ENFORCEMENT ​​

An OSHA interim enforcement policy dated Dec. 23, 2015, states that the agency is delaying enforcement of a recent reinterpretation of its Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The requirements of the PSM standard do not apply to “retail facilities,” which OSHA previously interpreted as facilities that obtain more than half of their income from direct sales to users. In July 2015, OSHA issued a new interpretation of this exemption that defined retail facilities as those classified in sectors 44 and 45 of the North American Industry Classification System. This new interpretation was originally scheduled to be enforced beginning July 22, 2016. Enforcement is now set to begin Sept. 30. OSHA’s action follows Congress’ passage of a rider to the federal budget appropriations bill that prohibits OSHA from enforcing its reinterpretation of “retail” until it meets certain conditions, including submitting the policy through the traditional rulemaking and public comment procedure. See OSHA’s interim enforcement policy on the agency's website.