By reforming its 1980 Fire Brigades rule with an Emergency Response Standard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would overhaul and threaten fire services OSHA aims to protect, according to Tim Bradley, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) North Carolina director, who testified Wednesday at a hearing for the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections about the proposed changes.
“If adopted as written, this standard would be economically infeasible for volunteer fire departments to comply with and could cause some [departments] to close down, therefore compromising the emergency response capabilities of many small communities particularly those in rural areas,” Bradley added.
In short, the rule updates more than 20 voluntary NFPA and ANSI standards that may be difficult, Bradley said, for departments to access and implement. The new, more comprehensive standard would expand coverage to EMS, rescue and private companies, and lead departments to take actions on a variety of operational needs:
- Implement new training and procedures, including preplanning requirements
- Potentially purchase new equipment and gear to meet updated requirements
- Dedicate more resources to administrative tasks to document compliance
The $14,000 cost estimate by OSHA is likely far too low, the NVFC wrote in guidance. Chief Bradley informed lawmakers “won’t even buy two air packs” as many departments struggle to afford basic equipment like turnout gear. Some rural firefighters buy their own.
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Wis.) shared an anecdote from a volunteer who said his neighbors would tell him, “We’d like you to be as best trained as possible, best resources possible, but the most important thing is that you show up.”
Consensus criticism on Capitol Hill is that a bureaucratic “one-size-fits-all” approach fails to account for the unique challenges and limited resources of volunteer departments, and that OSHA needs to better understand the volunteer fire service. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said in June that the new rule would “effectively obliterate these critical organizations serving the majority of America.”
OSHA will hold a public hearing in November after a comment period for the February draft, which has already been extended twice. Sign up to appear as a citizen or a representative here.
Read Bradley’s statement, “Safeguarding Workers and Employers from OSHA Overreach and Skewed Priorities.”
