Standards Improvement (Miscellaneous Changes) for General Industry and Construction Standards; Paperwork Collection for Coke Oven Emissions and Inorganic Arsenic

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is removing from the Code of Federal Regulations or revising provisions in its standards that are out of date, duplicative, unnecessary, or inconsistent. The Agency is making these regulatory changes to reduce the burden imposed on the regulated community by these provisions and to respond to a March 4, 1995 memorandum from the President. In this document, substantive changes are made to both health and safety standards that will revise or eliminate duplicative, inconsistent, or unnecessary regulatory requirements without diminishing employee protections. Changes being made to health standards include reducing the frequency of required chest x-rays and eliminating sputum-cytology examinations for workers covered by the coke oven and inorganic arsenic standards, and changing the emergency-response provisions of the vinyl chloride standard. Changes being made to OSHA safety standards include eliminating the public safety provisions of the temporary labor camp standard, eliminating unnecessary cross-references in the textile industry standards, and others. OSHA estimates that these changes will result in annualized savings for employers of over $9,600,000 and in reducing paperwork burden of 6600 hours annually.