Advocacy Recommends OSHA Further Extend Comment Period for Proposed Emergency Response Rule

On May 24, 2024, Advocacy recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) extend the public comment period for its recently proposed Emergency Response rule (published on February 5, 2024) by an additional ninety days in order to give small entities more time to review the proposed rule and provide more meaningful comments on it. OSHA’s proposed rule would replace OSHA’s existing Fire Brigades standard at 29 CFR 1910.156 (originally promulgated in 1980) and cover a broader set of present-day emergency responders beyond firefighters, including small private sector emergency responders and small public fire and rescue entities in all OSHA state plan states (including an undetermined number of volunteer fire departments). Recent activities and outreach by Advocacy compelled Advocacy’s recommendation because much of the regulated community appears to be unaware of the proposed rule and unprepared to effectively comment on it in the timeframe currently provided by OSHA.

Document

Comment Letter – OSHA Emergency Response Rule Comment Period Extension (PDF, 63.2KB)