On December 7, 2000, OSHA promulgated a direct final rule amending its occupational health standard for Cotton Dust, which was issued in 1978 and amended in 1985, to add cotton washed in a batch kier system to the types of washed cotton partially exempt from the cotton dust standard.

The federal effective date was April 6, 2001 Federal Register (Volume 65, No. 236). The N.C. Department of Labor, Division of Occupational Safety and Health adopted the revisions to the Occupational Exposure to Cotton Dust Standard verbatim with an effective date of October 1, 2001.