South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's OSHA Division to hold quarterly stakeholder meetings

Agency encourages public comments

Columbia - outh Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (S.C. OSHA) has scheduled quarterly informal stakeholder meetings to solicit comments and suggestions on various Health and Safety topics. The meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each of the following months: September, December, March and June. At each meeting, S.C. OSHA will be prepared to discuss occupational safety and health standards being considered for adoption and other issues of interest to the stakeholder community. Please let us know two weeks before any meeting of any subject that you would like placed on the agenda.

Stakeholder meetings are informal discussions to provide S.C. OSHA with the necessary information prior to adopting a standard or practice that will help employers reduce workplace injuries and illnesses through a systematic process proactively addressing workplace safety and health hazards.

The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in the Synergy Business Park, Kingstree Building at the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, 2nd floor, room 204, 110 Centerview Drive, Columbia, South Carolina.

Specific topics that will be covered in the first meeting are the restoration of the musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) column to OSHA 300 recordkeeping forms; Cranes and Derricks in Construction; Cranes and Derricks Used in Demolition and Underground Construction.

More information on OSHA's Cranes and Derricks in Construction Final Rule is available in the August 9, 2010 Federal Register at http://osha.gov/FedReg_osha_pdf/FED20100809.pdf

Under S.C. Code of Laws Section 41-15-80, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. S.C. OSHA's role is to assure these conditions for South Carolina's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.