OSHA Seeks Volunteers for Small Business Panel on Emergency Response

On August 2, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notified the Office of Advocacy that it plans to reinitiate and convene a small business panel on a possible OSHA Emergency Response standard on October 4, 2021. OSHA’s potential Emergency Response standard could apply to employers that designate employees to provide emergency response services that are currently covered by OSHA’s Fire Brigades standard (29 FR §1910.156) or are not specifically covered by another OSHA standard.  This could include:

• Emergency Service Organizations (ESO), such as firefighting, fire rescue, emergency medical service, technical rescue, vehicle/machinery rescue, water rescue/recovery, and search and rescue, but not law enforcement employers solely engaged in law enforcement/crime prevention activities.

• General industry employers that have or will establish a Workplace Emergency Response Team, also known as an industrial, emergency or facility fire brigade, industrial fire department, emergency response team, fire team, or plant emergency organization.  (This standard would not apply to employers that provide only those emergency services which are already covered in certain respects by other OSHA standards.)

• General industry, construction, and maritime industry employers that expect, based on past experience, to enter into a mutual aid agreement (interagency agreement) or contract to provide skilled support personnel at an emergency incident.

The Office of Advocacy is seeking small entity representatives from the potentially regulated sectors to assist the OSHA panel in its review of this possible regulation. Small entity representatives, or SERS, may include small businesses, small non-profit organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions

Please see OSHA’s webpage for detailed information about this small business panel and rulemaking at https://www.osha.gov/emergency-response/sbrefa.

Advocacy contact: Bruce Lundegren, Assistant Chief Counsel, at bruce.lundegren@sba.gov or (202) 205-6144.