Photo: OSHA
Arlington, VA — OSHA “would make work safer” by citing updated versions of three American National Standards Institute/American Society of Safety Professionals consensus standards for personal protective equipment that the agency incorporates by reference.
The International Safety Equipment Association leads a coalition of nine safety organizations petitioning OSHA to take such action through expedited rulemaking.
In a March 12 letter addressed to OSHA administrator David Keeling, the coalition contends that updating references to ANSI/ISEA standards covering eye and face protection (Z87.1), industrial head protection (Z89.1) and workplace first aid kits (Z308.1) would:
- Improve the safety of more than 100 million American workers.
- Align OSHA regulations with widely adopted industry best practices.
- Reflect technical updates already in use across the marketplace.
These updates would impose no additional regulatory burden, the coalition says.
Currently, the letter points out, OSHA standards reference editions of consensus standards dating to 1989 (Z87.1), 1998 (Z308.1) and 2009 (Z89.1). “This permits outdated products to be marketed as compliant, despite the availability of significantly more protective products that meet modern standards.”
The coalition cites a September 2009 final rule from OSHA titled, Updating OSHA Standards Based on National Consensus Standards; Personal Protective Equipment.
“OSHA stated that it was updating regulatory references to ‘recognize more recent editions of the applicable national consensus standards’ and deleting older editions of such standards,” the letter continues. “In that final rule, OSHA said it ‘will use the direct-final rulemaking process to update national consensus standards referenced in its PPE standards when it is appropriate to do so.’
“Now is an appropriate time to update these references.”
The National Safety Council is among the petitioners listed on the letter, along with the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses; ABSA International, The Association for Biosafety and Biosecurity; American Industrial Hygiene Association; American Society of Safety Professionals; Board of Certified Safety Professionals; Institute of Hazardous Materials Management; and The Vision Council.
“Safety regulations should reflect the best knowledge and protective practices available today – not from decades ago,” ISEA President and CEO Cam Mackey said in a press release. “Updating these references is a straightforward step OSHA can take to ensure its regulations keep pace with innovation and support the safety science and practices already widely used across industry.”
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication