The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final rule to revise the personal protective equipment (PPE) sections of its general industry standards regarding requirements for eye- and face-protective devices, head protection, and foot protection. OSHA is updating the references in its regulations to recognize more recent editions of the applicable national consensus standards and is deleting editions of the national provision that requires safety shoes to comply with a specific American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, and a provision that requires filter lenses and plates in eye-protective equipment to meet a test for transmission of radiant energy specified by another ANSI standard. This final rule will become effective on October 9, 2009. OSHA revised the text of the final rules to allow employers to meet the design requirements of its PPE standards by using PPE constructed in accordance with any of three national consensus standards – the two most recent national consensus standards and the national consensus standard incorporated in the current OSHA standards. Additionally, the final rules maintain the option employers currently have to use PPE that is not manufactured in accordance with one of the listed consensus standards if the employer can demonstrate that the PPE it selects is as protective as PPE constructed in accordance with one of the incorporated consensus standards. Regarding safety shoes, OSHA believes that shoes constructed according to recent national consensus standards provide an appropriate level of protection and moreover that it is difficult for employers to purchase shoes constructed in accordance with the 1967 national consensus standard. Similarly, although it is feasible to purchase protective eye wear that meets an outdated test, if the protective eye wear meets a subsequent test that provides equivalent or greater protection, it is unnecessarily confusing to explicitly require conformity to an outdated test when meeting a more current test provides the required level of protection. Accordingly, OSHA believes that complying with related OSHA standards will provide employees with the latest PPE technology while also easing employers’ compliance obligations. OSHA is retaining in the final rules the proposed provision allowing employers to use PPE not manufactured in accordance with one of the incorporated national consensus standard when the employers meet their burden to demonstrate that the PPE they use provides employee protection that is at least as effective as PPE constructed in accordance with the appropriate incorporated national consensus standard. This provision allows employers to use subsequent national consensus standards that they can demonstrate provide the requisite level of employee protection.
 American Wire Producers Association |
