Volunteers Cry Foul on OSHA Update
But firefighter deaths down by 60%
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has worked with stakeholders from the firefighting community to issue the first update to our safety standards in nearly 45 years.
In 1980, we rode the back step, wore three-quarter boots and used breathing apparatus if we wanted to.
The proposed standard, Emergency Response “updates safety and health protections in line with national consensus standards for a broad range of workers exposed to hazards that arise during and after fires and other emergencies.”
The volunteer firefighting community and its leadership are having none of it.
The National Volunteer Fire Counsel testified before a Congressional subcommittee asking that volunteers be exempt from the rewrite: “This proposed updated standard would issue hundreds of new requirements that may be very burdensome, and in many cases impossible, for volunteer fire departments to comply with.”
The Firefighters Association of New York State concludes, “the new standard could hamper recruitment and retention efforts and even cause many current firefighters to leave the service. Despite its bureaucratic ‘good intentions’, this new rule could actually decrease firefighter health and safety.”
All of this is bullshit, of course.
Politicians are easily convinced that with volunteer firefighters they are getting something, namely fire protection, for nothing or nearly so.
These same politicians can then play cheapskate when it comes to providing funding and resources for fire departments in every setting — urban and rural.
If the crucial benchmark is response times, how quickly you can respond and deploy at an incident, volunteer effectiveness is debatable. Structure fires don’t wait.
Volunteers can and do play an important role in other emergencies such as some EMS calls, vehicle accidents and wildland fires where the four to eight minute response time may not be key.
Sustained attention on responder health and safety has paid off handsomely.
Championed by visionary progressives such as the late Alan Brunacini as well as the IAFF and IAFC Metro Chiefs, the emphasis placed on firefighter health and safety before, during and after the incident has saved many lives.
Since 1980, firefighter deaths have plummeted by as much as 60 per cent.
If Congress steps in and moves to exempt volunteers from the updated OSHA protections it’s back to the back step for volunteers who apparently see needlessly endangering firefighters as a worthy goal.
