On February 5, 2024, Federal OSHA published its proposed rule on emergency response in the federal register. The Oregon Fire Service is working together with Oregon OSHA to provide a response to Federal OSHA’s request for public comment. SDAO is honored to participate in this effort and will be hosting this webpage with updates and documents to assist your district with engagement tools such as template letters and information that can be shared with your strategic partners.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has scheduled an informal hearing on Nov. 12, 2024, to hear comments and testimony from the public on OSHA’s proposal to update an existing standard and expand safety and health protections for emergency responders, including firefighters, emergency medical service providers and technical search and rescue workers. 

The online hearing will allow stakeholders from across the country to participate. The agency encourages first responders to join the meeting to share their opinions.

In February 2024, OSHA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to replace the “Fire Brigades” standard, published in 1980. The newly named “Emergency Response” standard would update safety and health protections to align them with national consensus standards for workers exposed to hazards related to fires and other emergencies. The initial comment period ended May 6, 2024, but was extended twice in response to public demand.

The online hearing will be held Nov. 12 at 9:30 a.m. EST. If needed, the hearing will be extended from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST on subsequent weekdays.

Submit comments to the Federal eRulemaking Portal. To testify or question witnesses at the hearing, submit a Notice of Intention to Appear to OSHA’s Emergency Response Rulemaking page by Sept. 27, 2024. Individuals requesting more than 10 minutes for their presentation at the hearing must submit the full testimony and documentary evidence by Oct. 18, 2024. All documents must include Docket Number OSHA-2007-0073.

Read the Federal Register notice for more information on the hearing.

Taken from Federal OSHA’s website: https://www.osha.gov/emergency-response/rulemaking

Background

Emergency response workers in America face considerable occupational health and safety hazards in dynamic and unpredictable work environments. Current OSHA emergency response and preparedness standards are outdated and incomplete. They do not address the full range of hazards facing emergency responders, lag behind changes in protective equipment performance and industry practices, conflict with industry consensus standards, and are not aligned with many current emergency response guidelines provided by other federal agencies (e.g., DHS/FEMA). In recognition of the inadequacy of the outdated safeguards provided by the current OSHA standards, the proposed rule seeks to ensure that workers involved in Emergency Response activities get the protections they deserve from the hazards they are likely to encounter while on the job.

About the Rule

The proposed rule would replace OSHA's existing Fire Brigades standard, 29 CFR 1910.156, which was originally promulgated in 1980, covers only a subset of present-day emergency responders (firefighters) and has only had minor updates in the 43 years since it was published.

The focus of the proposed Emergency Response rule is to provide basic workplace protections for workers who respond to emergencies as part of their regularly assigned duties. Notably, the scope of protected workers under the proposed rule would be expanded to include workers who provide emergency medical service and technical search and rescue.

OSHA looks forward to receiving comments and other input from interested stakeholders and the general public.

How do I submit a comment on Regulations.gov?

The "Comment" button can be found on the following pages:

• Docket Details page when a document within the docket is open for comment,
• Document Details page when the document is open for comment, and
• Document Search Tab with all search results open for comment displaying a "Comment" button.

Clicking "Comment" on any of the above pages will display the comment form. You can enter your comment on the form, attach files (maximum of 20 files up to 10MB each), and choose whether to identify yourself as an individual, an organization, or anonymously. Be sure to complete all required fields depending on which identity you have chosen. Please note that information entered on the web form may be viewable publicly. Once you have completed all required fields and chosen an identity, the "Submit Comment" button is enabled.

Upon completion, you will receive a Comment Tracking Number for your comment.

Some agencies also accept comments by mail, fax, or email. To find out if you can use one of these alternate methods, visit the document's section labelled "Addresses."

Users cannot submit comments on documents published by Non-Participating Agencies.

For step-by-step instructions, please see the Submit a Comment article.

Note: The comment due date on Regulations.gov is based on Eastern Time. For example, if the comment due date is 02/05/2019, then you have until 02/05/2019 11:59PM ET to complete your comment on Regulations.gov.