If a State has good cause for not following the Act, our regulations, or other written guidelines, we will not find that the State agency has substantially failed to meet our standards. We will determine if good cause exists. Some of the factors relevant to good cause are:

(a) Disasters such as fire, flood, or civil disorder, that—

(1) Require the diversion of significant personnel normally assigned to the disability determination function, or

(2) Destroyed or delayed access to significant records needed to make accurate disability determinations;

(b) Strikes of State agency staff or other government or private personnel necessary to the performance of the disability determination function;

(c) Sudden and unanticipated workload changes which result from changes in Federal law, regulations, or written guidelines, systems modification or systems malfunctions, or rapid, unpredictable caseload growth for a 6-month period or longer.

[56 FR 11024, Mar. 14, 1991]