Informal Public Hearing

on the Proposed Rule for

Electric Power Generation,

Transmission, and Distribution

(Subpart V of Part 1926 and § 1910.269);

and

Electrical Protective Equipment

(§§ 1926.97 and 1910.137)

Opening Statement by

Ms. Dorothy Dougherty

Director, Directorate of Standards and Guidance

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

October 28, 2009

Introductory Remarks

Good morning, Judge Vittone, ladies, and gentlemen. I am Dorothy
Dougherty, the Director of the Directorate of Standards and Guidance in
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On behalf of
OSHA, I welcome you to this informal public hearing on the limited
reopening of the record for the proposed standards for Electric Power
Generation, Transmission, and Distribution, and on the proposed
standards for Electrical Protective Equipment.

I will now introduce the staff that is with me today:

David Wallis, Director of OSHA’s Office of Engineering Safety

Robert Biersner, Counsel for Safety Standards in the DOL Solicitor’s
Office

Lauren Goodman, project attorney with the DOL Solicitor’s Office

Robert Burt, Director of OSHA’s Office of Regulatory Analysis, and

Robert Stone, project economist with OSHA’s Office of Regulatory
Analysis

This hearing on minimum approach distances is an important part of
OSHA’s effort to update the existing standards for the construction,
operation, maintenance, and repair of electric power installations. OSHA
has two standards covering this work: Subpart V of Part 1926, which
covers the construction of these installations, and section 1910.269,
which covers their maintenance and repair. Your participation and
contributions through your written comments and your testimony on the
narrow issues that are the subject of this public hearing are greatly
appreciated, and will provide important information for the record upon
which OSHA will base any minimum approach distances that it includes in
the final rule.

Today’s informal public hearing on minimum approach distances, which
commenced at 9:30 a.m., is scheduled to end at 1:30 p.m.

Summary

On June 15, 2005, OSHA published a proposed rule to revise the general
industry and construction standards for electric power generation,
transmission, and distribution work. The proposed standards included
revised minimum approach distance tables. Those tables limit how close
an employee (or a conductive object he or she is contacting) may get to
an energized circuit part. OSHA developed the minimum approach distances
in the proposed rule using principles adopted from the 1993 National
Electrical Safety Code and ANSI/IEEE Standard 516-1987.

OSHA received public comments on the proposed standard and held an
informal public hearing from March 6 through 14, 2006. Hearing
participants had until July 14, 2006, to file post-hearing comments and
briefs.

After the rulemaking record on the proposal closed, the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers technical committee that was
responsible for revising IEEE Standard 516 identified what in its view
was an error in its calculation of minimum approach distances for
certain voltages. So, on October 22, 2008, OSHA reopened the record on
the proposal to obtain comments related to the affected minimum approach
distances. The record remained open on this limited basis for 30 days,
or until November 21, 2008.

After that first reopening period, the IEEE committee adopted and
published a new edition of IEEE Standard 516. The revised standard
adopts a new methodology, using a different set of formulas, for
calculating phase-to-phase minimum approach distances for voltages of
72.6 kilovolts and higher. The new IEEE Standard also contains a
slightly revised methodology for calculating minimum approach distances
for voltages up to 72.5 kilovolts. In light of these recent changes to
the IEEE standard, OSHA has reopened the record on this proposal for a
second time to obtain additional comments on the minimum approach
distances specified in OSHA’s 2005 proposed rule.

The second reopening notice was published on September 14, 2009. The
record remained open for the submission of comments about minimum
approach distances until October 15, 2009. In the September 14th Federal
Register notice, OSHA also announced this public hearing on the limited
issues that are the subject of this reopening of the record and that we
are here today to discuss.

To date, OSHA has not revised its proposed standard in any way. Nor has
the Agency made a determination as to whether there was an error in the
calculation of the minimum approach distances that appeared in its 2005
proposal. It should be noted, however, that the minimum approach
distances contained in OSHA’s proposed rule were based on certain
criteria, and OSHA will consider any comments or evidence in the record
suggesting that its calculations based on those criteria were in error.

The OSHA witnesses here today will be glad to answer any questions you
may have on the minimum approach distances in OSHA’s 2005 proposal.
However, we will not take questions pertaining to the methodology for
calculating minimum approach distances that is used in the new IEEE
Standard 516. We are soliciting information from the public on those
questions, and we anticipate that the record developed in response to
the two reopening notices, and during and after this hearing, will
provide sufficient evidence to permit OSHA to make a determination about
what the minimum approach distances should be in the final rule.

Finally, as OSHA clearly stated in the hearing notice, and as I stated
earlier, the reopening of the record is limited to issues related to
minimum approach distances. Consequently, OSHA considers questions
related to other issues or other provisions in the proposed standard to
be beyond the scope of this hearing.

Closing Remarks

I know that all of us here today share the goal of protecting
America’s employees who construct, maintain, and operate electric
power installations. To accomplish that goal, we must ensure that we
obtain the best possible information during this rulemaking. Minimum
approach distances may be an important part of the final rule, and I
want to assure you that OSHA will consider all the information, data,
and testimony presented to the Agency during the two reopening comment
periods and as part of this public hearing as it drafts the final
standard.

Once again, thank you for your interest in employee safety and health
and for providing your views to the Agency on this matter. At this time,
we will answer any questions the hearing participants may have about the
minimum approach distances in OSHA’s 2005 proposal.

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