This article was posted 03/26/2008 and is most likely outdated.

OSHA National News Release
 

 

Topic - Safety
Subject - OSHA announces employer-paid personal protective equipment final rule

March 26, 2008
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OSHA National News Release

 

OSHA announces employer-paid personal protective equipment final rule

 

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced a final rule on employer-paid personal protective equipment (PPE). Under the rule, all PPE, with a few exceptions, will be provided at no cost to the employee. OSHA anticipates that this rule will have substantial safety benefits that will result in more than 21,000 fewer occupational injuries per year. The rule will be published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2007.

"Employees exposed to safety and health hazards may need to wear personal protective equipment to be protected from injury, illness and death caused by exposure to those hazards," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "This final rule will clarify who is responsible for paying for PPE, which OSHA anticipates will lead to greater compliance and potential avoidance of thousands of workplace injuries each year."

The final rule contains a few exceptions for ordinary safety-toed footwear, ordinary prescription safety eyewear, logging boots, and ordinary clothing and weather-related gear. The final rule also clarifies OSHA's requirements regarding payment for employee-owned PPE and replacement PPE. While these clarifications have added several paragraphs to the regulatory text, the final rule provides employees no less protection than they would have received under the 1999 proposed standard.

The rule also provides an enforcement deadline of six months from the date of publication to allow employers time to change their existing PPE payment policies to accommodate the final rule.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

 

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Comments

  • Wow, reading through all of the comments I see there are a lot of excuses used for not protecting ourselves. As far as I'm concerned, if you knowingly put yourself in harm's way, you can't really complain if you get injured. You owe it to yourself and your family to do whatever is necessary to make it home safely at the end of the workday. Stop using your employer as a whipping boy. If everyone that is told to do something that is blatently unsafe were to just say no, things would change. I agree, it can be difficult, but it is a must. As an inspector, one of my responsibilities is to assure OSHA compliance. This helps protect all parties. As an aside, I find great humor in all of the whining of jobsite safety and the attitude that it is someone else's responsibility (the employer's) to protect them from harm, and then see some of the stupid, irresponsible,unsafe things that these very people do on their own time. Come on folks, stop blaming everyone else; Grow up and be responsible for your own actions.

    Ed
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