OSHA's long-awaited rule on "who pays for personal protective equipment" has finally seen the light of day. Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin Foulke made the announcement today in a telephone press conference; workers and employers should be able to read the rule in the Federal Register on November 15. The Agency proposed this rule more than 8 years ago, and in today's statements, officials repeated that the final rule is very similar to the March 1999 proposal.
"…clarifications have added several paragraphs to the regulatory text."
Several paragaphs in 8 years??? Well then, what took 'em so long?
(read more from thepumphandle…)
In yesterdays post “OSHA issues PPE rule: what took’em so long?” thepumphandle forgot to mention that OSHA is giving employers six months to comply with it. Recall that this egregiously tardy rule simply clarifies when employers are supposed to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE). As Asst. Secretary Edwin Foulke repeated in his announcement yesterday, the rule: “only addresses the issue of who pays for PPE, not the types of PPE an employer must provide….the rule does not require employers to provide PPE where none has been required before…”
If the rule is only providing clarification about who pays for PPE, and OSHA estimates that 95% of PPE is already paid appropriately by employers, why is OSHA giving employers 6 months to fix a 5% problem? Back in 1978, under Eula Bingham’s leadership at OSHA, the agency issued a comprehensive standard to protect workers from lead poisoning. Did the government give employers six months to start protecting workers? Nope. Not six months, not even three months. Employers were given just 72 days to comply with the lead standard. Yet another example of how the U.S. regulatory system for protecting workers has eroded.