CBO POLICY STATEMENTS
CBO: Combustible Dust Standard Requirements Will Cost OSHA $10 Million
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates it would cost OSHA $10 million a year to enforce a final combustible dust standard called for by legislation introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., that currently is pending Senate approval.

Implementing H.R. 5522, or the Worker Protection against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act, would cost OSHA $1 million in FY 2009 and $41 million over the 2009-2013 period, CBO said. The $1 million price tag covers economic and feasibility studies to support the development of the final standard.

The bill, passed by the House of Representatives April 30, would require OSHA to issue an interim final standard regulating combustible dust within 90 days and a final standard within 18 months of the bill’s enactment.

The bill also would impose private-sector mandates on employers at industrial establishments that manufacture, process or otherwise handle materials that produce combustible dusts. However, CBO said that the cost of those mandates “is uncertain because it would depend on the rules to be established under the bill.”