OSHA recently published significant changes to OHSA 1910.156 which has the potential to dramatically change the face of the US and NYS Fire Service. The proposed changes are in a 90-day (ends May 6th) comment period and require immediate action by your fire service organization. The 608-page document published by OSHA contains data and compelling stories as to why the changes are needed. While we 100% agree with firefighter safety and everything that can be done to improve it, we feel the financial and time-consuming changes in the standard will have negative impacts on the fire service organizations and will actually decrease the already struggling number of firefighters and may force many to leave the service. We also question the reliability of some of the data and theories used to produce this proposal. There are immediate actions that all fire service organizations could take that would have immediate impacts on firefighter safety and be of little or no expense to the AHJ. Several of these areas have been untouched by the proposed standard while costly and time-consuming requirements have made their way into the proposed regulation. 22 NFPA standards are now included in the proposed OSHA standard by reference. This means that any place the NVFA standard says “shall” or “must” the AHJ would be responsible for including them. There are another 14 NFPA standards that are included in part. The bottom line is these changes would have major implications for every AHJ, Officer, and firefighter in NYS. Our concern here is not unfunded mandates and possible fines, our biggest concern is the liability this will now place on organizations that have a firefighter death or injury. This proposed standard leaves the doors wide open for litigation and settlements at a level we have never seen.
UPDATE (06-04-24: OSHA has extended the comment period for submissions again until July 22, to allow stakeholders interested in the NPRM on Emergency Response additional time to review the NPRM and collect information and data necessary for comment.
Helpful Documents:
Copy of Sample Public Comment Letter: Denniston Proposed OSHA Public Comment Letter
Looking for a list of Frequently Asked Questions? Click Here
OSHA's Questions & Issues Document: This is a document provided by OSHA, inquiring where they feel they need further input from the Fire Service. Click Here
Full Proposed Standard: Emergency Response Standard; Proposed Rule | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
40-Page Document: Section 1910.156, Emergency Response (osha.gov)
Helpful Links:
To Submit A Comment visit: Federal Register : Emergency Response Standard
(There will be a big green button reading "Submit A Formal Comment" at the top of the page)
Need Help figuring out how to submit a comment? Watch and follow alongside Dave Denniston, as he walks you through how to submit a comment! Click Here to Watch His Video
Additional US Department of Labor resources: Emergency Response Rulemaking | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
Informational webinar by OSHA Training Institute (1.5 hr.): https://oshaedne.com/webinar-emergency-response-rule/
Informational webinar by NVFC (1.0 hr.): Proposed OSHA Emergency Response Standard Update and What It Means for Volunteer Fire Departments
Informational webinar by NVFC: Q&A pdf document
Recorded Presentations:
Initial Coffee with Commissions Presentation: Presentation
April 10th Presentation, "Introduction to the Proposed OSHA Regulations": Click Here to View
April 23rd Presentation "State Plan Specific OSHA Update": Click Here to View
OSHA Updates for EMS: Click Here to View
May 8th OSHA: "Taking Action- How to File a Comment": Click Here to View
A Copy of Slides from the Taking Action Presentation is Available Here
Federal Subcommittee Hearing on OSHA Proposed Rule to Replace Fire Brigades Standard - June 4th, 2024 (transcripts here) (YouTube Replay)
What Does This Mean For Us? Highlighter Project:
To understand the impact that this proposed standard would have on your organization, we recommend that each organization download the heart of the new standard.
Here is the link: Click Here
Print the document out and grab at least three different highlighters.
Use one color ( use green or no color at all) to highlight the parts of this standard that you feel your organization is already doing. One example is if you are already using spotters each time you back a vehicle, use one color that will show you are already doing this.
Use the second color to highlight areas that you are currently not doing, but could do fairly easily with a reasonable amount of time or expense to your organization. Say for example you currently do not have different classes of physicals for your members but feel you could implement a schedule of physicals for each member depending on what they did for your organization. Classes of members might include interior, exterior, driver, fire police, EMS, and officer.
Use the third color (orange is a good one for this) to highlight areas that you currently are not doing but with moderate time or expense, you feel that you could and should probably be doing. An example of this category might be awareness level training for all members for any type of call you may be called on (swift water rescue, high angle rescue, confined space rescue, electric substation awareness, etc)
Now use the last color (Red or pink is a good one) to highlight things that you feel would be cost-prohibitive or very difficult for your organization to implement. An example of this may be establishing a physical fitness program geared to each class of member, overseen by someone certified to conduct such a program.
From this exercise, start to establish some different lists with bullet points by priority. Make one list of items from your red group and provide facts and figures as to why this would be difficult for you to meet the standard. By using the example above this might look like – The XYZ Fire District currently has no workout facility to do this. Cost estimates are $150,000 for the equipment and a certified trainer would cost us $67,000 a year. There is no gym in our community that we could send our members to and the closest gym costs $240 a year times our 50 members, this would cost us $12000 a year. We have an annual budget of $179,000 per year.
The second list could be your orange category. Your bullet point might look like this – We would need to implement awareness-level training in 7 categories that we currently haven’t covered. We have reached out to Johnny Firefighter Training LLC and they have given us a quote of $26,000 to get all of our members trained up to the awareness level standard.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above of purely an example and made-up numbers. Each organization will have different lists depending on what you are already doing, the resources available, and the hazards in your community. This is not a one-size-fits-all standard, so only you can determine what is doable and what is a pain point.
Now use these lists to build your comment to the proposed standard. Remember that DATA, FACTS, and EXAMPLES are key. We need EVERY organization to do this self-assessment and file a comment before May 5th.
Thank you for your help and concerns.
