Reflections of a former OSHA official on the laboratory standard

Written from the perspective of a regulator who worked for OSHA both before and after the promulgation of the standard, this paper is intended as a review the 25-year history of OSHA's laboratory standard. Starting with a review of the reason for the standard and its promulgation history, it looks at the provisions of the standard and OSHA's enforcement policy, including a discussion of the letters of interpretation OSHA has written about the standard. It also reviews available enforcement data arising from the standard for the last 12 years.