MSHA Silica Rule Update And More From Washington

Published by Sarah Harrington


Tile Roofing Industry Alliance Lobbyist, Craig Brightup, has provided the latest government relations update and activities for August 2023:

OSHA Worker Walkaround Rule
On August 30, OSHA published its proposed “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process” rule in the Federal Register.  The preamble states OSHA is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify that the representative(s) may be an employee of the employer or a third party.  Despite the proposed rule’s bureaucratic language that tries to disguise its motives, this is nothing more than an attempt to allow third-party union representatives (organizers) to join OSHA inspectors at non-union workplaces for reconnaissance to aide union organizing campaigns.

OSHA Heat Standard
NRCA’s Rod Petrick (Ridgeworth Roofing Co., Illinois) and John Fleming (Weathercraft, Colorado) had their names submitted to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy to be Small Entity Representatives (SERs) for the Small Business Advocacy Review panel that will provide feedback on OSHA’s draft Heat Injury/Illness Prevention standard.  They were notified on August 21 they’d been accepted and the panel will begin its SBAR teleconference meetings in September.  It’s great to have roofing contractors on the panel and that one is a union contractor and the other non-union.

DOL Overtime Regulation
On August 30, the Dept. of Labor (DOL) released its proposed OT regulation “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional Outside Sales, and Computer Employees.”  The current OT threshold for these categories is $35,568/year, and DOL proposes to take the threshold to $1059/week or $55,068/year with the ability to bump it to $59,285/year for the 4th quarter of 2023 and $60,209/year for the 1st quarter of 2024.  Any employee not being paid a salary equal to the threshold will be eligible for OT for work past 40 hours/week and the proposed regulation also has an automatic escalator provision that will increase the salary threshold every three years.

IRA Energy Credit Labor Regulations
On August 29, Treasury/IRS released a proposed rulemaking on prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) clean energy tax incentives.  Adhering to these requirements is necessary for the full benefits of these tax breaks which include multifamily buildings for the New Energy Efficient Homes Credit (IRC Sec. 45L) and the Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction (Sec. 179D).  Basically, the proposed regulations encourage project developers to put in place pre-hire collective bargaining agreements to avoid getting hit with hefty fines.

MSHA Silica Rule
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), created by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, has proposed changes to its silica rule for mine operators but jurisdiction also covers surface construction activity at mining sites.  As such, the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC), to which TRIA belongs, met on August 21 to discuss the potential ramifications of MSHA’s silica rule on OSHA’s silica rule and is drafting comments to MSHA which are due Sept. 11.
For more information on our Government Relations Committee or the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA) please email us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.tileroofing.org