Question: Are grab bars required on step-through ladders? Would side rail extensions required in §1910.23(d)(5) serve to meet the requirement for grab bars?

Answer:

The final rule does not require that employers equip step-through fixed ladders with grab bars. However, §1910.23(d)(4) requires that side rails on step-through fixed ladders extend 42 inches above the top of the access level or landing platform served by the ladder. Workers must have sufficient handholds at least 42 inches above the highest level on which they will step when reaching the access level regardless of the location of the access level (i.e., roof or top of parapet). (82 FR 82542)

Question: To determine whether a fixed ladder extends more than 24 feet above a lower level, is the measurement done from the ground level/lower level to the fixed ladder or from where the ladder starts to the top of it?

Answer:

For purposes of §1910.28(b)(9), the employer must measure the distance from the ground/lower level to the top of the fixed ladder. If that distance exceeds 24 feet, regardless of the length of the ladder, the employer must equip the fixed ladder with fall protection.

Question: What activities are not core agricultural operations and, therefore, not excluded from the final rule?

Answer:

Post-harvesting activities are not integrally related to core agricultural operations and therefore are considered to be general industry activities covered by the rule. These general industry post-harvesting activities include:

• Post-harvesting activities not on a farm, such as receiving, sorting, cleaning, sorting, sizing, weighing, inspecting, stacking, packaging and shipping; and
• Processing of agricultural products that change the character of the product (e.g., canning, making sauces) or involve a higher degree of packaging in a shed or other location (instead of field sorting).

Also, activities performed on a farm that "are not related to farming operations and are not necessary to gain economic value from products produced on the farm" are general industry activities the final rule covers. These activities include:

• Grain handling operations that store and sell grain grown on other farms;
• Grain milling facilities and the use of milled flour to make baked goods; and
  • Food processing facilities and manufacturing operations, such as making cider from apples grown on the farm and processing large carrots into "baby carrots."

Question: What are agricultural operations?

Answer:

Although the final rule does not define agricultural operations, in the past OSHA has said they include:

• Activities involved in growing and harvesting (including field sorting) of crops, plants, vines, fruit and nut trees, ornamental plants, egg production, and raising livestock, poultry, fish and livestock products (e.g., feed for livestock on the farm); and
• Preparation of the ground, sowing, watering and feeding of plants, weeding, spraying, harvesting, raising livestock, and all activity necessary for these activities.

In addition, activities integrally related to these core agricultural activities (e.g., delivery of feed to chickens) also are considered agricultural operations. Determining whether an activity is a core agricultural operation is made on a case-by-case basis based on the nature and character of the specific activity.

Question: Why does the rule exclude agricultural operations?

Answer:

Although OSHA believes that walking-working surfaces hazards, particularly fall hazards, are present in agricultural operations, it did not propose to cover agricultural operations, nor gather and analyze the type of information necessary to support its inclusion in the rule. In addition, because the proposed rule did not cover agricultural operations, the public, and in particular agricultural stakeholders, did not have an opportunity to comment on any protective measures OSHA might require.

Question: Why did OSHA add the residential roof provision to the final rule?

Answer:

OSHA included this provision in the final rule to increase consistency between its general industry and construction standards, and make compliance more uniform for general industry employers who perform both types of activities on residential roofs. Also, requiring employers to develop and implement a fall protection plan ensures that employers take additional action to reduce fall hazards when guardrail, safety net, and personal fall protection systems cannot be used. Many stakeholders urged OSHA to add this provision to the rule.

Question: What are the requirements of the fall protection plan?

Answer:

The employer must develop and implement a fall protection plan that contains all of the following requirements. The plan must:

• Be prepared by a "qualified" person;
• Be developed for the particular site where the work will be performed;
• Be maintained up-to-date and at the job site;
• Be implemented under the supervision of a "competent person;"
• Identify each location or situations where fall protection systems cannot be used;
• Document the reasons why fall protection systems are infeasible or would create a greater hazard;
• Discuss alternative measures the employer will take to eliminate or reduce the fall hazard for workers;
• Provide for implementation of control measures to reduce or eliminate hazards or implement a safety monitoring system that complies with the construction standard (29 CFR 1926.502(h));
• Identify each worker who works in a location where a fall protection plan is implemented; and
• Provide for the investigation of the circumstances of any fall or other serious incident that occurs to determine whether the employer needs to revise the fall protection plan and implement those changes.

Question: Who must show that using fall protection systems on a residential roof is not feasible or creates a greater hazard?

Answer:

The agency's position is that in virtually all work operations on residential roofs, employers can protect workers from falling by providing guardrail, safety net, or personal fall protection systems. The employer has the burden to establish that it is not feasible, or will create a greater hazard, to provide any fall protection in the particular residential roof operation, and that it is permitted to implement a fall protection plan pursuant to §1910.28(b)(1)(ii).

Question: What fall protection must employers provide on residential roofs?

Answer:

The final rule requires that employers must provide guardrail, safety net, or personal fall protection systems to protect workers from falling off unprotected sides/edges of residential roofs that are four feet or more above a lower level. (Fall protection is not required when inspecting, investigating, or assessing workplace conditions or work prior to the start of work or after all work is completed (§1910.28(a)(2)(ii).)

When the employer can demonstrate that it is not feasible or creates a greater hazard to use guardrail, safety net, or personal fall protection systems on a residential roof, the employer must develop and implement:

• a fall protection plan; and
• training.

The employer's fall protection plan and training must meet the requirements of the construction fall protection standard (29 CFR 1926.502(k) and 1926.503(a) and (c)).

OSHA believes that limiting the use of fall protection plans to those situations in which guardrail, safety net, or personal fall protection systems cannot be used ensures that employers use alternative, less-protective control measures only as a last resort.

Question: Why is OSHA providing phase-in time to equip fixed ladders with fall protection?

Answer:

Providing additional compliance time to equip billboard fixed ladders (over 24 feet) with fall protection ensures the final rule is economically feasible and cost effective for the outdoor advertising industry:

• Where billboard fixed ladders already have some type of fall protection, the final rule gives outdoor advertising employers up to 20 years to install ladder safety systems or personal fall arrest systems. OSHA estimates that the useful life of outdoor advertising fixed ladders is approximately 20 years. Therefore, in the overwhelming majority of cases outdoor advertising employers will be able to comply with the final rule during normal equipment replacement cycles;
  • Where billboard fixed ladders do not have fall protection, the final rule gives outdoor advertising employers two years to come into compliance with the existing standard, which eases the economic impacts of the rule and gives employers time to negotiate with manufacturers/vendors for the most cost-effective system. In addition, although the existing standard requires that fixed ladders (over 20 feet) be equipped with cages or wells, the rule allows outdoor advertising employers to equip billboard fixed ladders with ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems, which cost less than cages and wells.