Document ID: OSHA-2013-0027-0006
Agency: osha
Document Type: Notice
Title: Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Energy (August 28, 1992); Oak Ridge, Tennessee Properties
Posted Date: 2018-09-11T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 11, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45978-45979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19689]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. OSHA-2013-0027]

Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding With the Department 
of Energy (August 28, 1992); Oak Ridge, Tennessee Properties

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This is a notice of an addendum to the interagency Memorandum 
of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. 
Department of Energy (DOE). The MOU establishes specific interagency 
procedures for the transfer of occupational safety and health coverage 
for privatized facilities, properties, and operations from DOE to OSHA 
and state agencies acting under state plans approved by OSHA.

DATES: The expansion of the scope of recognition becomes effective on 
September 11, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information regarding this notice is 
available from the following sources:
    Press inquiries: Contact Mr. Frank Meilinger, Director, OSHA Office 
of Communications, U.S. Department of Labor, telephone: (202) 693-1999; 
email: [email protected].
    General and technical information: Contact Mr. Kevin Robinson, 
Director, OSHA Office of Technical Programs and Coordination 
Activities, Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management, 
U.S. Department of Labor, telephone: (202) 693-2110 or email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    DOE and OSHA entered into a MOU on August 10, 1992, delineating 
regulatory authority over the occupational safety and health of 
contractor employees at DOE government-owned or leased, contractor-
operated (GOCO) facilities. In general, the MOU recognizes that DOE 
exercises statutory authority under section 161(f) of the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954, as amended, (42 U.S.C. 2201(f)), relating to the 
occupational safety and health of private-sector employees at these 
facilities.
    Section 4(b)(1) of the Occupational Safety Health Act of 1970 (OSH 
Act) (29 U.S.C. 653(b)(1), exempts from OSHA authority working 
conditions with respect to which other federal agencies have exercised 
statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards or regulations 
affecting occupational safety and health. The 1992 MOU acknowledges 
DOE's extensive program for the regulation of contractor health and 
safety, which requires contractor compliance with all OSHA standards as 
well as additional requirements prescribed by DOE, and concludes with 
an agreement by the agencies that the provisions of the OSH Act will 
not apply to GOCO sites for which DOE has exercised authority to 
regulate occupational safety and health under the Atomic Energy Act. 
The 1992 MOU has expired.
    In light of DOE's policy emphasis on privatization activities, OSHA 
and DOE entered into a second MOU on July 25, 2000, that establishes 
interagency procedures to address regulatory authority for occupational 
safety and health at specified privatized facilities and operations on 
sites formerly controlled by DOE. The July 25, 2000, MOU covers 
facilities and operations on lands no longer controlled by DOE, which 
are not conducting activities for or on behalf of DOE and where there 
is no likelihood that any employee exposure to radiation from DOE 
sources would be 25 millirems per year (mrem/yr) or more.

II. Notice of Transfer

    In an email dated February 2, 2018, DOE requested that OSHA or, as 
appropriate, the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (TOSHA) accept occupational safety and health regulatory 
authority over employees at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee, six parcels of land pursuant to the MOU on Safety and 
Health Enforcement at Privatized Facilities and Operations dated July 
25, 2000. Other facilities and properties at the East Tennessee 
Technology Park were transferred to TOSHA jurisdiction under this MOU 
by Federal Register notices 74 FR 120 (January 2, 2009), 74 FR 39977 
(August 10, 2009), 76 FR 80408 (December 23, 2011) and 79 FR 29456 (May 
22, 2014).
    The six parcels of land, which are located at the East Tennessee 
Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and were transferred by deed 
to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) are 
described as follows:
     Land Parcel ED-11 Consists of five tracts of land 
separated by roadways: ED-11A (11.67 acres), ED-11B (2.25 acres), ED-
11C (0.49 acres), ED-11D

[[Page 45979]]

(0.31 acres), and ED-11E (0.15 acres). No buildings are included in 
this transfer;
     Land Parcel ED-12 Consists of five tracts of land 
separated by roadways: ED-12A (5.88 acres), ED-12B (2.57 acres), ED-12C 
(1.75 acres), ED-12D (2.99 acres), and ED-12E (0.16 acres). No 
buildings are included in this transfer;
     Land Parcel ED-3 Consists of two tracts of land separated 
by roadways. The southern tract (111 acres), and the northern tract 
(2.5 acres). No buildings are included in this transfer;
     Land Parcel ED-3 West Consists of one tract of 
approximately 72 acres. No buildings are included in this transfer;
     Land Parcel K-31 Consists of one tract of approximately 61 
acres. No buildings are included in this transfer. Any existing 
buildings will be destroyed before the transfer takes place; and
     Land Parcel K-33 Consists of one tract of approximately 
136.4 acres. No buildings are included in this transfer.
    OSHA's Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia, working with the OSHA 
Nashville Area Office and TOSHA, determined that TOSHA is willing to 
accept authority over the occupational safety and health of public-
sector and private-sector employees at the six parcels of land at the 
East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that were 
transferred by deed to CROET. In a letter from OSHA to DOE dated May 
21, 2018, OSHA stated that TOSHA is satisfied with DOE assurances that 
(1) there is no likelihood that any employee at facilities in the 
vicinity of these land parcels will be exposed to radiation levels that 
will be 25 millirems per year (mrem/yr) or more, and; (2) transfer of 
authority to TOSHA is free from regulatory gaps and does not diminish 
the safety and health protection of the employees.
    Accordingly, TOSHA accepts and maintains health and safety 
regulatory authority over employees in the vicinity of Land Parcels ED-
11, ED-12, ED-3, ED-3 West, K-31 and K-33.

III. Authority and Signature

    Loren Sweatt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational 
Safety and Health, authorized the preparation of this notice. This 
Federal Register notice provides public notice and serves as an 
addendum to the 1992 OSHA/DOE MOU. Accordingly, the Agency is issuing 
this notice pursuant to Section 8(g)(2) of the Occupational Health and 
Safety Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 657(g)(2)), Secretary of Labor's Order 
No. 1-2012 (77 FR 3912, Jan. 25, 2012).

    Signed at Washington, DC, on September 5, 2018.
Loren Sweatt,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 2018-19689 Filed 9-10-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-26-P