OSHA has plans to require improved worker protection from tripping, slipping and falling hazards on walking and working surfaces.

“This proposal addresses workplace hazards that are a leading cause of work related injuries and deaths,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels.

The proposal calls for revisions to the Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment standards to help prevent the 20 workplace deaths and more than 3,500 injuries serious enough to cause people to miss work each year.

For example, in July 2009, a worker at a chocolate processing plant was killed after falling from an unguarded work platform.

“This is a clear and grave example of the human cost incurred when fall protection safeguards are absent, ignored or inadequate,” said Michaels. “The loss of a worker’s life might have been prevented if the protective measures in these revised standards had been in place and in use.”

The current walking-working surfaces regulations allow employers to provide outdated and dangerous fall protection equipment such as lanyards and body belts that can result in workers suffering greater injury from falls, according to OSHA.

Construction and maritime workers already receive safer, more effective fall protection devices such as self-retracting lanyards and ladder safety and rope descent systems, which these proposed revisions would also require for general industry workers.

The current walking-working surfaces standards also do not allow OSHA to fine employers who let workers climb certain ladders without fall protection. Under the revised standards, this restriction would be lifted in virtually all industries, allowing OSHA inspectors to fine employers who jeopardize their workers’ safety and lives by climbing these ladders without proper fall protection.

OSHA believes that the proper use of personal fall protection systems can protect employees from injury and death due to falls to different elevations. The proposal reorganizes the rule in a clearer, more logical manner and provides greater compliance flexibility. The proposed rule is written in plain-language to make it easier to understand, thereby facilitating compliance.

Additionally, the proposal increases consistency between construction, maritime, and general industry standards, and eliminates duplication.

OSHA says the majority of employees in general industry workplaces walk or work on level surfaces, such as floors, where slips, trips, and falls are common occurrences. These occurrences, however, are not likely to result in major injuries or fatalities. On the other hand, there are many employees who work on ladders, scaffolds, towers, outdoor advertising signs, and similar surfaces where slips, trips, or falls are likely to result in serious injury or death.

The existing OSHA general industry standards recognize the use of guardrails and physical barriers as the primary methods for employee protection against falls. However, those standards do not directly recognize that personal fall protection systems can also provide effective means for employee protection.

OSHA said it wants to give employers the necessary flexibility to decide which fall protection method or system works best for the work being performed, while ensuring employees receive a level of protection that is effective and necessary.

OSHA believes many of these slips, trips, and falls can be prevented and has devoted many years to assembling and analyzing information aimed at the elimination and prevention of hazards that cause these incidents. OSHA said it used that information to form the basis for this proposed rule.

OSHA first proposed to revise subpart I to address fall protection PPE in 1990 in combination with a proposal to revise subpart D. The 1990 rule was not finalized. On April 6, 1994, OSHA updated other portions of the PPE standard (59 FR 16334) by adding new requirements for employers to conduct hazard assessments; to select the proper PPE; to remove defective or damaged PPE from service; and to provide training in the proper use, care, and disposal of PPE.

Those provisions, however, only applied to PPE used for face and eye, head, foot, and hand protection. In this rulemaking, OSHA proposes to require the hazard assessments to address PPE used for fall protection as well.

Earlier proposals were intended to remove ambiguities and redundancies in the existing standards, simplify and consolidate existing provisions, and use performance language instead of specifications where possible.

Additionally, OSHA proposed adding new requirements to subpart I, Personal Protective Equipment, to set performance and use criteria for fall protection equipment. The two subparts were interdependent with respect to personal fall protection systems; that is, the duty requirements for personal fall protection systems were in subpart D and the criteria for the systems were in subpart I.

In 2003, OSHA reopened the rulemaking record and republished the 1990 proposal (68 FR 23528) to refresh the record due to the length of time that had elapsed since 1990. Based upon comments and information received in that reopening, and because of technological advances, particularly within the fall protection industry, OSHA determined the best course of action was to issue a new proposal for subparts D and I.

The new proposed rule replaces the 1990 proposals (55 FR 13360). OSHA proposes to revise subpart D to accomplish the following:

(1) Reflect current industry practices and national consensus standards;

(2) Harmonize provisions, when possible with other OSHA provisions (e.g., the construction standards in 29 CFR part 1926 and the Shipyard Employment Standards in 29 CFR part 1915); and

(3) Use performance-oriented language when possible, rather than specification- oriented language.

In subpart I, OSHA proposes to add new specific performance and use requirements for personal fall protection equipment. Existing subpart I contains general requirements for all types of personal protective equipment, as well as specific performance and use requirements for other types of personal protective equipment, but it does not specifically contain criteria for fall protection PPE.

To be effective, fall protection systems must be both strong enough to provide the necessary fall protection and capable of absorbing fall impact so that the forces imposed on employees when stopping falls do not result in injury or death. The ability of the human body to tolerate the arresting force imposed on it by a fall protection system has been addressed directly in general industry only by Sec. 1910.66, Powered Platforms for Building Maintenance.

Throughout this proposed rule, OSHA will make reference to the general industry powered platform standard; the construction industry standard for fall protection; and the shipyard employment standards for personal fall protection systems.

Experience gained by the Agency in enforcing those rules provides additional guidance in the development of this proposed rule. OSHA’s objective is to make consistent all of its requirements for the use of personal fall protection systems. The listed fall protection standards contain requirements that are identical to, or essentially the same as, those proposed in the new document.

This proposed revision of subparts D and I replaces the proposed rules originally published in the Federal Register (55 FR 47660) on April 10, 1990, and republished in the Federal Register on May 2, 2003 (69 FR 23528). Comments about the proposal and hearing requests can be made to OSHA by August 23, 2010.