NY Lawmakers: Proposed OSHA Rules Could Destroy Volunteer Fire Departments

Alex Gault
Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
(TNS)

Jul. 10—Some north country lawmakers are raising the alarm over a proposal from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that they say would make it nearly impossible for small, local fire departments to operate and all but eliminate volunteer departments.

Earlier this year, OSHA, which is a subagency of the U.S. Department of Labor, proposed to change their “Fire Brigades” standards, which have been in effect since the early 1980s. In a 608 page highly technical document, the administration is proposing to dramatically rewrite the federal health, safety and training standards it requires of fire departments — paid, volunteer and combined.

The new rules would address many aspects of fire department operations — if put into effect, fire departments would have to dramatically grow their training programs with many more one-time and annual trainings on how to handle specific emergency cases. Departments would also have to maintain much more detailed records and reports on their operations, from responses to training and maintenance.

The proposed rules would also require more strict standards for firefighter health and fitness, which would likely push some people out of the work and put more responsibility on departments to maintain health and fitness programs and monitor their firefighters.

Assembly members Scott A. Gray, R-Watertown, and D. Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, have both expressed worry over the impact these new requirements could have on the small and volunteer fire departments that provide emergency services to much of the north country.

“This will decimate rural firefighting departments,” Gray said. “This is extremely difficult to comply with. Whoever wrote this does not understand rural fire departments.”

Jones hosted a press conference concerning the proposed rules in Plattsburgh on Wednesday, and shared a press release after. He said that north country volunteer departments are already struggling to find and keep enough volunteers to effectively respond to emergencies as things are now, and these proposed rules would likely drive more volunteers out.

“These fire departments are already struggling to recruit and retain members on top of fundraising and applying for grants to update their equipment and their facilities,” Jones said. “They simply cannot afford more training requirements and regulations, and many will be forced to close.”

Gray agreed.

“They’re living on chicken barbeques,” he said. “This document is not going to be supported by chicken barbeques.”

In an executive summary of the regulations, OSHA officials said that fire departments are currently regulated under a wide range of “hazard-specific” standards and state-level regulations where the state has passed an OSHA-approved plan for regulations, which New York has done.

“All of the OSHA standards referred to above were promulgated decades ago, and none was designed as a comprehensive emergency response standard,” the summary reads.

The summary goes on to say that standards of nearly every aspect of emergency response have changed with time: protective clothing is better, equipment is much improved, and health and safety practices for first responders have changed dramatically.

The agency cites the focused improvements made to emergency response standards in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as well.

The summary states that while OSHA does not regulate volunteer fire departments directly, states with OSHA-approved state plans may consider volunteers as employees for the purposes of their own labor and safety laws. New York does this — but according to the executive summary of the regulations, OSHA is aware that volunteer and small-sized departments will need special carve-outs.

“Throughout this document, the agency seeks input on alternatives and potential exclusions for economically at-risk small and volunteer organizations that will be shared with state plans as they determine how to proceed with their subsequent individual state-level rulemaking efforts,” the summary reads.

The state plan in New York is maintained by the Public Employee Safety & Health office in the state Department of Labor. Spokespeople for the DOL did not return a request for comment by press time Wednesday.

But if the OSHA rules were to be put into effect, nothing would immediately change in New York, as that’s when PESH would start its own rulemaking process to implement the OSHA rules in New York. That’s where the fate of the small and volunteer departments will likely be decided.

Gray said he’s watching for that.

“The devil’s in the details,” he said. “That is a battle, so to speak, to be had, in order to preserve firefighting as we recognize it in northern New York.”

Gray was planning to join a forum of some north country fire departments in West Carthage on Thursday, where the topic would likely be discussed, that that forum was postponed late Wednesday.

The OSHA rules themselves are still pending final review, with an open comment period that has been extended to expire on July 22. Details on the regulations can be found at wdt.me/OSHAFireRules

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