[Federal Register: April 27, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 80)]
[Notices]
[Page 21818-21819]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27ap05-131]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of the Environment, Safety and Health
Notice; Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding: To Formalize
the Working Relationship Between the Department of Energy and the
Department of Labor (August 28, 1992)
AGENCIES: The Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA); Department of Energy, Office of the Environment,
Safety and Health.
ACTION: Addendum to Memorandum of Understanding between the Department
of Labor and the Department of Energy: The construction and operation
by the University of Chicago of a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory
located at Argonne National Laboratory; transfer of worker safety and
health authority from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for a portion of
land that has been leased to the private sector for construction and
operation of a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at Argonne National
Laboratory, a DOE Government-Owned and Contractor-Operated (GOCO)
facility.
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SUMMARY: This notice is an addendum to the 1992 interagency Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Department of Labor and the
U.S. Department of Energy. That MOU states that DOE has exclusive
authority over the occupational safety and health of contractor
employees at DOE GOCOs. In addition, the MOU between the departments
dated July 25, 2000 on safety and health enforcement at privatized
facilities and operations provides that OSHA has regulatory authority
over occupational safety and health at certain privatized facilities
and operations on DOE land leased to private enterprises. This action
is taken in accordance with the July 25, 2000 MOU, which establishes
specific interagency procedures for the transfer of occupational safety
and health coverage for such privatized facilities and operations from
DOE to OSHA. The MOUs may be found on the internet via the OSHA Web
page http://www.osha.gov under the ``D'' for Department of Energy Transition
Activities.
EFFECTIVE DATE: May 27, 2005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Trese Louie, Office of Technical
Programs and Coordination Activities, U.S. Department of Labor,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N-3653, 200
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 10, 1992, the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of
the Department of Labor (OSHA) entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding, delineating regulatory authority over the occupational
safety and health of contract employees at DOE Government-Owned or
Leased Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facilities. In general, the
memorandum of understanding recognizes that DOE exercises statutory
authority under section 161(f) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended, [42 U.S.C. 2201(f)], relating to the occupational safety and
health of private-sector employees at these facilities.
Section 4(b)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,
29 U.S.C. 653(b)(1), exempts from OSHA authority working conditions
with respect to which other federal agencies have exercised statutory
authority to prescribe or enforce standards or regulations affecting
occupational safety or health. The 1992 Memorandum of Understanding
acknowledges DOE's extensive regulation of contractor health and safety
through safety orders, which require contractor compliance with all
OSHA standards as well as additional requirements prescribed by DOE,
and concludes with an agreement by the agencies that the provisions of
the Occupational Safety and Health Act will not apply to GOCO sites for
which DOE has exercised its authority to regulate occupational safety
and health under the Atomic Energy Act.
In light of DOE's policy emphasis on privatization activities, OSHA
and DOE entered into a second Memorandum of Understanding on July 25,
2000; that establishes interagency procedures to address regulatory
authority for occupational safety and health at specified privatized
facilities and operations on DOE sites. The 2000 Memorandum of
Understanding specifically covers facilities and operations on lands
that have been leased to private enterprises, which are not conducting
activities for or on behalf of DOE and where there is no likelihood
that any employee exposure to radiation from DOE sources would be 25
millirems per year (mrem/yr) or more.
On September 30, 2003, the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced
that it will fund nine regional biocontainment laboratories (RBL) for
the study of organisms important to national biodefense efforts as well
as organisms causing emerging infectious diseases. The Ricketts
Regional Biocontainment Laboratory was proposed in early February 2003
by the University of Chicago in support of a Midwestern Regional Center
of Excellence (RCE), a consortium of prominent medical research
organizations in the upper Midwest. In September 2003, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services announced a grant of $35
million over five years to support the center.
The Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Lab will be a biosafety level
3 (BSL-3) laboratory designed to safely conduct research on microbes
that can cause potentially lethal diseases. It will be located at a
site leased from DOE at Argonne National Laboratory--East, 25 miles
southwest of Chicago, Illinois. Argonne is operated by the University
of Chicago, a private university, for the United States Department of
Energy.
In accordance with the July 25, 2000 MOU, on November 24, 2003, DOE
notified OSHA of its intent to lease land to the University of Chicago
for the purpose of constructing and operating a Regional Biocontainment
Laboratory at the Argonne National Laboratory-East for the National
Institutes of Health. The letter stated that the laboratory would be
operated by the University of Chicago, a private institution, to
conduct research for NIH (as opposed to DOE). It also stated that the
radiological dose to workers at the RBL would be much less than 25
mrems/year from all DOE sources. In addition, the University of Chicago
will own and operate the RBL and DOE will not have a contractual
relationship with the University relating to that facility. DOE will
not have statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards or
regulations affecting occupational safety or health at the RBL. Thus,
as the letter stated, the section 4(b)(1) exemption to the OSH Act
would not apply to the RBL. Therefore, the letter requested, in
accordance with the 2000 MOU, that OSHA confirm that it will regulate
occupational safety and health at the RBL. On February 10, 2004, OSHA
responded to this letter, stating that it would review this request.
[[Page 21819]]
Accordingly, after reviewing pertinent information OSHA, in a
letter to DOE dated November 17, 2004, agreed to accept regulatory
authority for occupational safety and health over this site. This
Federal Register Notice is published as an addendum to the August 28,
1992 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Labor
and U.S. Department of Energy. Federal OSHA has regulatory authority
over occupational safety and health at privatized facilities leased to
the University of Chicago for the construction and operation of a
Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at DOE's Government-Owned and
Contractor-Operated (GOCO) Argonne National Laboratory.
Dated: March 28, 2005.
Jonathan L. Snare,
Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health,
Department of Labor.
Dated: April 6, 2005.
C. Russell H. Shearer,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and
Health, Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 05-8370 Filed 4-26-05; 8:45 am]
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