Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on U.S. Department of Labor's Risk Assessment Procedures Published in Federa...( WASHINGTON Aug. 29 -- The U.S. D...),Health

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor proposes to establish consistent procedures to allow the public to see exactly what goes into agency risk assessments. Published today in the Federal Register http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-20179.htm, the proposal will ensure that the best and latest available evidence and scientific data are used when conducting risk assessments for health standards regulating occupational exposure to toxins in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.

This proposal impacts only internal agency procedures and imposes no additional regulation on stakeholders. Although not required, the department is nonetheless seeking public input on the proposal for 30 days.

Currently, the department does not have comprehensive regulations or formal internal guidance outlining consistent risk assessment procedures. The proposed regulation implements recommendations of a 1997 presidential/congressional commission that criticized the department for relying on "a case-by-case approach for performing risk assessment and risk characterization," and recommended that the department explain its scientific and policy defaults with regard to risk assessment.

The proposal will compile the Labor Department's existing practices into a single, easy to reference public regulation and includes:

-- Issuance of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in order

to cast a wide net for available information from the public.

-- Collection of the best available scientific data for the agency to

consider, including industry-by-industry exposure data where available.

-- Electronic posting of all documents related to a health standard

rulemaking to promote greater public input, awareness and transparency

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