OSHA To Rescind Residential Fall Protection Exemptions After Years Of Debate

OSHA chief David Michaels told Washington state plan officials in mid-November that the agency plans to rescind blanket exemptions in the fall protection standard for residential construction, nearly two years after an agency advisory committee proposed the change, also sought by home builders and state plans. The shift in policy would require that employers, if they want to use alternative means, demonstrate conventional fall protection is infeasible or creates greater hazards. Plans to rescind the current policy, which allows alternative methods to conventional means of protection for worker