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News Release USDL: 96-521
Friday, December 20, 1996
Contact: Frank Kane, (202) 219-8151

Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich has re-established the charter of the Steel Erection Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee (SENRAC) so it can complete its task of recommending to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) a proposed rule for steel erection activities in construction.

Re-establishment of the charter will allow SENRAC to continue its work for two years or until the promulgation of a final standard, whichever occurs first. The charter will be filed Dec. 31, 1996.

SENRAC is composed of 20 members including representatives from labor, industry, small business, public interests and government agencies appointed by the Secretary of Labor. Reporting to Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear, it is an advisory body under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA) and was originally established May 11, 1994, with a two-year charter.

Negotiated rulemaking is a process spelled out in federal law in which a proposed rule is developed by a committee composed of all interests significantly affected by the final rule. Decisions are made by consensus. In December 1995, SENRAC reached agreement on draft proposed regulatory text for a revised steel erection standard.

The committee is expected to soon complete its work on the first phase of this standard, but is in need of more information on one issue that was part of its original mandate: standards governing slippery metal deck surfaces. SENRAC will seek information, data, studies and views from interested members of the public to assist in developing a recommendation on this issue.

Meetings of the committee will be announced in the Federal Register. They are open to the public.

Comments regarding re-establishment of the committee may be submitted to the Docket Officer, Docket S-775, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Room N2624, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210, (202) 219-7894. Information, data, studies and views on the matter of slippery metal deck surfaces may be sent to the committee at the same address.

Notice of the re-establishment of the charter for SENRAC was published in the Dec.16, 1996, Federal Register.