[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87895-87897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25622]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
[Docket No. OSHA-2006-0040]
SGS North America, Inc.: Applications for Expansion of
Recognition
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, OSHA announces the applications of SGS North
America, Inc., for expansion of recognition as a Nationally Recognized
Testing Laboratory (NRTL) and presents the agency's preliminary finding
to grant the applications.
DATES: Submit comments, information, and documents in response to this
notice, or requests for an extension of time to make a submission, on
or before November 20, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted as follows:
Electronically: You may submit comments, including attachments,
electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, the Federal eRulemaking
Portal. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency's name and
the docket number for this rulemaking (Docket No. OSHA-2006-0040). All
comments, including any personal information you provide, are placed in
the public docket without change and may be made available online at
https://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions commenters about
submitting information they do not want made available to the public,
or submitting materials that contain personal information (either about
themselves or others), such as Social Security numbers and birthdates.
Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the
docket, go to https://www.regulations.gov. Documents in the docket
(including this Federal Register notice) are listed in the https://www.regulations.gov index; however, some information (e.g., copyrighted
material) is not publicly available to read or download through the
website. All submissions, including copyrighted material, are available
for inspection through the OSHA Docket Office. Contact the OSHA Docket
Office at (202) 693-2350 (TTY (877) 889-5627) for assistance in
locating docket submissions.
Extension of comment period: Submit requests for an extension of
the comment period on or before November 20, 2024 to the Office of
Technical Programs and Coordination Activities, Directorate of
Technical Support and Emergency Management, Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW, Room N-3653, Washington, DC 20210, or by fax to (202) 693-
1644.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information regarding this notice is
available from the following sources:
Press inquiries: Contact Mr. Frank Meilinger, Director, OSHA Office
of Communications, U.S. Department of Labor, telephone: (202) 693-1999;
email: meilinger.francis2@dol.gov.
General and technical information: Contact Mr. Kevin Robinson,
Director, Office of Technical Programs and Coordination Activities,
Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management, Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor; phone:
(202) 693-1911 or email: robinson.kevin@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Notice of the Applications for Expansion
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is providing
notice that SGS North America, Inc. (SGS) is applying for an expansion
of the current recognition as a NRTL. SGS requests the addition of six
test sites and one test standard to the NRTL scope of recognition.
OSHA recognition of a NRTL signifies that the organization meets
the requirements specified in 29 CFR 1910.7. Recognition is an
acknowledgment that the organization can perform independent safety
testing and certification of the specific products covered within the
scope of recognition. Each NRTL's scope of recognition includes (1) the
type of products the NRTL may test, with each type specified by the
applicable test standard; and (2) the recognized site(s) that has/have
the technical capability to perform the product-testing and product-
certification activities for test standards within the NRTL's scope.
Recognition is not a delegation or grant of government authority;
however, recognition enables employers to use products approved by the
NRTL to meet OSHA standards that require product testing and
certification.
The agency processes applications by a NRTL for initial recognition
and for an expansion or renewal of this recognition, following
requirements in appendix A to 29 CFR 1910.7. This appendix requires
that the agency publish two notices in the Federal Register in
processing an application. In the first notice, OSHA announces the
application and provides a preliminary finding. In the second notice,
the agency provides the final decision on the application. These
notices set forth the NRTL's scope of recognition or modifications of
that scope. OSHA maintains an informational web page for each NRTL,
including SGS, which details the NRTL's scope of recognition. These
pages are available from the OSHA website at https://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/index.html.
SGS currently has nine facilities (sites) recognized by OSHA for
product testing and certification, with the headquarters located at:
SGS North America, Inc., 620 Old Peachtree Road,
Suwanee, Georgia 30024. A complete list of SGS's scope of recognition
is available at https://www.osha.gov/nationally-recognized-testing-laboratory-program/sgs.
II. General Background on the Applications
SGS submitted five applications to OSHA to expand recognition as a
NRTL. The first application was received on March 20, 2022 (OSHA-2006-
0040-0084), requesting the addition of one test site in Brussels,
Belgium. This application was revised on January 9, 2024 (OSHA-2006-
0040-0089) to update the address on the original application. The
second expansion application was received on March 29, 2022 (OSHA-2006-
0040-0085), requesting the addition of one test site in Yokohama,
Japan. This application was revised on May 9, 2024 (OSHA-2006-0040-
0091) requesting an additional test standard in addition to the
Yokohama site. The third expansion application was received on March
30, 2022 (OSHA-2006-0040-0086), requesting the addition of one test
site in Munich, Germany. This application was revised on January 9,
2024 (OSHA-2006-0040-0090) to update the address on the application to
Puchheim, Germany. The fourth (OSHA-2006-0040-0087) and fifth (OSHA-
2006-0040-0088) applications were received on April 1, 2022, requesting
the addition of two test sites in New Taipei City, Taiwan and one in
Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. In total, the applications requested the
addition of six sites and one test standard to the NRTL scope of
recognition.
