Document 5bMpx63GaK782L1Va0Or834V0

In response to your request for a legal opinion concerning deferring compliance with an OSHA standard, the following must be noted. 1. Penalties for non-compliance with the Occupational Safety & Health Act include: a) A single nonserious or serious violation..........................................................'....................... up to $ 1,000 b) A willful or repeated violation...................... up to $10,000 c) Additional penalty for failure to abate within the allotted time period after notification.......................................................................... up to $ 1,000 per day 2. Criminal penalties include: a) Willful violations causing death or filing false information.......................................... up to $10,000 or six (6) months imprisonment or both. 3. Considering the sensitivity of the VCM standard, we may expect OSHA to move promptly to enforce it. The only way we can legally forestall compliance is to apply for a temporary variance. Such an application must contain a representation that we are un able to comply and statements setting forth: the steps we have taken to comply; when we expect to be able to comply; and the facts we have to establish that: we "are unable to comply with [the] standard by its effective date because of unavailability of professional or technical personnel or of materials and equipment ... or because necessary construction or alteration of facilities cannot be completed by the effective date ... ."*29 CFR 1905.10 (b) (7) . *A copy of the "Rules of Practice for Variances" are attached. ASI 00008943 4. In the last six (6) months OSHA has denied two (2) applications for variances in full. It has granted five (5) Interim Orders for variances, each of them for portions of the VCM standard. It has yet to grant a full variance. 5. As a final point, Mr. Robert H. Sand and I agree that it would be wise to bear in mind that the VCM standard is par ticularly sensitive at present and a request for a variance at this relatively late date might well present a difficult situ ation, both as to the merits of the immediate request and the bona fides of our Corporation's overall program with respect to carcinogens. cc: R. H. Sand J. W. Quinn E. W. Callahan W. S. Ferguson F. G. Coombs Arthur F. Woodard ASI 00008944