ARLINGTON, VA - On July 22, NUCA Vice President of Safety George Kennedy testified during an informal, fact-finding public hearing at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. on OSHA's proposed rule on Confined Space Entry in Construction. Kennedy summarized member concerns about the proposed rulemaking as follows: "Although we do not oppose the idea of having a confined space standard that is applicable to construction, our members believe that OSHA's new proposed rule will create considerable confusion and also place an unnecessary burden, with no improvements in safety, on all contractors who have been successfully utilizing the General Industry-Permit Required Standard (1926.146) for 15 years."

At the end of his allowed 10 minutes, Kennedy said, "NUCA recommends that OSHA simply incorporate by reference the General Industry-Permit- Required Confined Space standard (29 CFR 1910.146) into the OSHA Construction Standards (29 CFR 1926)."

Most of the construction organizations represented at the hearing appeared to agree with NUCA. For example, the representative from the American Society of Safety Engineers said that the proposed rule "fails to recognize current and widely understood safety practices that have proven successful both in general industry and construction, and inadequately addresses several vitally important confined space issues."

Click on the following links for Kennedy's oral summary of NUCA's written comments submitted to the docket.

The oldest and largest national trade association working solely for the utility construction industry, the Arlington, Va.-based National Utility Contractors Association has a nationwide network of chapters and represents more than 1,700 company members that provide the workforce and materials to advance the water, sewer, gas, electric, telecommunications and construction site development industries across the country. Founded in 1964, NUCA continues to be the driving force for improving conditions in the industry by advancing and protecting the profession in the legislative and regulatory arenas and delivering the latest in safety and professional education.