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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
has issued an interpretive rule explaining its citation policy on voluntary
employee rescues.
The rule was issued in response to a May 1993 incident
involving the existing citation policy.
"OSHA's goal, like that of so many heroic workplace
rescuers, is to save lives," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational
Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear. "It is not OSHA's policy to interfere with or
regulate workers who put themselves at risk to save another individual. Nor
will we issue citations to employers whose employees voluntarily undertake acts
of heroism to save another from imminent harm."
However, employers who have employees working in
environments where the possibility of life-threatening accidents is reasonably
foreseeable -- (such as trenches and excavations, hazardous waste operations
and emergency response work, construction work over water, or work in confined
spaces) -- must take appropriate precautions to ensure that the rescuers
themselves do not become victims.
OSHA will not issue citations to any employer, under any
OSHA standard or the general duty clause of the OSH Act, for any rescue
activity by its employees except when an employer has specifically designated
an employee with responsibility to perform or assist in a rescue operation, or
when an employee has duties directly related to workplace processes or
operations where the possibility of life-threatening accidents is foreseeable.
In those cases, the employer would be expected to comply
with pertinent OSHA standards that include precautions and safeguards for
rescue-related operations, such as the emergency planning and response
provisions of the process safety management standard and the hazardous waste
operations standard; the standards on confined spaces in general industry and
in grain handling; and, in construction, rescue precautions prescribed for work
performed near or over water and for excavation work. The employer also should
comply with OSHA standards for employee emergency plans in general industry and
training and emergency action plans in construction.
The rule has been adopted as a general statement of OSHA
policy. It is not an exercise of standard-setting authority; does not require
any additional compliance action by employers beyond what is already required
under existing OSHA standards and the general duty clause; and does not relieve
employers of any obligations currently imposed by those requirements, including
the responsibility to designate and appropriately train and equip emergency
personnel when required under specific safety and health standards.
The rule was published in the Tuesday, Dec. 27, 1994
Federal Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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