New regs for Monday: Christmas lights, sports, airplanes

Monday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for Christmas and decorative lights, workplace regulations, maintenance requirements for passenger airlines, and a sports program for disabled veterans.

Here’s what is happening:

Christmas lights: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is moving forward with a new hazard standard for seasonal and decorative lights.

{mosads}Decorative lights that do not contain either overcurrent protection, sufficient strain relief, or minimum wire size will be considered a “substantial product hazard,” the agency said.

The rule goes into effect in 30 days.

Airplanes: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is correcting mistakes in a maintenance regulation for passenger airplanes it issued last month.

The maintenance regulation will now go into effect on March 4, 2016. The agency initially said it would go into effect this month.

Sports: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is establishing a new adaptive sports program for disabled veterans and members of the military.

The VA announced Monday new rules for the grant program that will fund adaptive sports activities.

The rule goes into effect immediately.

Workplace: The Department of Labor is moving forward with new workplace regulations.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is issuing new standards to protect employees working in confined spaces from exposure to atmospheric and physical hazards.

The rule goes into effect in 90 days.

Trucks: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing to loosen the regulations for truck drivers with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus.

Truck drivers with diabetes are currently restricted from operating commercial motor vehicles, and must obtain an exemption from the rules to do so.

But the agency is proposing to “permit drivers with stable, well-controlled insulin treated diabetes mellitus to be qualified to operate commercial motor vehicles.”

They would be required to provide a doctor’s note showing their condition is “stable and well controlled.”

The public has 60 days to comment.