Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance narrowing the scope of exemptions to its Process Safety Management regulations amounts to regulation and should have gone through the rulemaking process, a federal appeals court ruled (Agricultural Retailers Assoc. v. DOL, D.C. Cir., 15-01326, 9/23/16).
Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit said in the Sept. 23 opinion that the action was significant enough to require a traditional rulemaking procedure. The decision vacates the year-old action by OSHA. The court agreed with petitioners the Agricultural Retailers ...