OSHA’s beryllium standard, published 11 days before President Trump’s inauguration, is one of the rules delayed 60 days by the Trump administration’s Jan. 20 regulatory freeze and review instructions. Federal agencies are to send no new rules to the Federal Register, withdraw rules sent but not yet published, and delay the effective date by 60 days of any rule published that has not taken effect. The beryllium rule was to go into effect March 10.
OSHA’s walking-working surfaces standard went into effect Jan. 17. Worker training is to be completed in six months, and fall protection installed in two years. The incoming OSHA regime might not enforce these compliance dates, or modify them.
Enforcement and compliance deadlines for OSHA’s silica rule are also uncertain, Effective June 23, 2016, the rule schedules the construction industry to be in compliance by June 23, 2017 and general industry one year later.
The Bush administration in 2001 and the Obama administration in 2009 issued similar regulatory decrees. But President Trump plans a much wider attack on Obama regulations, especially environmental rules.