OSHA Weighs Exclusion of Volunteers from Emergency Response Standard

In a statement released Tuesday, OSHA signaled that it may revise its proposed rule on emergency response to exclude volunteer emergency response organizations from its requirements. The statement follows comments submitted to the agency that “raise serious concerns about the economic feasibility of the proposed standard for volunteer fire departments,” according to the agency.

If adopted, the emergency response rule would replace OSHA’s fire brigades standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.156), which was promulgated in 1980, covers only firefighters, and has received only minor updates. The new standard would expand protections to include employees who work for employers that provide emergency services other than firefighting, such as emergency medical service providers and technical search and rescue services. The standard would also update performance specifications for protective clothing and equipment and specify safety and health practices based on industry consensus standards.

At the time it proposed the rule, OSHA did not possess information indicating that the rule’s requirements would be infeasible, the agency said. That clearly changed during the public commenting period.

OSHA twice extended the deadline for submission of comments on the proposed rule. Between the proposed rule’s publication in the Federal Register on Feb. 5 and the eventual July 22 deadline for stakeholder feedback, the agency received more than 4,100 comments, including, it said, from volunteer emergency responders, fire chiefs, and members of Congress. “The comments submitted to the rulemaking docket provide crucial information that the agency did not have earlier in the rulemaking process,” OSHA’s statement reads. “This new information will help the agency make the necessary determinations about whether the proposed standard is feasible for volunteer organizations.”

OSHA will also hold an informal public hearing on the rule beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 12.

For more information, read the agency’s statement and visit its webpage on the rulemaking.