there’s a new rule from OSHA. it states that Employers must pay for employee PPE
“<i> Employer Payment for Personal
Protective Equipment
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Final Rule.
SUMMARY: Many Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA)
health, safety, maritime, and
construction standards require
employers to provide their employees
with protective equipment, including
personal protective equipment (PPE),
when such equipment is necessary to
protect employees from job-related
injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.
These
requirements address PPE of many
kinds: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety
shoes, safety glasses, welding helmets
and goggles, faceshields, chemical
protective equipment, fall protection
equipment, and so forth. The provisions
in OSHA standards that require PPE
generally state that the employer is to
provide such PPE. However, some of
these provisions do not specify that the
employer is to provide such PPE at no
cost to the employee. In this
rulemaking, OSHA is requiring
employers to pay for the PPE provided,
DATES: This final rule becomes effective
on February 13, 2008. The final rule
must be implemented by May 15, 2008…………….”
the full report is typical gov’t…….. about 70 pages
Replies
full report......Federal register
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, wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
Great. Now ya can hire a guy ( or gal) and outfit them, then they quit and sell the gear for meth!
Love the Gov't, hate the actions.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
unfunded mandates are always a hoot...how much meth can you get for a hard hat and gloves ?.
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i asked if i provide all this stuff and they dont use it why dont they get the fine
Edited 1/4/2008 7:35 pm ET by bobbys
why isn't that your problem..they're your employees.I don't wear mine I get a butt chewin........or firedtry going up a ladder without a harness around here.
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Coupla things...
First, I didn't think the employer supplying personal protective equipment was anything new.
Second, per OSHA rules, I do not have to wear a harness when I'm on a ladder. As usual, although OSHA is a national program (I guess) it is administered by each state, so I would imagine each state can tweak the program the way they like. For example, I know my OSHA rule book says NCDOL (NC dept of Labor) on the cover...
Unfortunately I have some direct experience with OSHA... The book was provided to me at a "meeting" at the local OSHA headquarters :-(
BTW - you can set up an EE with a basic safety kit for around $20 - Hard hat, safety glasses, ear plugs and gloves. IMO harnesses are more of items that need to be supplied on a per crew basis. Shoes are another story, but I've never heard of anyone getting nailed for wrong shoes here - fall protection is a different story - for example, if roofing company that wants to stay in business they use fall protection.
Matt, ""Shoes are another story, but I've never heard of anyone getting nailed for wrong shoes here "" Have a funny story about shoes on job sites.
I was super on a site , 2 OSHA inspectors drop by , one had been the regions inspector for quite awhile and one was new being shown around. The only access to the site is posted with a BIG sign that declares to enter it You Must be wearing all the correct safety gear. They tour the site, ask a few questions get ready to leave. I ask them if there is anything I should know, the new guy replies that I really need to enforce the "safety boot" rules on site as a few my guys were framing wearing running shoes and that he's thinking about writing me up for it. I am looking down and notice the old inspector is wearing running shoes! I don't say anything , just keep staring at the old ones shoes, the new one starts a rant about how I need to not allow people on the site without the proper equipment, that I could be written up separately for every guy on site not wearing the proper gear. Finally he realizes I am not paying attention to him and follows my eyes down to what I am staring at . He suddenly shuts up and with his voice trailing off to a whisper say:, "Well , We will let you off with a verbal warning this time" I laughed for days .
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
pretty funny... did you start laughing before or after they left??
BTW - I wear steel toed work boots all the time on the job. I have a special smooth soled pair for when I'm in the finishing stages and don't want to track mud into the houses.
A while back we had a super working for our company who had been a safety officer elsewhere (but not here). He comes on my job and tells me that I can't wear shorts. I just laughed at him and told him that this is not a construction site since every building I have now has a CO!
here in NW Indiana if you are planning on working at any of the BIG companies. you will need....... OSHA 10
supervisors........ OSHA 30everyone needs
...... First Aid
...... current CPR certification
...... current drug test
...... a valid DL
......two forms of ID.
your DL and SS card, birth certificate, Passport...once inside, you WILL sit through a site specific safety orientation. which can take several hours..after that you will get another card to carry around. get your picture taken, and in some cases fingerprinted and issued a gate pass...then when you decide that the safety rules are stupid, like, wearing a hard hat out to your personal vehicle they take outside the gate and bar your access for up to a year..... .
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
I think I can make the general statement that in residential things are not quite as structured. Also, I've never worked on a heavy comercial construction project. Are you talking union jobs? And, BTW- I don't know what OSHA-10 and OSHA-30 are.
union....? yesthe OSHA 10 and 30 are the hours needed to cover the two safety classes we all must attend....
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
I went to a 2 day class one time.
BTW - we don't have any unions around here that I'm aware of.
