The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a 100-word summary explaining the need for its recently updated standards for local fire departments and emergency response units: “OSHA offers a new rule to protect emergency responders, called Emergency Response. OSHA’s current firefighter standard, 29 CFR 1910.156, provides protection specifically to industrial or private firefighters, but not to other types of emergency responders.

“It was published in 1980 and has not been updated with subsequent improvements in personal protective clothing and equipment or advances in safety and health practices. OSHA is proposing to replace the existing (rules) with the new emergency response standard. The new rule would provide updated health and safety protections for firefighters, emergency medical service providers, and technical searchers and rescuers.

Elements relating to emergency responder health and safety are currently regulated by a number of hazard-specific standards and by state regulations with OSHA-approved state plan programs, such as New York . These standards have not been updated since 1980 and do not reflect advances in equipment and technique, according to OSHA’s website.

Notably, current OSHA standards are not consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System (NIMS), which guides all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in working together to deal with emergency incidents.

Eugene Perry, president of the New York State Firefighters Association, said the proposed regulations are too broad and don’t take into consideration the nuances of running a volunteer department. “OSHA rewrote that document and didn’t really consult with volunteer fire departments,” he said. “FASNY is not at all against the safety and training of volunteer firefighters. Our mission is training, information and education. So we need a standard that is economically feasible for volunteer firefighters, while still giving us the training we need. According to Mr. Perry, OSHA has adopted this standard much more broadly. The new regulations incorporate many National Fire Protection Association standards, including changes to physical examination requirements that will increase the cost from an average of $300 to $1,500. “It’s very hard for volunteer firefighters. Some of the departments on Long Island that have smaller budgets will have a very difficult time meeting the requirements that they are asking for,” he said. “The cost of this should be borne by the municipality which funds the fire department.”

In addition to an increase in the cost of physical exams, the proposed rule would require additional training hours. Volunteer fire departments are currently experiencing recruitment challenges, so an increase in required training hours would have an impact there as well. “We now have a standard of around 128 hours. And when you have a firefighter who probably works two jobs and has kids that he’s running to soccer practice or baseball or lacrosse practice or whatever, school, and then trying to getting that training somewhere in between makes it very difficult. ” said Mr. Perry.

Shelter Island Fire District Commissioner Andrew Reeve said, “The training requirements alone would require everyone, every firefighter, to (complete) hundreds of hours of additional training per year. Our department is getting older every year, we have many alumni. You’re not going to get these veterans to work 100 to 200 more hours a year. Then, young people don’t have the time (either) to devote all this training that will be necessary, because they all work two jobs. So it’s simply an impossibility. “Some volunteer fire districts will be hit harder than others by the proposed changes. Shelter Island, in particular, due to its insular nature and limited resources, may need to convert to a fee-paying department. “We’re a little bit special here, because we’re an island, and we can only draw from the pool that we have here on the island, whereas a lot of other towns are probably going to consolidate their amenities and their residents,” said Mr. Reeve. “We can’t really do that here on the island. And the medical requirements or whatever where there’s none of that on the island, we don’t have a fitness center available to the firefighters as well as some requirements for health in health establishments; it goes on and on. We just don’t have any of that on Shelter Island, so this is hitting us particularly hard.

A virtual public hearing on OSHA’s proposed updates will be held on Tuesday, November 12. Information for those interested in observing the hearing will be available on OSHA’s website.