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Press hard... Four copies or... How to not get nailed by OSHA...
You can easily go to the OSHA website to check for violations against fire and police agencies to see if there is anything amiss with our training programs and emergency responses.
A friend of mine thought it would be interesting to get information that was a little more specific to hazmat response, so I searched for Hazwoper emergency response violations against fire departments nationwide. This is not a straight forward process but his research found the following.
Results are:
Number of agencies cited: 24
Number of violations: 42
Most common violations:
~ Lack of an emergency response plan or insufficient plan: 20
~ No refresher training: 6
~ No safety officer appointed during an emergency response: 3
Miscellaneous cites: 13 (about half were response-related)
Most of these violations were in New York and New Jersey. For some reason there are way more OSHA violations against fire departments in those two states than any other states. He had no idea why...
What is a given is that you can look out for your departments best interest by ensuring your department is not deficient inane of the categories list above.
Remember, it's all about making your supervisor look good. Now that you know what to look for, be an asset and make sure appropriate safeguards are in place for your agency. This would be the time to be organized and prepared verse being the guy that believes organized people are just too lazy to look for things.
Summary:
~ Have an emergency response plan
~ Provide refresher training
~ Appoint a safety officer during an emergency response
Failure to prepare is preparing for failure... Be prepared!
CBz
Note: CalOSHA rarely cites fire departments unless there is a complaint or an injury.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Good thing we are not an OSHA state then.
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Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on
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My question is. When a complaint is filed with OSHA against a FD. Is the OSHA investigator they send out a Former or retired firefighter?
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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You never know what background an OSHA inspector may have and it wouldn't surprise me if they did hire retired firefighters... I can't find fault in requirements to have an assigned safety officer, providing refresher training or have an emergency response plan.
I assumed that all fire departments just did these things. To not do so means to me at least that the safety and well being of the firefighters is being minimized because someone isn't doing there homework, or job.
If I was the investigator, I would ask them why they didn't do these basic things, designed to protect their firefighters and the public. To not follow these basic perameters, which again is just part of how we do our job can result in injury or death of our folks. If I was the OSHA investigator, they would be kissing my...
Minimizing firefighter safety should never be tolerated by any of us. To not assign a safety officer on an incident, provide the troops with annual refresher training or have a written ERP to me means that some folks need some help learning how to do their job. Fines and violations typically are the only way to get folks attention sometimes... Why? It works.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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My question is. When a complaint is filed with OSHA against a FD. Is the OSHA investigator they send out a Former or retired firefighter?
Would it really matter? My limited dealings with OSHA in the private sector tell me that it wouldn't make any difference. OSHA regulations are pretty cut and dry, and leave little room for interpretation. This should be done this way, or it is a violation.There is not a separate set of regulations for the fire service and one for the private world, that I am aware of. If this is true, then we are in violation every time we get on a roof to ventilate, unless we take the time to erect the safety barriers around the perimeter of the work area. There is supposed to be a Right To Know station at every job site. How many of us carry one of those around on every call.
OSHA is a pain in the butt for the private world, but in the fluid environment of the fire service, if we followed the all regulations as written, we'd have to stay outside and lob water onto the fire. Wait a minute. Did you check the temperature of the water before you started spraying?
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Permalink Reply by joemac on
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OSHA should be disbanded. They're about as useful as tits on a bull.
I'd say OSHA is a joke, but jokes usually have a punchline and make you laugh...
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Assuming OSHA is like our Safety Regulators, they're there to protect us. Why do we live in fear of them or loathe them?
If these departments gave been cited, then it's been done for a reason. The end result is that they've potentially improved safety at the scene and assisted in reduced injuries or LODD's and that has to be a good thing....
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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From here - http://www.scosha.llronline.com/PDFS/fire.pdf an example of some of the basic requirements as well as the following:
Examples Of OSHA Citations Issued to Fire Departments
• Failure to have a written respiratory program
• Failure to provide bloodborne pathogen post-exposure evaluation and follow-up
• Failure to provide proper machine guarding
• Failure to provide hazard communication training
• Failure to provide the proper respirators for IDLH atmospheres
• Failure to provide respirator fit testing
• Failure to provide proper protective clothing for fire department personnel
• Failure to provide a written statement for the organization of the fire department
• Failure to provide proper hazard communication labeling and signs for hazardous
chemicals
• Failure to mark exits with signs
• Failure to provide medical evaluations to wear a respirator
• Failure to provide proper respirator inspections and charge cylinders
• Failure to provide proper electrical equipment groundingWhen there is a serious injury or death as a result of fire department actions, OSHA investigates and determines if there were inadequate safety measures in place and will fine accordingly.
