DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Part 1910

[Docket No. S-048]

Logging Operations

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Extension of partial stay.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The partial stay of enforcement will continue to be effective until September 8, 1995. The remaining requirements of § 1910.266, which became effective on February 9, 1995, are unaffected by this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick Liblong, Office of Information and Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N-3637, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210, (202)-219-8148.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 12, 1994, OSHA published a final logging standard providing protection for workers in logging operations (59 FR 51672). The final rule (29 CFR 1910.266) had an effective date of February 9, 1995.

After the final rule was published, the Equipment Manufacturers Institute (EMI), the Portable Power Equipment Manufacturers Association (PPEMA), and Homelite, a manufacturer of chain saws, filed timely petitions under section 6(f) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) seeking judicial review of the standard. After the deadline for filing such petitions had passed, the Associated California Loggers, the Associated Oregon Loggers, Inc., the Montana Logging Association, and the Washington Contract Loggers Association also filed objections to the final rule with OSHA.

These parties and organizations raised questions about certain provisions of the final rule. After consideration of their questions, OSHA published a Federal Register notice (60 FR 7447, Feb. 8, 1995) staying 12 provisions of the standard for six-months, until August 9, 1995. The provisions OSHA stayed were: (d)(1)(v) -- insofar as it requires foot protection to be chain-saw resistant; (d)(1)(vii) -- insofar as it required face protection; (d)(2)(iii) -- annual review and approval of first-aid kits by a health care provider; (f)(2)(iv) -- machine operation on slopes; (f)(2)(xi) -- machine shutdown procedures; (f)(3)(ii) -- ROPS specifications; (f)(3)(vii) and (viii) -- machine cab enclosures; (f)(7)(ii) -- insofar as it requires machine parking brakes to be able to stop a moving machine; (g)(1) and (2) -- maintenance and inspection requirements insofar as they apply to employee-owned vehicles; (h)(2)(vii) -- the backcut requirement insofar as it applies to Humboldt cutting. The remaining requirements of 1910.266 were unaffected by the partial stay and went into effect on February 9, 1995.

In the notice announcing the partial stay, OSHA said the six-month delay of the 12 provisions would give the Agency time to clarify language in the regulatory text and preamble so it most accurately expressed the Agency's intent with respect to the provisions in question and to provide additional information with regard to some of the provisions. OSHA is extending the partial stay on the above listed provisions for a 30-days, until September 8, 1995, in order to complete its reconsideration of the issues, complete corrections and clarifications in the regulatory text and preamble, and revise its compliance directive to reflect those changes.

List of Subjects

29 CFR Part 1910

Chain saw, Forestry, Harvesting, Incorporation by reference, Logging, Occupational safety and health, Pulpwood timber, Training

29 CFR Part 1928

Agriculture, Migrant labor, Occupational safety and health

Authority

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 This action is taken pursuant to sections 4, 6, and 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657), Secretary of Labor's Order No. 1-90 (55 FR 9033) and 29 CFR part 1911

Signed at Washington, DC, this 4th day of August, 1995.

Joseph A. Dear,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.

For the reasons set forth above, 29 CFR 1910 is hereby amended as follows:

PART 1910 -- [AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for subpart R of part 1910 continues to read as follows:

AUTHORITY: Secs. 4, 6, 8, Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657); Secretary of Labor's Order No. 12-71 (36 FR 8754), 8-76 (41 FR 25059), 9-83 (48 FR 35736) or 1-90 (55 FR 9033), as applicable.

Sections 1910.261, 1910.262, 1910.265, 1910.266, 1910.267, 1910.268, 1910.269, 1910.272, 1910.274 and 1910.275 also issued under 29 CFR Part 1911

Section 1910.272 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 553.

2. The note at the end of § 1910.266, is revised to read as follows:

1910.266 Logging operations.

* * * * *

Note: In the Federal Register of August 9, 1995, OSHA extended the stay of the following paragraphs of § 1910.266 until September 8, 1995. The remaining requirements of § 1910.266, which became effective on February 9, 1995, are unaffected by the extension of the partial stay:

1. (d)(1)(v) -- insofar as it requires foot protection to be chain-saw resistant.

2. (d)(1)(vii) -- insofar as it required face protection.

3. (d)(2)(iii).

4. (f)(2)(iv).

5. (f)(2)(xi).

6. (f)(3)(ii).

7. (f)(3)(vii).

8. (f)(3)(viii).

9. (f)(7)(ii) -- insofar as it requires parking brakes to be able to stop a moving machine.

10. (g)(1) and (g)(2) insofar as they require inspection and maintenance of employee-owned vehicles.

11. (h)(2)(vii) -- insofar as it precludes backcuts at the level of the horizontal cut of the undercut when the Humboldt cutting method is used.

[FR Doc. 95-19649 Filed 8-8-95; 8:45 am]