Opinion ID: 443197
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Storage of Gasoline Cans

Text: 30 Beiro was cited for storing a propane cylinder and five, five-gallon gasoline cans in its tool trailer. The trailer had two large doors at one end. The left hand door was closed and the right hand door open. The gas cans and propane cylinder were stored in the corner formed by the closed door and the left side of the trailer. The substantive issue here involves the interpretation of two regulations: 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1926.152(a)(2) prohibits the storage of flammable or combustible liquids in areas used for exits, stairways, or ... the safe passage of people; 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1926.152(b) permits the indoor storage of up to 25 gallons of flammable liquid. The ALJ found that only the right side of the trailer was a passageway and the left side was a storage area, thus, there was no violation because up to 25 gallons of flammable liquid may be stored indoors. ALJ Decision at 86. The Secretary claims that this is too narrow an interpretation of 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1926.152(a)(2) which should be construed as prohibiting the storage of combustible liquids either directly in or close to an exit, stairway, or passageway. See Brief for Secretary at 54. Obviously, there is a point at which the proximity of the storage of flammable liquids to a passageway becomes close enough to pose a risk to safe passage and thus come within the meaning of Sec. 1926.152(a)(2). The question is whether that point was reached in this case. 31 This court faced a similar question in L.R. Willson & Sons, Inc. v. Donovan, 685 F.2d 664, 674-76 (D.C.1982). The question in L.R. Willson was at what point the use of safety belts became impractical within the meaning of 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1926.105(a). The Secretary argued that the inability to use safety belts at all times rendered them impractical thus making the use of safety nets mandatory even if safety belts could be used most of the time. Id. at 674. The Commission upheld the Secretary and we reversed. The court held that while the Secretary's interpretation was consistent with the principle of construing the Act liberally to protect the safety of workers and may have been what the Secretary intended to mandate, it was not what the regulation said. It is well settled that 'regulations cannot be construed to mean what an agency intended but did not adequately express.'  Id. at 675 (quoting Kent Nowlin Constr. Co. v. OSHRC, 593 F.2d 368, 371 (10th Cir.1979)). The Act clearly contemplates regulations expressed in terms of objective criteria so as to give employers proper notice of what is required. Id. at 676. The Secretary is always free to promulgate new standards or interpretative rules to clarify existing standards. Reading the regulation to require safety nets only if belts could not be worn for a significant period of time, the court concluded that the Secretary failed to present substantial evidence of a violation. Whereas the Secretary showed belts could not be worn at all times, he failed to show they could not be worn a significant amount of time. 32 In L.R. Willson, we essentially followed the Eighth Circuit's analysis in Brennan v. OSHRC & Ron M. Fiegen, Inc., 513 F.2d 713 (8th Cir.1975). See L.R. Willson, 685 F.2d at 674-76. Fiegen, like the present case, involved a situation where the Secretary and the Commission disagreed over the interpretation of a regulation. The court upheld the Commission's view stating: 33 While the Secretary may have intended the regulation to mean one thing, it is the Commission and not the Secretary which is charged with final administrative adjudication of the Act ... and where the Commission has given the regulation an interpretation well within the plain meaning of its terms, we cannot say that the Commission's reading is unreasonable. 34 Id. at 715-16 (citation omitted). 35 Similarly in the present case, we cannot say the ALJ's interpretation of the regulation is unreasonable. After reviewing and evaluating the evidence, the ALJ determined that area where the gas cans were stored was a storage area and not an area used for an exit, stairway, or passage of people as contemplated by Sec. 1926.152(a)(2). On the facts of this case, we find the ALJ's decision to vacate the citation supported by substantial evidence.