New rules proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are expected to have a detrimental impact on Maine’s rural volunteer fire departments due to the estimated cost of compliance.
As written, these standards would change many of the requirements that must be met by firemen and other first responders.
The regulations currently in place for firemen — which are called the Fire Brigades Standard and do not apply to other first responders — were originally published in 1980 and have not been substantially updated since.
The rules that are now under consideration — collectively titled the Emergency Response Standard — would fully replace the Fire Brigades Standard and be applicable not only to firemen, but to other types of emergency personnel as well.
According to the summary of the Emergency Response Standard provided on the OSHA website, these new rules “would include programmatic elements to protect emergency responders from a variety of occupational hazards.”
Federal OSHA regulations by default are generally applicable only to private sector workers, but in states that have adopted OSHA-approved State Plans, these standards are extended to state and local government agencies.
Because Maine recently adopted one of these plans, firemen in the state would be required to meet these new standards.
Although the updated OSHA regulations will impact all fire departments throughout Maine, concerns have primarily been raised with respect to the the state’s rural volunteer fire departments.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the vast majority of fire departments in Maine are entirely (69.3 percent) or mostly (23.8 percent) volunteer-based.
“Current OSHA emergency response and preparedness standards are outdated and incomplete,” OSHA wrote in a press release. “They do not address the full range of hazards facing emergency responders, lag behind changes in protective equipment performance and industry practices, conflict with industry consensus standards, and are not aligned with many current emergency response guidelines provided by other federal agencies.”
“In recognition of the inadequacy of the outdated safeguards provided by the current OSHA standards,” the agency wrote, “the proposed rule seeks to ensure that workers involved in Emergency Response activities get the protections they deserve from the hazards they are likely to encounter while on the job.”
According to OSHA, “the focus of the proposed Emergency Response rule is to provide basic workplace protections for workers who respond to emergencies as part of their regularly assigned duties.”
“Notably,” the agency explained, “the scope of protected workers under the proposed rule would be expanded to include workers who provide emergency medical service and technical search and rescue.”
Click Here for More Information from OSHA Regarding the Proposed Regulations
Should these regulations be approved as they are currently written, fire departments would need to, among other things, meet new training requirements, conduct certain health evaluations, and alter their procedures for handling turnout gear and other equipment.
Monmouth Fire Chief Dan Roy told WGME that these rules are “really going to change things, how fire departments operate.”
“You can see the gear rack behind me, that’s our storage system for our turnout gear,” Roy said. “Well, according to the new standards we’re supposed to have rooms that isolate the gear from other areas of the building.”
“We’re supposed to have shower facilities to decontaminate our firefighters,” he continued. “We don’t have that.”
“We’re all about firefighter safety and providing a safe work place,” said Roy. “But you’ve got to have some common sense and responsible time frames to allow for compliance.”
“I think everyone has a certain amount of panic,” Winthrop Fire Chief Dan Brooks said in an interview with WGME. “There’s some sizable changes in there and how it will affect everybody? It’s hard to know.”
“We support the training, we support these laws that are ultimately there to protect our firefighters,” Brooks said. “But a lot of departments are struggling to get guys to make the commitment to join their departments to begin with. Then you just add more training and stuff to them, and it just makes it more difficult.”
Some members of Maine’s Congressional delegation have spoken about the proposed standards in recent weeks, echoing the concerns that have been raised by firemen throughout the state.
“Addressing firefighter safety in a practical way is critical to keeping our heroes safe,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R) in an April statement to WGME. “Maine firefighters have shared their concerns about the revised Emergency Response Standard being proposed by OSHA and how these changes could affect their workforce.”
“Overly burdensome training requirements for veteran firefighters with decades of experience could deter them from continuing to serve their communities,” Sen. Collins continued. “Furthermore, I am also concerned about unfunded mandates on Maine’s rural emergency responders, who are often volunteers.”
Sen. Angus King (I) has not yet spoken publicly regarding his position on these proposed changes.
