Simple language leads to better understanding and, ultimately, improved workplace safety and health.
The new standard is shorter, provides employers more compliance options without increasing the risk of injury to employees and is more consistent with the latest National Fire Protection Association standard. The revised rule, however, does not change the substantive requirements for dip tanks or the regulatory burden placed on employers. It does not impose any additional requirements on the employer, nor does it reduce the safety and health protection afforded to employees. The dip tank standard revision, proposed last April, is one of two plain language projects undertaken by the agency as a result of the Administration's Reinventing Government initiative. OSHA began a detailed review of its standards, and committed the agency to eliminate those found to be unnecessary, duplicative or inconsistent, and to rewrite those that were complex and outdated.