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No Gobbledygook Award 1

The White House
Office of the Vice President

Vice President Gore Presents First Plain Language Award

Vice President Gore gave the first No Gobbledygook plain language award to Marthe Kent of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 30 in the White House. Kent, Director of Regulatory Analysis, received the award for an upcoming OSHA regulation on dip tanks.

“Reviewing and rewriting government language is another step toward reinventing our government so that it better communicates with the American people,” the Vice President said.

Here’s the section of the old and new regulation the Vice President read as part of the ceremony.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation

  • Before

    1910(94(d) (1) General.

    (i) This paragraph applies to all operations involving the immersion of materials in liquids, or in the vapors of such liquids, for the purpose of cleaning or altering the surface or adding to or imparting a finish thereto or changing the character of the materials, and their subsequent removal form the liquid or vapor, draining, and drying. These operations include washing, electroplating, anodizing, pickling, quenching, dyeing, dipping, tanning, dressing, bleaching, degreasing, alkaline cleaning, striping, rinsing, digesting, and other similar operations.

  • After

    1910.122 When does this rule apply?

    1. This rule applies to operations using a dip tank containing any liquid other than water:
      • To clean an object;
      • To coat an object;
      • To alter the surface of an object; or
      • To change the character of an object.
    2. This rule also applies to drying or draining an object after dipping.