s standards.”

     “The global economy is dynamic, but our standard setting process is not,” said Henry Lick, president of Safety and Health Solutions, Ltd. “Congress needs to amend the OSH Act to incorporate today’s realities.”

     Travis Nichols, who testified on behalf of the American Bakers Association, told the subcommittee of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), a consensus standards organization, and its proposal to set a threshold value limit for flour dust. “All attempts to find out any information [on the proposal] were ignored,” Nichols said. “A so-called consensus organization is conducting its scientific evaluations and decision making completely in private, with no outside input or oversight, and thus no confidence in the final work product.”

     “Clearly OSHA and the state OSHA plans need to be extremely careful regarding the type of information upon which they rely upon for regulations and enforcement,” Nichols continued. “Our greatest fear is that government agencies will continue down this dangerous path of unwittingly adopting recommendations of consensus organizations without first thoroughly examining the background of each issue.”

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