Edited 1/6/2008 3:18 pm ET by Matt
did you get a laminated card for your attendance.. I got mine in '97and there are unions down there .. just not in residential.
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It is not a new rule. It has been in the OSHA regulations since the beginning. It was challenged in court because the rule states that employers must provide PPE and the employer argued that it meant he had to hand them out to employees but could dock the employees' pay for the cost. The courts said no, that when the regulations said "provide" that means pay for.
To avoid the argument the wording was made specific.
It is similar to the confined space regulation. The regulations always said that atmospheric testing must be done under certain conditions. Some employers were saying they had conducted testing but refused to let the employees who were to enter the space see the test results or observe the testing. So they made the rule more specific -- employees who enter a confined space and recognized employee representatives (i.e. union officers) have a right to see the testing performed.
I work for a large company so skirting the regulations is never an issue. The employer pays for safety shoes (one pair every three years), safety glasses (one prescription pair every two years, disposables as needed), gloves, hard hats, fall protection harnesses, arc flash rated clothing (for electricians), respirators (including the mandated medical prequalification, chemical splash face shields, and so forth.
what we do. company buys first PPE, if we break it or wear it out, company replace, if we lose it or leave them at home, company replace but deducted from first paycheck in full.we had people that wanted those $80 fiberglass hardhat, so they lose theirs and go buy one on company account. that did not last long, same with safety glasses
That's the way it should be everywhere.
"Woke up quick, at about noon. Just knew that I had to be in Compton soon."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChIdFwQwoYM&feature=related
it has been a long time coming. and smaller businesses are going to take it on the chin. but you would think by now that insurance companies would have driven this long ago, without OSHA interference.. I'm a union electrician and over the years have received armloads of PPE.
I could almost open a used hard hat / safety glasses / ear plugs businessI recall when safety BELTS were required, now it takes twenty minutes to put all the stuff on you need before you even hit the building.
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I agree it has been that way in Wa state for a long time.
If the company requires that you wear any of said items then they will provide it.
Ear, eye, head & hand protection has been standard.
Confined space, fall hazard, & boots in a paticular earthin enviroments are newer, just cause those items are newer to safety standards governed by OSHA.
"Why do you hurt me when I do bad things to you?" My youngest son to his older brother
It was my impression that this had been true forever, at least for large companies. What has actually changed?
I think the requirement is aimed at the typical business.. something BT is full of instead of
the large companies, and unions who have always provided the PPE.I snooped around the that link and it tries to clarify exactly what is or is not PPE ..so any employer can figure out what they now must purchasei.e. safety shoes and prescription glasses are still considered a personal preference and not a requirement, or POCO hot sticks and shotguns which OSHA says are an engineering solution and not PPE...??? but flash gear is PPE.
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if you have looked at some of my past posts, i will give you my opinion with some trepedation (sp).
i have been employeed by osha in the past and worked as a both a corporate and private consultant in that field for a number of years. i only say this so that you have some idea of where my opinion comes from.
this issue is more complicated than what it appears. in fact, the real essence of the law is in its enforcement and stickability for lack of a better phrase. the courts decide how a law is to be interpredted and that is pretty much the acid test.
as far as ppe goes. it is true that respirators, and things such as that are and have been requried by specific standards, such as the lead standard and asbestors standard for obvious reasons. safety shoes are and have been another issue. to make things even more merky, state sponsored osha programs are required to be as stringent as the feds, but they can and do run their own show with oversight from the feds. usually, the 'company' has the responsibility to provide ppe, they also can control it. that means, they own it. as with some tools that are provided, they can require a return of ppe at the end of employment. regardless, the company is held responsible for the correct use of and the use of the certified equipment regardless of who provides it. in ths country the company can be fined by osha and not the employee for violations. this isn't so in some european countries. here if you fail to use required (by the company, and osha) certain ppe the inspector fines the company not the individual.
this probably isn't a great answer, but in the real world, there seldom are any. anway, that has been my experience. by the way, unions and companies can and do work out deals regarding who pays for and how. the only sure thing is, the company always is the culpable entitiy in osha law, not the employee.
have a nice day
Is there a requirement in there somewhere that employers must pay for *prescription* safety glasses?
My employer would pay for mine. And safety shoes. Even though I don't need either.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
no.......OSHA says glasses are your responsibility..actually the word is " preference".
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I don't believe so. All that would be requried is eye protection in areas where the kind of work is being done that might produce eye injury. The requirement can be fulfilled by safety glasses that fit over prescription glasses.
Some people prefer that. Prescription glasses, to qualify as safety glasses, must among other things have permanantly attached side shields. Permanantly attached mean something like rivited on, it cannot be clip on or slip on side shields. Therefore, the glasses are too ugly to be worn off the job and abuse is minimal.