Emergency Response Standard
Preparing for the new OSHA 1910.156 Rule
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing an update to workplace protections for fire fighters and other emergency service personnel, marking the first significant revision in over 40 years.
Emergency Response Standard
The current Fire Brigades Standard will become the Emergency Response Standard
The proposed standard is intended to establish clear guidelines and requirements for employers to protect workers who may be involved in emergency response activities, including exposure to infectious diseases and other hazardous situations. The proposed revisions aim to modernize the standard and incorporate numerous National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, which would impose new requirements on fire brigades.
Fire & EMS
Who will be impacted?
The standard is intended to address the risks faced by emergency responders, including firefighters, paramedics, and other personnel who respond to emergencies such as natural disasters, hazardous material incidents, and other critical situations.
OSHA estimates the proposed rule will affect 22,552 emergency service organizations and workplace emergency response teams and more than 1.1 million first responders.
Any organization that employs first responders or support a trained internal emergency response team will have new training and preparedness requirements.
Finding Solutions
We are hard at work
Our goal is to design a highly affordable, web-based solution to meet the majority of new OSHA 1910.156 requirements including training, recordkeeping and manual / standard operating procedure compliance.
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Articles
OSHA Comments
Challenges ahead
Although feedback to the new OSHA Emergency Response Standard has been positive, major concerns exist regarding the cost to meet the new requirements, organization of all the new contents and the administrative time required to meet the standard.
Documentation and Administrative Burden
Training & Certification
Fire Departments & EMS will be required to dedicate resources to oversee documentation pertaining to training records, equipment upkeep, and adherence to safety regulations. the projected annual hours necessary for documentation could have costs reaching as high as $4,800 annually.
Concerns have arisen regarding the possible escalation of training and certification requirements. The necessity for specialized training in areas such as hazardous materials and vehicle operations may also arise, thereby placing additional financial pressure on fire department budgets.
Cost of Compliance
This is the largest concern of all. The rule could impose significant costs on local governments without federal support, exacerbating existing financial pressures and potentially leading to cuts in essential services. Providers of emergency response services may be negatively impacted by this new standard and unable to maintain their services because of the costs and burdens imposed by it.