DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

[Docket No. H-049]

RIN 1218-0099

Respiratory Protection; Proposed Rule

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Extension of date for filing of comments by testifiers.

SUMMARY: By this document the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is extending the date for testifiers at the OSHA hearings to submit comments on the proposed rule from April 14, 1995 to May 15, 1995, in order to provide additional time for those testifiers submitting comments.

DATES: Testimony, comments and evidence to be submitted at the hearings must be postmarked on or before May 15, 1995. Notices of intention to appear at the hearing were due March 31, 1995. Comments for testifiers must be postmarked on or before May 15, 1995. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 6, 1995 in Washington, DC.

ADDRESSES: Testimony and documentary evidence are to be submitted in quadruplicate to: Mr. Thomas Hall, OSHA Division of Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N3649, Washington, D.C. 20210; (202) 219-8615. Testimony and documentary evidence will be available for inspection and copying in the Docket Office, Room N2625 at the above address.

Written comments should be submitted in quadruplicate or 1 original (hardcopy) and 1 disk (5 1/4 or 3 1/2) in WordPerfect 5.0, 5.1, 6.0 or ASCII to: Docket Office, Docket H-049, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N2625, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20210; (202) 219-7894. Any information not contained on disk, e.g., studies, articles, etc., must be submitted in quadruplicate.

The hearing will be held in the auditorium of the U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Proposal: Mr. Richard Liblong, Director, Office of Information and Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N3647, Washington, D.C. 20210; (202) 219-8151.

Hearings: Mr. Thomas Hall, Division of Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N3649, Washington, D.C. 20210; (202) 219-8615.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On November 15, 1994, OSHA published a notice of proposed rulemaking on its respiratory protection standard (59 FR 58884 et seq.). The proposal is intended to update the current respirator standard to reflect changes in methodology, technology, and approach related to respiratory protection that have occurred since the existing respiratory protection standard was adopted in 1971.

A notice of the extension of the comment period and the rescheduling of the public hearing was published on January 20, 1995 (60 FR 4132 et seq.). This notice extended the public comment period for the proposal to April 14, 1995. The date for submitting a notice of intention to appear at the hearing to testify was extended to March 31, 1995. The public hearings were rescheduled to start on June 6, 1995. On March 23, 1995 (60 FR 15263) OSHA extended the period to submit testimony until May 15, 1995.

Extension of Date for Submitting Comments

Several parties who will be testifying at the OSHA hearings have requested an extension of time to file comments to May 15, 1995 because they need additional time to prepare comments. Since the period for submitting testimony has been extended this will not result in further delays. Accordingly OSHA is extending the time for testifiers to submit comments until May 15, 1995. The times to submit testimony and the start of the hearing remain unchanged. See the earlier Federal Register notices for the hearing procedures.

Authority and Signature

This document was prepared under the direction of Joseph A. Dear, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. It is issued pursuant to section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1593, 29 U.S.C. 655)

Signed at Washington, DC., this 12th day of April, 1995.

Joseph A. Dear,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.

[FR Doc. 95-9434 Filed 4-14-95; 8:45 am]