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Many EPA and OSHA regulations are closely related because the agencies share similar responsibilities: OSHA to protect workers and EPA to protect public health and the environment. When the two agency’s regulations cover the same activities, processes and potential threats, they often work closely to ensure both are meeting the legal mandates required by the many laws, regulations and standards they are each charged with enforcing.
One such coordinated effort is that of preventing accidental chemical releases that can cause injury to workers, the public and/or the environment. In mid 1996 EPA and OSHA jointly agreed to the Strategy for Coordinated EPA/OSHA Implementation of the Chemical Accident Prevention Requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1990. Under section 304 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990, the agreement made OSHA responsible for protecting workers via the Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard (29 CFR 1910.119). At the same time, under CAA section 112(r), the EPA was delegated responsibility for protecting the public and the environment through the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule (40 CFR 68). What makes the cooperative move complete, however, is the fact that EPA actually incorporated OSHA’s PSM standard as the chemical accident program for those facilities subject to both rules.
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Since then, EPA and OSHA have fulfilled the commitment by providing consistent compliance assistance, interpretations and guidance, information sharing, and cooperatively creating enforcement and compliance policies through such tools as Memoranda of Understanding (MOU). In reality, in 1996, EPA and OSHA were already operating under a 1991 MOU that pledged broad cooperation and joint enforcement assistance across many laws, with the provision that “There will be the fullest possible cooperation and coordination between EPA and OSHA, at all organizational levels, in developing and carrying out training, data and information exchange, technical and professional assistance, referrals of alleged violations, and related matters concerning compliance and law enforcement activity to ensure the health and well-being of the Nation’s workforce, the general public, and the environment.”
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In December 1996, another MOU pledged cooperation between EPA and OSHA at chemical accident investigations, and stated, “EPA and OSHA will usually be notified of chemical accidents or releases through the National Response Center (NRC). In addition, EPA will notify OSHA and the NRC of any major chemical accident or release of which it becomes aware through sources other than the NRC. Similarly, OSHA will notify EPA and the NRC of any major chemical accident or release reported by a party other than the NRC. Such notification will be made immediately after one of the agencies has received such a report.” Moreover, this MOU also states that, when an accident is transportation-related, both EPA and OSHA will also cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)which has jurisdiction in such cases.
Based on these two MOUs, the relationship between EPA and OSHA is revealed to be close and includes not only investigating chemical accidents, but also sharing information about compliance with RMP, PSM and related regulations. For that reason it is easy to understand how an inspection by one agency must lead to an inspection by the other if applicable violations (or potential violations) are noted in the first inspection. Keep in mind that both agencies retain autonomy to conduct their own enforcement programs, and while sharing information, they do not cite violations for regulations that are not under their own jurisdictions.