OSHA to convene SBREFA panel on possible Emergency Response standard
OSHA intends to reinitiate/convene its Small Business Advocacy Review panel (also known as a SBREFA panel) on a possible Emergency Response standard in the next 60 days. The panel is scheduled to formally convene on October 4, 2021, will host a series of video conferences with Small Entity Representatives (SERs) from the regulated sectors in mid-October 2021, and conclude with a panel report by December 4, 2021.
OSHA’s potential Emergency Response standard would apply to employers that designate employees to provide emergency response services that are currently covered by OSHA’s Fire Brigades standard at 29 CFR 1910.156 or are not specifically covered by another OSHA standard. This could include:
- Emergency Service Organizations (ESO), such firefighting, fire rescue, emergency medical service, technical rescue (rope/high angle, cave, etc.), vehicle/machinery rescue, water rescue/recovery (land/shore based, swiftwater, underwater), and search and rescue (urban, mountain, wilderness), but not law enforcement employers solely engaged in law enforcement/crime prevention activities.
- General industry employers that have or that establish a Workplace Emergency Response Team, also known as an industrial, emergency or facility fire brigade, industrial fire department, emergency response team, fire team, or plant emergency organization. (This standard would not apply to employers that provide only those emergency services which are already covered in certain respects by other OSHA standards.)
- General industry, construction, and maritime industry employers that expect, based on past experience, a mutual aid agreement (interagency agreement), or a contract, to provide skilled support personnel at an emergency incident.
When the panel is formally convened, OSHA will place all of the materials provided to the panel and SERs in its rulemaking docket so they will be publicly available.