Resources for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

GAO Recommends OSHA, EPA Time Frames for Communication Product Delivery

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A Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis revealed that it took OSHA and EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) more than 5 and 3 years, respectively, to release guidances, brochures and other communication products addressing the potential hazards of exposure to asbestos in automotive brakes. The GAO report recommended that both agencies develop time frames to more quickly deliver such information to the public.

OSHA officials twice decided to not release drafts before the final posting because they needed more data to understand how pervasive asbestos is in brake products and to avoid causing unnecessary alarm, GAO said. And while it took OSHA longer to release its final product, the OPPTS process incorporated more steps to obtain input from external parties.

“It is important that communication products be issued in a timely manner,” the report read. “Timeliness is but one of a range of performance indicators that agencies may use to measure whether they are achieving their goals, as managers balance competing priorities. But timeliness seems especially relevant once an agency has determined that there is a need to communicate information about how people can protect themselves from health and safety hazards to which they might be exposed. “

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