Question: What are the new fall protection requirements for the outdoor advertising industry?

Answer:

The final rule phases in a requirement to equip fixed ladders (over 24 feet) on billboards with fall protection, and to ensure outdoor advertising workers use the fall protection while climbing fixed ladders. The final rule establishes the following timeline for installing fall protection on billboard fixed ladders:

• Outdoor advertising employers have two years to install a cage, well, ladder safety system, or personal fall arrest system on billboard fixed ladders that are not equipped with any fall protection (§1910.28(b)(10)(ii));
• Outdoor advertising employers have 20 years to install a ladder safety or personal fall arrest system on billboard fixed ladders that have a cage or well (§1910.28(b)(9)(i)(D));
• Outdoor advertising employers must equip new billboard ladders with a ladder safety system or personal fall arrest system (§1910.28(b)(9)(i)(B)); and
• Outdoor advertising employers must equip billboard ladder and section replacements with a ladder safety system or personal fall arrest system (§1910.28(b)(9)(i)(C)).

Before the deadlines, outdoor advertising employers are only required to install fall protection (i.e., ladder safety systems) where the length of a climb exceeds 50 feet or the height of the ladder extends more than 65 feet above grade.

Question: How will the final rule affect state restrictions on the use of RDS?

Answer:

The final rule does not affect California, Minnesota, and Washington regulations restricting the heights at which employers may use RDS because these regulations were issued through OSHA-approved occupational safety and health State Plans that cover both private sector and state and local government employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act ("OSH Act") preempts state regulation of occupational safety and health issues for which there is a federal OSHA standard, unless the state's regulations are created under the auspices of an OSHA-approved State Plan. State Plans are required to have standards, and an enforcement program for those standards, that are at least as effective as federal OSHA. The OSH Act allows for State Plans to be more effective than OSHA, and as such, states with OSHA-approved State Plans can adopt standards that provide a greater level of protection to workers covered by the State Plan. Full-coverage State Plans, like CA, MN and WA, can continue to impose equal or lower height restriction for RDS use in both private sector and state and local government workplaces.

New York has an OSHA-approved State Plan that is limited to state and local government workers. OSHA's final rule preempts the New York regulations as it applies to private sector workers, but not as it applies to state and local government workers.

Question: Do any states restrict the use of RDS?

Answer:

Several states limit the use of RDS to certain heights. Like the final rule, Minnesota and Washington limit the use of RDS to 300 feet above grade. California does not allow RDS use above 130 feet and requires installation of powered platforms or swing stage scaffolds on all buildings with a height greater than 130 feet.

New York’s state regulations do not allow the use of RDS. See Question 6 below.

Question: Why does the final rule limit RDS use to 300 feet above grade?

Answer:

Evidence shows that using RDS at heights above 300 feet (greater than 30 stories) can be dangerous, particularly due to the effects of wind on longer ropes. OSHA adopted the 300-foot height limit from the ANSI/IWCA I-14.1 – 2001 national consensus standard on window cleaning. The final rule permits employers to use RDS above 300 feet only in cases where an employer demonstrates it is not feasible or creates a greater hazard to access such heights by any other means (e.g., powered platforms).

Question: What requirements apply to the use of RDS?

Answer:

OSHA first established requirements for the use of RDS in a 1991 Memorandum to Regional Administrators. The final rule incorporates those requirements and requires that employers ensure each RDS:

• Is not used for heights greater than 300 feet, unless the employer demonstrates that it is not feasible or creates a greater hazard to access such heights by any other means (e.g., powered platforms);
• Is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, warnings and design limitations or under the direction of a qualified person;
• Is inspected before initial use during a workshift;
• Has proper rigging, including anchorages and tiebacks;
• Has a separate and independent personal fall arrest system;
• Has components that are all capable of sustaining 5,000-pound minimum rated load (except seatboards, which must be able to support 300 pounds);
• Has ropes that are protected to prevent cuts and weakening and exposure to open flames, hot work, corrosive chemicals and destructive conditions;
• Has stabilization when descents are greater than 130 feet; and
• Is not used when hazardous weather conditions are present.

In addition, the final rule requires that employers:

• Obtain written information from building owners assuring that permanent RDS anchorages have been tested, certified and maintained before employers use them (also see enforcement guidance dated November 20, 2017 (https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2017-11-20);
• Ensure each worker who uses an RDS receives training;
• Ensure each worker who uses an RDS secures tools to prevent them from falling on persons below; and
• Provide prompt rescue of each worker in the event of a fall.

Question: What operations use RDS?

Answer:

Employers have used RDS for exterior building cleaning, particularly window cleaning; maintenance; and inspection operations.

Question: What is a rope descent system (RDS)?

