New OSHA regulations could harm volunteer fire departments

(TNS) — New York State volunteer firefighters are concerned about the cost of what would be the biggest overhaul in decades of federal firefighter safety regulations.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration late last year released its proposed emergency response standard, which would outline workplace protections for emergency responders such as firefighters and paramedics paramedics. It would replace the 1980 rules covering only firefighters.

The new rules would increase training requirements for firefighters and ensure they undergo thorough medical exams at least every two years. They would also require departments to inspect vehicles more frequently and create written plans for responding to emergencies.

The longer deadline could force some volunteer firefighters to give up, said David Denniston, a Cortland firefighter and senior official with the New York State Association of Fire Districts, in an interview this week with syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. That would be difficult for departments that already struggle to attract enough volunteers, he said.

The changes will also be costly for fire departments that have limited options to raise more money, he said.

More than 1,000 New York State fire departments are managed and staffed by more than 80,000 volunteers. In Onondaga County, there are more than 50 volunteer departments. Paid fire departments cover most cities, while suburban and rural areas are usually covered by volunteers.

Training can vary for volunteer firefighters, according to Denniston, a third-generation Cortland County firefighter. He said they are often only taught the specific tasks they perform: working inside or outside of a structure fire, or even just driving a fire truck in the event of an incident.

It's unclear exactly how much training would be required under the draft rules, Denniston said, but he thinks it could be as much as double the 124 hours he currently puts firefighters through. This would roughly equate to the minimum 229 hours needed to be certified as a professional firefighter in New York State.

Denniston and other New York State volunteer firefighters held a news conference Wednesday morning at the OnCenter in downtown Syracuse about the proposed rule changes.

Federal officials worked for more than a decade to draft the proposed regulations.

Denniston said he agrees with OSHA that improvements are needed to firefighter safety rules. But he also thinks the proposed regulations aren't feasible for smaller departments.

“We agree that a lot of the things in there are good,” he said. “There are some things in there that we don't think OSHA has proven how it would actually affect firefighter safety.”

Career firefighter groups welcomed the proposed rules. An official with the IAFF firefighters union told a U.S. House subcommittee hearing this month that “just because it's expensive doesn't mean we have to distract from security.

An OSHA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency proposed the rule to try to better protect first responders from the cancers and other hazards that have made the profession so dangerous. The agency also plans to hold a multi-day hearing to gather more comments.

The State Bureau of Fire Prevention and Control is carefully reviewing the proposal, according to spokesman Chet Lasell. He said he was working to keep firefighters safe “without compromising the ability of services to operate”.

Although the main section of the rules is approximately 40 pages long, OSHA also decided to incorporate approximately 20 standards from the National Fire Protection Association.

The documents, which can run to hundreds of pages, are considered best practices for firefighters, according to Chris Dubay, NFPA vice president for engineering and research. He said the standards are intended to reflect consensus among volunteer and career firefighters, training academies and other groups.

Dubay said some local fire departments already implement some or all of some NFPA standards. They can change certain sections if they want, and OSHA could do the same, he said.

Denniston said smaller departments, due to tighter budgets and fewer staff, would likely not be able to meet all of these standards. It would be better if OSHA instead selected the parts it considers most essential and listed them directly, he said.

He said a standard not mandated by OSHA would require fire engines to come to a complete stop at intersections, which could help prevent accidents. Vehicle collisions were the second leading cause of firefighter deaths in 2022, according to U.S. Fire Administration statistics.

Fire departments can be structured in several ways in New York State, but many are organized into fire districts run by an elected board of fire commissioners. Districts rely almost entirely on local property taxes for their budgets; half brought in $500,000 or less in revenue in 2022, according to data from the state comptroller's office.

The federal government has established grant programs to help fund firefighter training and equipment, although they have been scaled back in recent years despite large numbers of applications.

Districts also face a spending limit under state law, although it can be increased by voters through a referendum. Denniston expressed concern that, as with school district budgets, voters might choose to reject a budget that includes a tax increase or a spending increase.

Denniston emphasized that he supports doing anything possible to improve firefighter safety, but he wants to make sure OSHA's finalized rules are workable for departments.

“We’re kind of like owner-operators,” he said. “We fight fires, we get the job done. But we're also trying to figure out where the funds are coming from, and ultimately it's also the taxpayers in those areas who are paying for all of this.

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