[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 72 (Thursday, April 14, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22196-22197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07998]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers


Occupational Safety and Health Programs for Federal Employees

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Safety and Health 
Requirements Manual (EM 385-1-1) is the gold standard for Safety and 
Occupational Health regulations. The manual holds a long history dating 
back to 1941 and is designed to facilitate the standardization of all 
safety programs. The EM 385-1-1 prescribes the safety and health 
requirements for all Corps of Engineers activities and operations. The 
USACE is soliciting comments on the proposed revisions to EM 385-1-1. 
USACE intends to update the manual and periodically thereafter, to 
reflect such public input, experience, and innovation. The agency will 
address significant comments received in the next revision of this 
manual.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by June 13, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2019-0015, by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Mail: Safety and Occupational Health Office, Headquarters, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, 441 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20314.
    Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, we cannot 
receive comments by hand delivery or courier.
    Instructions: If submitting comments through the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal, direct your comments to docket number COE-2019-
0015. All comments received will be included in the public docket 
without change and may be made available on-line at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless the commenter indicates that the comment includes information 
claimed to be Confidential Business Information

[[Page 22197]]

(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI, or otherwise 
protected, through regulations.gov or email. The regulations.gov 
website is an anonymous access system, which means we will not know 
your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body 
of your comment. If you send an email directly to the Corps without 
going through regulations.gov your email address will be automatically 
captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the 
public docket and made available on the internet. If you submit an 
electronic comment we recommend that you include your name and other 
contact information in the body of your comment and with any compact 
disc you submit. If we cannot read your comment because of technical 
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification we may not be 
able to consider your comment. Electronic comments should avoid the use 
of any special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any 
defects or viruses.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to regulations.gov. All documents in the docket 
are listed. Although listed in the index, some information is not 
publicly available, such as CBI or other information whose disclosure 
is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted 
material, is not placed on the internet and will be publicly available 
only in hard copy form.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  William Eggleston, Headquarters, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Safety and Occupational Health Office, in 
Washington, DC at 202-909-9367.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive Order (E.O.) 12196, Occupational 
Safety and Health Programs for Federal Employees, Executive Order 
11988, Floodplain Management, was issued in 1980 and directed agencies 
heads to (1) Furnish to employees places and conditions of employment 
that are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to 
cause death or serious physical harm; (2) Operate an occupational 
safety and health program in accordance with the requirements of this 
order and basic program elements promulgated by the Secretary. DoDI 
6055.1 was issued in 2014 (incorporated changes in 2018) and the DoD 
policy applies to all Military Departments to:
    1. Protect DoD personnel from accidental death, injury, or 
occupational illness.
    2. Apply this instruction to all personnel at all operations 
worldwide with certain limitations.
    3. Apply risk management strategies to eliminate occupational 
injury or illness and loss of mission capability and resources both on 
and off duty.
    4. Use SOH management systems across all military operations and 
activities, including acquisition, procurement, logistics, and facility 
management.
    5. Apply this instruction to off-duty military personnel, except 
for OSHA standards.
    Following issuance of DoD Safety and Occupational Health (SOH) 
Program DODI 6055.01; the AR-385-10, Army Safety Program implements the 
requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 as 
implemented in E.O. 12196; 29 CFR 1960; DODI 6055.1; DoDI6055.4; and 
DoDI6055.7. It provides new policy on Army safety management procedures 
with special emphasis on responsibilities and organizational concepts. 
AR 385-10 is applicable to the Active Army, the Army National Guard/
Army National Guard of the United States, and the U.S. Army Reserve, 
unless otherwise stated. It also applies to Army civilian employees and 
the U.S. Army.
    Following the issuance of the AR-385-10; the EM 385-1-1 U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers Safety and Health Requirements Manual prescribes the 
safety and health requirements for all Corps of Engineers activities 
and operations. The manual applies to Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (HQUSACE) elements, major subordinate commands, districts, 
centers, laboratories, and field operating activities (FOA), as well as 
USACE contracts and those administered on behalf of USACE. 
Applicability extends to occupational exposure for missions under the 
command of the Chief of Engineers, whether accomplished by military, 
civilian, or contractor personnel.

Instructions for Providing Comments

    USACE is requesting assistance in the form of data, comments, 
literature references, or field experiences, to help clarify the policy 
requirements for implementing Safety and Occupational Health activities 
for both Corps and contractor personnel. The draft version of the 
Safety and Health Requirements Manual (EM 385-1-1, April 2022) is 
available for review on the USACE Publications website: https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll9/id/2559. 
While USACE welcomes any and all feedback on this Engineering Manual, 
detailed responses to the questions provided will be particularly 
helpful to USACE in clarifying, revising, adding, or deleting 
information in a particular area/section/chapter. The most useful 
comments will be derived from on-the-job experiences that are covered 
within the topics of the manual. Commenters should use their knowledge 
of working with USACE on various types of federal actions as well as 
their understanding of consensus standards and other federal Safety and 
Health regulations.

Future Actions

    Feedback and comments provided through this notice will be 
considered and the draft version of the Safety and Health Requirements 
Manual (EM 385-1-1, April 2022) will be updated as appropriate. When 
the manual is finalized and published on the USACE Safety and 
Occupational Health Office website https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Safety-and-Occupational-Health/, and the document itself will be made 
available through the typical U.S. Army publication process.

Michael L. Connor,
Assistant Secretary of the Army, (Civil Works).
[FR Doc. 2022-07998 Filed 4-13-22; 8:45 am]
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