OSHA promulgated a revised proposal granting exceptions in its safety program for certain types of railroad related crane operations. In December 2014, a crane crew works in heavy snowfall to rerail a boxcar in Homewood, Illinois. Image © 12/2014 by Nikki Burgess; all rights reserved.

OSHA

• The agency promulgated a proposed rule that will provide regulatory relief to certain railroad construction and repair activity involving cranes. The American Association of Railroads worked with OSHA and the FRA to craft the rule. See its parameters here
• In the week’s biggest news, OSHA is seeking comment on a proposal to remove the Form 300/301 submission requirement from its electronic injury reporting system. Information from the more generic (and anonymous) Form 300A will still be required.  OSHA contends that the rule as is too invasive to personal privacy, and is cost prohibitive.  See the withdrawal proposal here

PHMSA

The agency announced a new round of special permit (SP) actions.  As is typically the case, most of the SP’s deal with cylinders, batteries, and various types of bulk packages.  Catch all the particulars at the links below:

• https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-20/pdf/2018-15475.pdf
• https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-20/pdf/2018-15476.pdf
• https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-20/pdf/2018-15478.pdf

USPS

The Postal Service announced an extension of the comment period for its new proposal dealing with liquids, including hazardous materials, in the mail.  The new close of comments date is September 30^th.   The new proposal, which will impose rather stricter handling on liquids, has caused no small consternation in some quarters of the logistics industry.  Here’s the delay action

FMCSA

The agency extended a comment period on its ICR program for the collection of CDL license holder medical screening information. See this extension here

IMO

The organization released an updated summary of significant changes to the pending Amendment 39-18, supplanting the change document published back in February. See the link below for access

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