OSHA Obstacles

Scene of the Accident‘s Executive Director Todd Hoffman spends a good deal of his time with fire departments, particularly volunteer departments, with his accident-scene training company. Recently Hoffman contacted me because he was concerned about a recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration ruling that will affect volunteer fire departments — that all PPE, with a few exceptions, will be provided at no cost to the employee.


“Employees exposed to safety and health hazards may need to wear personal protective equipment to be protected from injury, illness and death caused by exposure to those hazards,” Edwin G. Foulke Jr., assistant secretary of Labor for OSHA, said of the rule published in the Nov. 15 Federal Register. “This final rule will clarify who is responsible for paying for PPE, which OSHA anticipates will lead to greater compliance and potential avoidance of thousands of workplace injuries each year.”


The final rule also clarifies OSHA‘s requirement regarding payment for employee-owned PPE and replacement PPE. The rule also issues an enforcement deadline of May 15, 2008.


Hoffman read the report and contacted OSHA’s Compliance Guidance Group and asked how this ruling would affect volunteer departments.


“According to OSHA guidelines, any person receiving pay, regardless of the amount, is considered an employee and therefore must receive all of their PPE at no cost to them,” Hoffman said. “I asked about the volunteer departments that only pay $1 per call to help cover the cost of gas, and OSHA told me that they would be considered an employee. They also said that all employees are required to each have their own PPE; an employer cannot purchase one set of safety glasses for 20 employees.” The OSHA final rule contains a few exceptions regarding footwear, but does not specifically exempt firefighter boots.


In a perfect world each firefighter — volunteer and career alike — would have his or her own set of safe, personal protective equipment, but that isn’t the case. If a firefighter is hurt because he or she did not have the right piece of personal equipment, what repercussions will it have on the volunteer fire department or district that can‘t afford a full set for each firefighter?


Who‘s ultimately responsible, the community or local government?

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