Answer:

The rule defines RDS as a suspension system that allows a worker to descend in a controlled manner and, as needed, stop at any point during the descent to perform work. An RDS usually consists of a roof anchorage, support rope, descent device, carabiners or shackles, and chair (seatboard). An RDS also is called controlled descent equipment or apparatus, but it does not include industrial rope access systems.

Question: What resources are available to help small businesses and other employers comply with the standards?

Answer:

OSHA recognizes that most employers want to keep their employees safe and protect them from workplace hazards. We therefore provide extensive compliance assistance through our Compliance Assistance Specialists, website, publications, webinars, and training programs, many of which are geared toward small and mid-sized employers.

OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program offers free and confidential occupational safety and health services to small and medium-sized businesses in all states and several territories, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. On-Site Consultation services are separate from enforcement and do not result in penalties or citations. Consultants from state agencies or universities work with employers to identify workplace hazards, provide advice on compliance with OSHA standards, and assist in establishing and improving safety and health programs. To locate the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program nearest you, call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or visit www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/index.html. In FY 2017, the On-Site Consultation Program conducted more than 25,987 free visits to small and medium-sized business worksites, helping to remove more than 2.9 million workers from hazards nationwide.

Question: Will states with OSHA-approved programs adopt the standards?

Answer:

Yes. States with OSHA-approved State Plans have six months to adopt standards that are at least as effective as Federal OSHA standards. Many State Plans adopt standards identical to OSHA, but some State Plans may have different or more stringent requirements.

Question: What are the major changes in the final rule?

Answer:

A number of revisions were made to the existing general industry standards. Changes and new requirements include:

• Fall protection flexibility (§1910.28(b)). The final rule allows employers to protect workers from falls by choosing from a range of accepted fall protection systems, including personal fall protection systems. It eliminates the existing mandate to use guardrails as the primary fall protection method and gives employers the flexibility to determine what method they believe is more effective in their particular workplace situation. This approach has been successful in the construction industry since 1994. The rule allows employers to use non-conventional fall protection practices in certain situations, such as designated areas on low-slope roofs for work that is temporary and infrequent and fall protection plans on residential roofs when employers can demonstrate guardrail, safety net, or personal fall protection systems are not feasible or create a greater hazard (§1910.28(b)(1) and (b)(13));
• Updated scaffold requirements (§1910.27(a)). The final rule replaces the outdated general industry scaffold standards with the requirement that employers comply with OSHA's construction scaffold standards;
• Phase-in of ladder safety systems or personal fall arrest systems on fixed ladders (§1910.28(b)(9)). The final rule phases in - over a 20-year period - a requirement to equip fixed ladders (that extend over 24 feet) with ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems, and prohibits the use of cages and wells as a means of fall protection after the phase-in deadline. There is wide recognition that cages and wells do not prevent workers from falling from fixed ladders or protect them from injury if a fall occurs. The final rule grandfathers in cages and wells on existing ladders, but requires that employers equip new ladders and replacement ladders/ladder sections with ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems during the phase-in period;
• Phase-out of the “qualified climber” exception in outdoor advertising (§1910.28(b)(10)). The final rule phases out OSHA's directive allowing qualified climbers in outdoor advertising to climb fixed ladders on billboards without fall protection and phases in the requirement to equip fixed ladders (over 24 feet) with ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems. Outdoor advertising employers must follow the fall protection phase-in timeline for fixed ladders. However, if ladders do not have any fall protection, outdoor advertising employers have two years to comply with the existing standard (i.e., install a cage or well) or, instead, may install a ladder safety or personal fall arrest system, both of which are less costly than cages or wells;
• Rope descent systems (RDS) and certification of anchorages (§1910.27(b)). The final rule codifies OSHA's memorandum for employers who use RDS to perform elevated work. It prohibits employers from using RDS at heights greater than 300 feet above grade unless they demonstrate it is not feasible or creates a greater hazard to use any other system above that height. In addition, the final rule requires building owners to provide, and employers to obtain, information that permanent anchorages used with RDS have been inspected, tested, certified, and maintained as capable of supporting at least 5,000 pounds per employee attached.
• Personal fall protection system performance and use requirements (§1910.140). The final rule, which allows employers to use personal fall protection systems (i.e., personal fall arrest, travel restraint, and positioning systems), adds requirements on the performance, inspection, use, and maintenance of these systems. Like OSHA's construction standards, the final rule prohibits the use of body belts as part of a personal fall arrest system;
• Inspection of walking-working surfaces (§1910.22(d)). The final rule requires that employers inspect walking-working surfaces regularly as needed and correct, repair, or guard against hazardous conditions; and
• Training (§1910.30). The final rule adds requirements that employers ensure workers who use personal fall protection and work in other specified high hazard situations are trained, and retrained as necessary, regarding fall and equipment hazards and fall protection systems. Employers must provide information and training to each worker in a manner the worker understands.