Washington — OSHA has scheduled a public hearing on proposed updates to its emergency response standard.
According to a discover printed July 23, the digital hearing is set for 9 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 12. “If necessary, the hearing will continue from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Eastern on subsequent weekdays.”
In a discover of proposed rulemaking printed in February, OSHA says it’s in search of to “address the full range of hazards currently facing emergency responders.”
Firefighters, emergency medical service suppliers and different emergency responders are coated beneath a “patchwork of hazard-specific standards” or State Plan rules, the company says. Current rules additionally don’t align with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System.
“All of the OSHA standards referred to above were promulgated decades ago, and none was designed as a comprehensive emergency response standard,” the NPRM states.
In addition to changing its standard on hearth brigades (1910.156), the company needs to handle main adjustments in efficiency specs for protecting clothes/tools and security and well being practices which have “already been accepted by the emergency response community and incorporated into industry consensus standards.”
The proposal additionally would require employers to acquire baseline medical screenings for first responders and guarantee continued medical surveillance when responders are uncovered to the byproducts of fires and explosions greater than 15 instances a yr.
Anyone desirous to testify in the course of the hearing or query witnesses should submit a Notice of Intention to Appear earlier than Sept. 27.
The National (*12*) Fire Council hosted a Day of Action on July 12 to tell volunteer hearth departments concerning the adjustments.
“While many of the proposed provisions would be helpful and improve the safety of emergency responders, many of the new requirements would be very burdensome, and in many cases impossible, for volunteer fire and emergency service departments to comply with,” NVFC says. “If the standard is adopted in its current form, many departments would be forced to shut their doors or else operate outside of the federal standard, leaving themselves open to fines, citations and huge civil liability exposure.”