OSHA staff performed a detailed analysis of the application packets
and reviewed other pertinent information. OTPCA staff also performed
on-site reviews of SGS's Korea site on April 25 and May 7, 2024; SGS's
two Taiwan sites on February 29-March 1, 2024; SGS's Germany site on
June 15-16, 2023; SGS's Belgium site on June 15-16, 2023; and SGS's
Japan on May 9-10, 2024, in which the assessors found some
nonconformances with the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.7. SGS addressed
these issues sufficiently and OTPCA has preliminarily determined that
OSHA should grant the application requests to add these six test sites
and one test standard to SGS's NRTL scope of recognition.
Table 1 lists the six sites that SGS has requested for inclusion in
the NRTL's expanded scope of recognition:
Table 1--List of Test Sites Proposed To Be Included in SGS's NRTL Scope
of Recognition
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Site name Address Country
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SGS Korea Co., Ltd............ 4, LS-ro 182 beon-gil Korea.
Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-
do Republic of Korea
15807.
SGS Taiwan Ltd................ No. 31 & 33, Wu Taiwan.
Chyuan Road New
Taipei Industrial
Park Wu Ku District
New Taipei City,
Taiwan 248 Chinese
Taipei.
SGS Taiwan Ltd. Site 2........ No. 17, Wu Chyuan 8th Taiwan.
Road, New Taipei
Industrial Park, Wu
Ku District, New
Taipei City, Taiwan
248 Chinese Taipei.
SGS Germany GmbH.............. Benzstrasse 26/28 D- Germany.
82178 Puchheim.
SGS Belgium N.V............... Riverside Business Belgium.
Park Bld.
Internationalelaan,
55/A BE-1070
Brussels.
SGS Japan Inc................. 134, Good-cho, Japan.
Hodogaya-ku Yokohama
Business Park North
Square I 3F
Yokohama, 240-0005.
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Table 2 lists the one test standard included in SGS's applications
for expansion for testing and certification of products under the NRTL
Program.
Table 2--Proposed Appropriate Test Standard for Inclusion in SGS's NRTL
Scope of Recognition
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Test standard Test standard title
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ASME A17.5........................ Elevator and Escalator Electrical
Equipment.
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III. Preliminary Findings on the Applications
OSHA has preliminarily determined that SGS has submitted acceptable
applications for expansion of the scope of recognition. OSHA's review
of the application files and pertinent documentation indicates that the
applications meet the requirements prescribed by 29 CFR 1910.7 for
expanding the recognition to include the addition of these six test
sites and one test standard for NRTL testing and certification listed
above. This preliminary finding does not constitute an interim or
temporary approval of SGS's applications.
IV. Public Participation
OSHA welcomes public comment as to whether SGS meets the
requirements of 29 CFR 1910.7 for expansion of recognition as a NRTL.
Comments should consist of pertinent written documents and exhibits.
Commenters needing more time to comment must submit a request in
writing, stating the reasons for the request by the due date for
comments. OSHA will limit any extension to 10 days unless the requester
justifies a longer time period. OSHA may deny a request for an
extension if it is not adequately justified.
To review copies of the exhibits identified in this notice, as well
as comments submitted to the docket, contact the Docket Office,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor. These materials also are generally available online at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. OSHA-2006-0040 (for further
information, see the ``Docket'' heading in the section of this notice
titled ADDRESSES).
OSHA staff will review all comments to the docket submitted in a
timely manner. After addressing the issues raised by these comments,
staff will make a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary of Labor
for Occupational Safety and Health on whether to grant SGS's
applications for expansion of the scope of recognition. The Assistant
Secretary will make the final decision on granting the applications. In
making this decision, the Assistant Secretary may undertake other
proceedings prescribed in appendix A to 29 CFR 1910.7.
OSHA will publish a public notice of the final decision in the
Federal Register.
V. Authority and Signature
James S. Frederick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Occupational Safety and Health, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20210, authorized the preparation of this notice. Accordingly, the
agency is issuing this notice pursuant to 29 U.S.C. 657(g)(2),
Secretary of Labor's Order No. 8-2020 (85 FR 58393; Sept. 18, 2020),
and 29 CFR 1910.7.
Signed at Washington, DC, on October 29, 2024.
James S. Frederick,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2024-25622 Filed 11-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P