To believe that, if one followed OSHA we couldn't even enter a burning building shows a complete lack of knowledge of what OSHA is and what it does. What OSHA DOES require of fire departments, besides piddly ass things like documentation of training, equipment inspections and employee qualifications is nonsense like enforcing NFPA Standards. Yeah, I know, them damn gub'mint agencies is a suckin' all the fun out of the job. I guess they maybe think they might be able to reduce LODD's somewhat. But there will always be jackasses rolling over tankers and POV's, so at least you'll have that.
Besides negotiating contracts, you union is (or damn well should be) making sure that your department operates as safely as possible by meeting NFPA Standards and OSHA Regulations.
Most likely there are no (or very few) fire departments that could be investigated by OSHA and not be found at fault for something. And while some people seem to think that OSHA is out there just to bust balls, I'd rather have them over-regulating than not have anyone out there at all.
According to Mike's post, his search of Hazwoper violations yielded the following:
Number of agencies cited: 24
Number of violations: 42That doesn't seem to be excessive by any means. Mike further includes the following:
Most common violations:
~ Lack of an emergency response plan or insufficient plan: 20
~ No refresher training: 6
~ No safety officer appointed during an emergency response: 3Who would care to bet that the above common violations may be volunteer departments?
Is Gobbler Notch VFD as rule ready as FDNY? Hard to say, but when you get into small volunteer fire departments, anything can and does go and it ain't always by the 'book'.
Just to reinforce an earlier point: NFPA promulgates Best Industry Practices and, failing to abide by them with resulting death or injury, courts have ruled departments to be at fault for failing to FOLLOW NFPA Standards. What OSHA does is make the relevant NFPA Standards regulations that have to be followed. Again with silly ass shit like properly trained (and documented) personnel, Safety Officers present (and properly qualified) and documentation of regular SCBA inspections and maintenance, to name a few.
So personally, I don't see OSHA as a joke and I find them infinitely more useful than tits on a bull. If your department, through your union, or obliged to follow OSHA, or your own state's equivalent OSHA and with a Chief of Department who actually WANTS to see everyone go home, then you should be able to do the job as safely as the job allows.
As to whether or not OSHA (or NFPA for that matter) is relevant to volunteer departments I direct you here - http://www.volunteerfd.org/bylaws/articles/245136
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Spot on Jack! (A much better explanantion of what I was trying to say earlier...)
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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I strongly disagree. OSHA standards have made many workplaces much safer for workers in general industry, construction, and related trades. OSHA standards have also made things safer for those of us who fight fires, take care of bleeding patients, or who rescue people from heights, trench cave-in, or confined spaces.
Then there are those pesky OSHA HAZWOPER regulations that made us actually get proper training and equipment before going splashing around in hazardous chemicals, biologicals, and radiologicals.
OSHA, like any other regulatory agency, is beaucratic and sometimes makes mistakes, but their overall impact has been very, very positive.
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lutan,
You're just more succinct than I am. We were writing at the same time I think.
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OSHA inspectors/investigators generally don't have a firefighting background. They have to regulate, inspect, and investigate many different industries with a relatively small number of inspectors. Their people only have to know what the regs are for the type of industry (including fire-rescue) they are regulating, investigating, or inspecting to enforce those regs.
Occasionally, there are interpretation problems in specific instances when the OSHA rep may be applying a rule that isn't clear or specific, but for the most part, they're going to check training records and operational and safety rules to make sure that the employer is compliant.
We just had a set of statewide meetings with our state Fire Marshal, senior members of our fire academy staff, the state OSHA Administrator, and senior state OSHA staff members - and a few hundred local firefighters. The topic was what the minimum standard for interior structural firefighting training met the OSHA standard. Guess what? Our state OSHA uses the NFPA 1001 standard as the basis for the draft enforcement document they are preparing to implement. They took a non-binding straw poll to see which of 3 different levels of training were acceptable as the minimum training standard for the fire chiefs and firefighters who attended.
The OSHA Administrator also told us that her agency regulates safety for many businesses and agencies in which her inspectors have no background. That doesn't keep them from doing their job. They just need a clear, concise, and specific standard to follow to minimize the chance for divergent - or no - compliance.
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