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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information may be out of date.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)
announced today it is amending its new final construction industry fall
protection rule to clarify that the requirements do not apply to steel erection
activities.
OSHA had delayed until Aug. 6, 1995, application of the
rule to any steel erection activities pending a decision by the Steel Erection
Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee (SENRAC) on which steel erection
activities would be regulated in the proposed steel erection standard.
SENRAC has not decided which steel structures will be
subject to the steel erection standard's requirements. Therefore, OSHA has
granted SENRAC additional time to develop its proposal for a standard.
Further extending the stay of the fall protection standard
would prolong indefinitely the time in which the text of that standard did not
adequately reflect the scope of the standard.
Therefore, OSHA is correcting the fall protection standard
to accurately reflect that it does not cover steel erection. The existing OSHA
construction standards on personal protective equipment also are being amended
so that fall protection provisions that have applied to steel erection remain
in effect.
After the SENRAC proposal is issued and the scope of the
steel erection standard is definite, OSHA will formally propose that the fall
protection rule be amended to include any steel erection activity omitted from
the steel erection proposal.
Until both the steel erection standard and the fall
protection rule are finally revised, the agency's policy on fall protection
during steel erection is the policy outlined in Deputy Assistant Secretary
James Stanley's July 10, 1995, memorandum to the field entitled, "Fall
Protection in Steel Erection." The memorandum provides that the term "steel
erection activities" means the movement and erection of skeleton steel members
(structural steel) in or on buildings or non-building structures. This includes
the initial connecting of steel, employees moving point-to-point, installing
metal floor or roof decking, welding, bolting and other activities.
The memorandum said that steel erection does not include
the erection of steel members such as lintels, stairs, railings, curtainwalls,
windows, architectural metal work, column covers, catwalks, and similar
non-skeletal items or the placement of reinforcing rods in structures.
The construction fall protection rule and other supporting
amendments became effective for all construction activity other than steel
erection on Feb. 6, 1995. The rule was announced Aug. 9, 1994.
Notice of the amendment is published in the Wednesday,
Aug. 2, 1995, Federal Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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