Last week MDN told you that the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has published new rules for the handling of silica and silica dust (see OSHA Publishes New Silica Dust Rule, O&G Must Comply by 2018). As we pointed out at the time, the “good news” if there is any, is that the new rules don’t take effect for the oil and gas industry for two years. However, more than just the oil and gas industry are affected by the rules. The Louisiana chapter of The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has filed a petition against OSHA to block the new rules. AGC represents more than 26,000 firms, including over 6,500 general contractors and over 9,000 specialty-contracting firms. AGC was joined by an alphabet soup of other associations in their petition. A second petition was filed by the American Foundry Society (AFS) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Both petitions were filed with the U.S. District Court for the 5th Circuit. Notably, associations for the oil and gas industry, while critical of the proposed new rules, have not (yet) joined these other industry groups in filing a petition with the court…
