• Employers, affected employees, or employee
representatives may request a hearing on any of the following:
– Permanent or temporary variance requests.
– Changes to existing variances.
You and your affected employees must:
• Do all of the following if requesting a variance
hearing:
– Put the request in writing and sign it.
– Make sure the request is posted or delivered to the
department within twenty-one calendar days from the variance
application date, or renewal request date.
– Send the written request to WISHA, using one of the
following means:
• Mail to:
Assistant Director
WISHA Services
P.O. Box 44650
Olympia, WA 98504-4650
• Fax to: 360-902-5438
• Take to any L&I office.
You must:
• Immediately do all of the following when you receive a
notice of the hearing from WISHA:
– Post a copy of the notice on the safety bulletin board.
– Give a copy of the notice to affected employees and
employee representatives.
– Use any other appropriate means for notifying employees
who may not receive notices posted on the safety bulletin
board. For example, provide a copy to a designated
representative or the safety committee.
What to expect from WISHA:
• WISHA will do both of the following after receiving a
request for a hearing on a variance, change of variance, or
temporary variance renewal:
– Within ten days, issue a notice advising all interested
parties listed on the application that they have the option to
participate in the hearing.
– Provide you with a notice of the hearing at least
twenty calendar days before the hearing date.
• A hearing for the variance or variance change will be
conducted as follows:
– A WISHA representative will explain WISHA's view of the
request for a variance or any proposed change to a variance.
– Employers, employees, or employee representatives will
then have an opportunity to explain their views and provide
any relevant documents or information.
• Information gathered at the hearing will be used to
make a decision about whether to grant or deny the request for
a variance or change in variance.
Note:
• WISHA may record a variance hearing.
• Employers, employees, or employee representatives may request copies of recordings or transcripts of variance
hearings at cost.