제  목 : Late.Night Retail Guidelines Delayed
  일  자 : 1997년 01월
  제공처 : Safety ＆ Health

 OSHA encourages input into its standard-setting process through
      public-comment periods and outside research. Sometimes the input
      prolongs the time it takes to produce a standard or even voluntary
      guidelines.

 In the case of the agency's proposed workplace-violence guidelines
      for late-night retail establishments, criticism is coming from all
      quarters. In late September more than

 lOO members of Congress and industry groups sent Joseph A. Dear,
      OSHA administrator, a letter requesting stakeholder meetings on
      the guidelines and an extension of the comment period.

 The groups are concerned about whether the agency thoroughly
      analyzed the guidelines' irnpact on small businesses and whether
      it adequately  took feasibility and cost-effectiveness into account.
      OSHA claims that it has.

 "We are trying to work as closely as we can with our stakeholders
      to develop guidelines that will be acceptable to everyone," says
      Greg Watchman,OSHA deputy assistant secretary.

 The groups also are questioning why OSHA is issuing guidelines on
      workplace violence rather rhan full-blown regulations. The groups
      are concerned that they may be used as the basis for enforcement
      action under the general-duty clause of the OSHAct. Watchman says
      this is not the case.

 "As with the workplace-violence guidelines for the healthcare and
      social-service industries, Joe Dear will issue a directive that says
      these guidelines are really just a list of suggestions and will not
      be used in enforcement actions," he says,

 Watchman says there's been a lot of miscommunication over these
      and other voluntary guidelines. Trade associations don't always make
      it clear to their members that the guidelines will be voluntary,
      and members of Congress often say their constituents believe compliance
      is mandatory even if it isn't.

 Also expressing resistance to the guidelines are a number of trade
      associations that question the data OSHA has used to develop them.
      They say the guidelines lack solid scientific evidence to support them
      and that they contain "vague terms and ambiguous language."

 Groups representing restaurants also object to OSHA's one-size-
      fits-all approach to covering businesses  under the guidelines,
      since their needs are different from those of convenience stores.