OSHA Withdraws Final Rule for National Consensus Standards

"A letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has scuttled OSHA's plan to bypass time-consuming rulemaking procedures in the agency's effort to update OSHA standards.

OSHA wants to delete references in its standards to national consensus standards that the agency believes are out of date. But the Chamber of Commerce believes employers may still be relying on these consensus standards, some of which are decades old.

Although the Chamber of Commerce stated in its letter that its concerns should not be seen as 'significant adverse comments' that would derail the expedited rulemaking process, OSHA disagreed.

The agency stated it would announce in the Feb. 18 Federal Register its plans to withdraw the proposed direct final rule that revokes references to outdated national consensus standards and industry standards."