OSHA has withdrawn a longstanding directive on its residential construction fall protection standard that allowed for blanket exemptions from rules requiring employers to put conventional measures in place unless shown to be infeasible or create a greater hazard, making official a new policy that agency chief David Michaels announced several weeks ago and a policy shift that OSHA has considered for years. The change -- which has the support of stakeholders including the national home builders group as well as the association of state OSHA plans -- reverts to the agency's approach prior to the
