If you go to www.osha.gov, you will find that there are various occupations that have standards written specifically for them. You have General Industry, Construction, Healthcare, Ship building and Meatpacking, among others.
With the most recent government “insertion”, I think that it is time to give serious thought to developing specific standards for firefighting. Yeah, I know that there are provisions for fire protection, but they hardly go far enough to address the complexities of this business.
I hate ambiguity and generalizations and especially where there is wide latitude to cite and fine entities for “violations” of the standards.
So, if OSHA wants to be in our business, then let’s get rid of the “See NFPA 1500” references, write them into a final rule, adopt it and let us take care of the business.
And OSHA really needs to hire folks that have more than an ancillary interest in firefighting. Same goes for the rules makers.
It needs to be made abundantly clear that firefighting is not the same as de-boning a hog or driving a forklift.
Why? Check this out, compliments of Chief BillyG: http://firefighterclosecalls.com/fullstory.php?75264
Also on Chief Reason …
- Not Too Sharp Doesn’t Cut It – June 1, 2010
- Is Code of Ethics Code Blue? – March 12, 2010
- Putting the Trust in Trustee – May 4, 2010
- Belt It Out: WEAR IT! – July 19, 2010
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