A spokesman for Rep. Jared Golden (D), however, spoke with WGME in April on this subject, indicating the he was following this rulemaking process closely.
“Congressman Golden has been contacted by Maine firefighters concerned about OSHA’s proposal, and has stayed in close touch as the rulemaking process unfolds,” said the statement. “The Congressman will push to ensure that our firefighters’ voices are heard, just as he’s always advocated for the needs of first responders across the Second District.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Golden signed onto a letter expressing “strong concerns” about the proposed standards, underscoring how these changes would likely result in the closure of many volunteer fire departments across the country, including in rural Maine.
“This new ‘Emergency Response’ standard would impose new written emergency response plans, hazard vulnerability assessments, training, personal protective equipment, medical screening and behavioral health services, and other requirements,” the letter said. “OSHA estimates that over one million emergency responders are anticipated to fall within the scope of the proposed rule, 331,472 of whom self-identify as volunteers.”
“As drafted, this rule fails to recognize the significant financial and personnel limitations that are unique to volunteer departments that serve our communities,” the lawmakers continue. “The vast majority of these departments operate under very small budgets or self-fundraise.”
“Volunteers donate their own time and resources to ensure that communities have readily available access to emergency services, often serving as the only source of emergency response within miles or hours of response time away,” they said.
“While these are excellent as best practices, these departments lack the economic resources to carry them out as a requirement in statute,” the letter states.
“As drafted we believe the new ‘Emergency Standard’ would make both our departments and our communities less safe,” the lawmakers conclude. “It is our hope that [OSHA] will consider the unique circumstances of volunteer departments to ensure that they can continue to operate and provide lifesaving services.”
This letter was signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in which Republicans outnumbered Democrats by more than two-to-one.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) does not appear as a signatory on the letter, nor has she issued a public statement on this matter.
Click Here to Read the Full Letter Signed by Rep. Golden
In Golden’s press release promoting this letter, Retired Chief William St. Michel — Executive Director of the Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association — echoed many of these sentiments.
“We appreciate OSHA’s support for improving the health and safety of our first responders,” Retired Chief St. Michel said. “However, as drafted we believe the new ‘Emergency Standard’ would make both our departments and our communities less safe.”
“Maine departments are staffed by a mix of volunteer, on-call, and full-time firefighters. OSHA’s stated goal is to improve safety standards for those on the front lines and the public they so valiantly protect,” said St. Michel. “We fear that, without direct input from emergency managers — and the phase-in time needed to implement the proposed rules — will result in a product contrary to those goals.”
It is noted in the 250-page document detailing the new regulations that OSHA is “seek[ing] input on alternatives and potential exclusions for economically at-risk small and volunteer organizations.”
OSHA will be accepting public comment on the proposed Emergency Response Standard from now until June 21.
Strangulation by regulation, do not trust Golden or King. They all refuse to rein in these out of cintrol.agencies.
have to get covid jab to be a first responder…. and now decontamination showers required…. whats coming down the pipe?
Here is a new rule to implement – “EVERY regulation made by any department in the Federal (and state) government MUST be considered and voted on by the House and Senate”. NO more shirking your duty as the lawmaking division of the government!
The goal is to have every Fire Dept. in the USA a full time agency staffed by Union members. Those politicians supported by Unions have to vote to move in that direction or lose that support. Troy Jackson would never have made it without Union support. Golden knows which side his bread is buttered on.
As a former healthcare worker (fired for not getting the jab), and former FF/AEMT (both volunteer and union), good luck with all of this. Career departments are already having issues recruiting people, and it will trickle down to the on-call departments.
By law, EMTS need to maintain a certain amount of Continuing Education Hours (CEHs) in order to renew their licenses every 2-3 years. With full time firefighters, trainings are usually held during assigned shifts. If you’re assigned to the ambulance, you will likely get called out and miss the training. Then because of union contracts, you can’t make up that training on your day off because “you’ll have to be paid”. Full-time firefighter/emts rely on per diem or call departments to get their training. This is lose/lose all the way around.