Official Website of the Wisconsin
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Scott Walker 
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Federal residential construction fall protection rules getting stiffer Changes in federal Occupational safety and Health Administration rules to protect residential construction workers from falls went into effect June 16, 2011.Residential construction employers will have to provide workers with fall protection required by the construction fall protection standard issued in 1994 (29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13)). OSHA is withdrawing a previous policy that allowed residential construction employers to generally use alternative procedures for worker fall protection. OSHA says falls are the leading cause of death for workers in construction and the change provides residential construction workers with greater protection from being injured or killed on the job. Under the new procedures, where residential construction employers find that traditional fall protection is not feasible or creates a greater hazard in residential environments, employers will still be allowed to implement alternative procedures that will assure worker protection after developing a written site-specific fall protection plan. OSHA has developed training and compliance assistance materials that are available on OSHA’s fall protection page, including an educational slide presentation that describes methods usable by employers during various stages of construction. These methods including safety nets, guardrails, and personal fall arrest systems such as body harnesses, lanyards and lifelines. OSHA will provide a free compliance assistance service for small businesses with fewer than 250 employees at any one facility, and no more than 500 employees nationwide. OSHA has compliance assistance specialists in area offices throughout the US. See the program in Wisconsin. County Web sites || City/Town/Village Web sites || State Portal || Build Your Business The Department of Safety and Professional Services Safety and Buildings Division is an equal opportunity service provider and employer. If you need assistance to access services or need material in an alternate format, please contact us, 608-266-3151, TDD Relay dial 711 in Wisconsin or 800-947-3529. |