Follow up to previous postings on “midnight regulations,” see Robert Pear’s New York Times article, Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Safety Rule Obama Opposes: “The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.”
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of the Secretary, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
SUMMARY: “Pursuant to the Secretary of Labor’s authority at 5 U.S.C. section 301, the Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is proposing to compile its existing best practices related to risk assessment into a single, easy to reference regulation, and to include two requirements to establish consistent procedures for conducting risk assessments that promote greater public input and awareness of the Department’s health rulemakings. DOL proposes to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking soliciting public information on relevant data when developing risk assessments for health standards regulating occupational exposure to toxic substances and hazardous chemicals, and to electronically post rulemaking documents and underlying studies used in a risk assessment. The proposed regulation implements recommendations of the 1997 Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management Report, and is consistent withGovernment-wide Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Information Quality Guidelines, current internal DOL Information Quality Guidelines, and the OMB Office of Science and Technology Policy 2007 Memorandum on Updated Principles for Risk Analysis.”
