Respiratory Protection

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

[Docket No. H-049]

RIN 1218-0099

Respiratory Protection

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Extension of the time period for submission of public comments

on a report by M. Nicas.

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SUMMARY: OSHA is extending the time period originally specified in 60

FR 56127 for receiving public comment on the Nicas Report.

DATES: Written comments must be postmarked to OSHA on or before January

29, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted in quadruplicate or 1 original

(hardcopy) and 1 disk (5\1/4\ or 3\1/2\ inch) in WordPerfect 5.0, 5.1,

6.0, 6.1, or ASCII to: Docket Office, Docket H-049, U.S. Department of

Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N-2625, 200

Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210; telephone: (202)

219-7894. Any information not contained on disk (e.g., studies,

articles) must be submitted in quadruplicate. Written comments limited

to 10 pages or less in length may also be transmitted by facsimile to

(202) 219-5046, provided that the original and 3 copies are sent to the

Docket Office thereafter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Anne C. Cyr, Office of Information

and Consumer Affairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration,

U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3647, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20210. Telephone (202) 219-8148. A copy of the

referenced report is available for inspection and copying in the Docket

Office and will be mailed to persons who request a copy by telephoning

Mr. John Steelnack at (202) 219-7151. For an electronic copy of the

Federal Register notice, contact the Labor News Bulletin Board (202)

219-4748; or OSHA's WebPage on the Internet at http://www.OSHA.gov/.

For news releases, fact sheets and other short documents, contact OSHA

FAX at (900) 555-3400 at $1.50 per minute.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background

On November 7, 1995, OSHA published a notice (60 FR 56127) which

reopened the record of the Respiratory Protection standard, 29 CFR

1910.134, to receive public comment on a report submitted by Dr. Mark

Nicas titled ``The Analysis of Workplace Protection Factor Data and the

Derivation of Assigned Protection Factors'' (hereafter, the ``Nicas

Report'') which was entered as a post-hearing comment into the

Respiratory Protection Docket H-049 as Exhibit #156. The original time

period for public comment on the Nicas Report was scheduled to end on

January 8, 1996. However, OSHA underwent a major reduction in

operations and furlough of most employees from December 18, 1995 to

January 5, 1996. As of January 17, 1996, OSHA had received only three

comments on the Nicas Report in response to 60 FR 56127. To encourage

additional public comments in response to this announcement, OSHA is

extending the date for submitting comments on the Nicas Report to

January 29, 1996. No additional extensions for this purpose are

anticipated.

Authority and Signature

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, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20210. It is issued pursuant to section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety

and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655).

Signed at Washington, D.C. this 17th day of January, 1996.

Joseph A. Dear,

Assistant Secretary of Labor.

[FR Doc. 96-728 Filed 1-22-96; 8:45 am]

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