Opinion ID: 584066
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of ACGIH Recommendations

Text: 85 The union challenges OSHA's use of the ACGIH recommendations on two grounds. First, OSHA only considered for this rulemaking those substances for which the ACGIH has recommended a limit more protective than the existing PEL or for which there was no existing PEL. 54 Fed.Reg. at 2372; 53 Fed.Reg. at 20967. The union argues that this decision to limit the scope of this rulemaking in such a way was inconsistent with the agency's duty to set the standards which most adequately assure[ ] ... that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity from exposure to toxic substances. See 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(5). We disagree. 86 As previously noted, we find nothing in the OSH Act that prohibits OSHA from combining multiple substances in one rulemaking, as long as the statutory requirements are met for each substance. Neither do we find a requirement that OSHA include all possible substances in one rulemaking. OSHA has never claimed that this Air Contaminants Standard constituted the total universe of substances needing regulation, and it seems reasonable that some limit needed to be set as to what substances could be considered in this rulemaking. The list of ACGIH recommendations is a rational choice as the source for that limitation. The ACGIH recommendations are clearly well known to industry and the safety and health community. 32 Therefore, we find that the agency's choice to so limit this rulemaking is a valid exercise of OSHA's authority to set priorities for rulemaking. See id. § 655(g). The Act is sufficiently flexible to allow OSHA to initially determine whether or not there will be a standard ... [and] to process higher priority standards more quickly. National Congress of Hispanic Am. Citizens v. Usery, 554 F.2d 1196, 1199 (D.C.Cir.1977). 87 Petitioners also challenge OSHA's extensive use of the ACGIH recommendations for individual substances. Petitioners claim that OSHA did no more than adopt wholesale the ACGIH recommendations without independently analyzing the evidence supporting those recommendations. It is not clear from the record if OSHA independently reviewed the individual studies cited by the ACGIH, or merely the ACGIH summary of that data. See 53 Fed.Reg. at 20965 (OSHA has concentrated its efforts on reviewing summaries of the major studies, with emphasis on the literature used to support the exposure limits proposed by NIOSH and ACGIH....). However, we do not believe that OSHA is required to independently research all aspects of its rules. The Act authorizes the agency to employ expert consultants, 29 U.S.C. § 656(c), and OSHA is entitled to rely on such consultants, as well as studies in the scientific literature, as a basis for its PELs. See United Steelworkers, 647 F.2d at 1217. To that extent, OSHA is entitled to rely on the recommendations and documentation of the ACGIH, as it may rely on any other consulting organizations. 88 Use of such consultants, however, does not relieve OSHA of the responsibility for making detailed findings, with adequate explanations, for all statutory criteria. The recommendations of a consultant are not always based on the criteria required by the statute. As it is ultimately OSHA's responsibility to make those statutory findings, OSHA must determine, based on the best available evidence, 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(5), if those statutory criteria have been met, and then set forth the analysis behind that determination in an understandable way. 89 In this rulemaking, petitioners state that the ACGIH recommendations are not based on the statutory criteria 33 and that OSHA did nothing more than adopt those recommendations without any independent analysis of whether the evidence supporting those recommendations satisfied the statutory criteria. We express no opinion on this claim. However, the dearth of explanation in the rulemaking record for these 428 PELs makes it difficult to determine how the agency arrived at its conclusions. We do note that not all final PELs conformed to the ACGIH recommendation, though approximately ninety percent were identical. On remand, OSHA will be required to carefully review the evidence supporting each of the 428 PELs, and this concern should be addressed at that time. 90