Always On Top

OSHA has announced a 3 month “phase-in” for residential construction fall protection.  The reason for the delay is to ensure contractors have time to successfully come in to compliance with the new ruling.  From OSHA’s website:

The three month phase-in period runs June 16 – September 15, 2011. During this time, if the employer is in full compliance with the old directive (STD 03-00-001), OSHA will not issue citations, but will instead issue a hazard alert letter informing the employer of the feasible methods they can use to comply with OSHA’s fall protection standard or implement a written fall protection plan. If the employer’s practices do not meet the requirements set in the old directive, OSHA will issue appropriate citations.

So now you and your crews have an  additional 90 days to comply.  Hopefully this will give you and us time to fulfill your requirements for fall protection to comply with O.S.H.A.’s new standard.  As we all know, O.S.H.A. is a self funded agency.  They are funded by fines!

This may be a rhetorical question you ask yourself.  Here’s what you should know:

The moment you drive onto the site, park and step out of your vehicle the following should be considered as a safety start-up punch list:

1. Put on your harness, and other personal safety equipment that will be needed for site;
2. Place cones or delineators around work vehicles and equipment with flags, yellow caution tape or red danger tape;
3. Discuss safety issues with the workers, for this site; per the job safety plan;
4. Set-up ladders and the first worker up the ladder ties it off;
5. Look for attachment points on the existing roof where workers will tie off;
6. Install fall-arrest anchors as needed in proper places; one per worker.

We passed along NRCA’s brief regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals dismissing NRCA’s petition regarding OSHA’s slide guard rule last week (click here to read).  However, some news coming out from Cal/OSHA indicating they will not follow Fed OSHA’s ruling, and will maintain their separate interpretation:

Cal/OSHA will continue to accept and allow the use of roof brackets. Specific to California; there will be NO CHANGES from the current standards.  California will not revert to 6’ height requirement (will remain 20’) and the uses of slide guards/roof brackets are legal within the proper applications. Cal/OSHA will increase inspections, but their primary interest regarding roofers is their PROPER use of personal fall arrest systems that include ropes and rope grabs.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, has dismissed NRCA’s petition for review of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) slide guard rule.

In February, NRCA filed a petition for judicial review of new rules issued by OSHA that fundamentally change the requirements for protecting workers from falls on residential roofing projects. The new OSHA rules, which were issued in December 2010, no longer allow the use of “slide guards,” or roof brackets, as an acceptable means of fall protection except in some narrow circumstances.

NRCA’s petition argued OSHA did not follow appropriate rulemaking procedures when it eliminated an option that has been in place for 15 years; acted without any evidence to suggest slide guards are not an effective method for fall protection; and failed to take into account the effect the new rules would have on small businesses. OSHA argued the rule is not a new standard and is, therefore, beyond the reach of an appeal.

The court agreed with OSHA, concluding that the rule’s 1999 rewrite and 1995 predecessor amounted to “an exercise of prosecutorial discretion” and not a new standard.

“We were extremely disappointed by the court’s decision, even knowing that taking on the government always is a long shot,” says NRCA Executive Vice President Bill Good. “The new OSHA rule now will take effect in just over two months, so we will do our best to help all members prepare. We also hope to meet with OSHA officials to get a better understanding of their enforcement plans. Meanwhile, we encourage all members to let us know of their experiences with the new rule and OSHA enforcement activity.”

Because OSHA’s 1994 fall-protection standard always remained as the operative standard and the only thing that changed was OSHA’s articulation of how it intended to enforce that standard, the Seventh Circuit court concluded that “by deciding to enforce the 1994 regulation as written, the Secretary has not adopted a new occupational safety and health standard.”

Based on that conclusion and because a “standard” was not at issue in NRCA’s petition, the court had no proper jurisdiction, and NRCA’s petition was dismissed.

For more information about the court’s decision, click here.

From NRCA.net