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Jobsite Safety Committee Updates
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Residential Fall Protection
IMPORTANT Member Alert!
U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary for
Occupational Safety and Health
Washington, D.C. 20210
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December 10, 2012
MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS
THROUGH: RICHARD FAIRFAX
Deputy Assistant Secretary
FROM: JAMES G. MADDUX
Director, Directorate of Construction
SUBJECT: Residential Construction Fall Protection: Extension of Temporary Enforcement Measures
This memorandum provides policy guidance for enforcement of the residential fall protection directive (Compliance Guidance for Residential Construction, STD 03-11-002). Please share this information with the State Plans and On-site Consultation Projects in your Region, and ensure that all Area Offices follow this continued temporary policy. OSHA will continue the temporary enforcement measures (including priority compliance assistance, penalty reductions and lengthened abatement periods) we have been taking and extend them for an additional three months. All policy and instructions contained in the September 22, 2011 residential fall protection memorandum will continue in effect until March 15, 2013.
Fatalities from falls are the number one cause of workplace death in construction. Over the past year and a half, OSHA has assisted the residential construction industry as it transitions to the fall protection requirements. For example, in 2012, OSHA’s On-site Consultation Projects conducted over 3,000 on-site visits, 1,000 training sessions and 500 presentations on residential fall protection. OSHA’s Compliance Assistance Specialists conducted over 1,200 outreach activities. Also in 2012, we implemented a fall prevention awareness campaign that reached hundreds of thousands of workers and employers. Our Compliance Safety and Health Officers and Area Directors continue to demonstrate to the industry that OSHA is taking a common-sense approach when enforcing the requirements.
OSHA will continue to work with employers to facilitate compliance with the policy. OSHA will continue to develop materials to assist the industry, adding to the wide variety of educational and training materials found on the webpages for residential construction at http://www.osha.gov/doc/topics/residentialprotection/index.html and the Fall Prevention Campaign at http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls/index.html.
U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary for
Occupational Safety and Health
Washington, D.C. 20210
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Please be aware of the Fall Protection requirements that MUST be followed!
Now that OSHA has rescinded STD 03-00-001, what do residential construction employers have to do to protect employees from fall hazards?
• Employees working six (6) feet or more above lower levels must be protected by conventional fall protection methods listed in 1926.501(b)(13) ( i.e., guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems ) or alternative fall protection measures allowed by other provisions of 29 CFR 1926.501(b) for particular types of work.
• An example of an alternative fall protection measure allowed under 1926.501(b) is the use of warning lines and safety monitoring systems during the performance of roofing work on low-sloped roofs. (4 in 12 pitch or less). (See 1926.501(b)(10)).
• OSHA allows the use of an effective fall restraint system in lieu of a personal fall arrest system. To be effective, a fall restraint system must be rigged to prevent a worker from reaching a fall hazard and falling over the edge. A fall restraint system may consist of a full body harness or body belt that is connected to an anchor point at the center of a roof by a lanyard of a length that will not allow a worker to physically reach the edge of the roof.
• When the employer can demonstrate that it is infeasible or creates a greater hazard to use required fall protection systems, a qualified person must develop a written site-specific fall protection plan in accordance with 1926.502(k) that, among other things, specifies the alternative fall protection methods that will be used to protect workers from falls.
These new requirements replaced the Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, Standard 03-00- 001 which were in effect since 1995 and allowed residential builders to bypass fall protection requirements.
More Residential Construction Questions and Answers -http://www.osha.gov/doc/residential-construction/residential-construction-qa.html
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