April 24, 1998

Mrs. Gloria C. Kozyra
President
American Bakers Cooperative, Inc.
P.O. Box 308
122 Randolph Avenue, Suite 202
Clifton, New Jersey 07011

Dear Mrs. Kozyra:

This is in response to your letter of April 15, addressing a July 7, 1997 letter to Mr. Raymond E. Donnelly of my staff, concerning the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard at 29 CFR 1910.263(l)(9)(ii) addressing annual inspections of bakery ovens. We regret the delay in responding to your inquiry. As in our previous correspondence with you dated May 23, 1990, on a similar inquiry, our response is as follows:

The OSHA standard at 29 CFR 1910.263(l)(9)(ii) specifies that the annual inspections of bakery ovens shall be conducted by representatives of the oven manufacturer. OSHA considers "representatives of the oven manufacturer" to be qualified persons who are knowledgeable of the various safety considerations and of the safe operational characteristics of the equipment. They may or may not be employees of the oven manufacturer.

Based upon the experience possessed by your company representative, Mr. Hibdon, Jr., as indicated in your letter, OSHA under the policy of "de minimis" violations would consider him to be qualified to conduct the annual inspections of the bakery ovens specified at 29 CFR 1910.263(l)(9)(ii), at your members' establishments. "De minimis" violations are violations of existing OSHA standards which have no direct or immediate relationship to safety and health. Such violations would result in no citations.

It should be noted that since OSHA does not have knowledge of Mr. Hibdon's qualifications nor of his inspection results and recommendations beyond your representation, OSHA cannot be responsible for any liabilities that may result from his inspections nor can we assure his clients that no citations for other safety and health violations will result if OSHA inspects their establishments.

Thank you for your interest in safety and health. If we may be of further assistance, please contact Wil Epps, at (202) 219-8041.

Sincerely,

John B. Miles, Jr. Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs



July 7, 1997

Raymond E. Donnelly, Director
U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
N.3107
200 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20210

Dear Mr. Donnelly:

Please refer to attached letter from the U.S. Department of Labor-O.S.H.A., dated May 23, 1990, wherein O.S.H.A. considered our bakery engineer to be qualified to conduct annual bakery inspections as a manufacturers representative, according to OSHA Std. 29 CFR 1910.263(l)(9)(ii).

Due to the increase in the number of oven inspections for our members/clients we find it necessary to take on another person to inspect ovens as a manufacturers representative.

Attached is the professional background of Richard Hibdon, JR., who is the son of our bakery engineer. In addition to his resume, following is further information on Mr. Hibdon:

Mr. Hibdon, Jr. is.current on standards of NFPA -

#31 - installation of oil burning equipment

#86 - ovens and furnaces

Mr. Hibdon, Jr. is current with ANSI -

Z.83.1 - installation of gas piping and gas equipment on industrial premises

Z.223.1 - National Fuel Gas code

Z.5.1 - bakery equipment safety regulations

Additionally, Mr. Hibdon, Jr. knows protection safety devices and related control wiring.

It is our opinion that Mr. Hibdon, Jr.'s extensive background covers all the requirements to conduct these inspections, since he has been working for his father since 1983.

I trust, with the extent of Mr. Hibdon's qualifications, O.S.H.A. will judge him qualified to make inspections of ovens and have these inspections recognized by O.S.H.A.

Your help in this matter is appreciated.

We respectfully ask that our request be acted on promptly since haste is very important due to the tremendous workload of oven inspections.

Sincerely yours,

AMERICAN BAKERS COOPERATIVE, Inc.
Gloria C. Kozra, (Mrs.)
President