OSHA Demands California, Others Change Fall Protection Rules

Three years after OSHA began full enforcement of fall protection mandates for residential construction, the agency is waiting for four states—California, Kentucky, Oregon and Washington—to adopt the requirements.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is pressuring the states to adopt two core provisions of federal regulations—a 6-foot trigger height for construction fall protection and a ban on using slide guards as the only offered fall protection device.

If the states don’t adopt the federal requirements, they face the possibility of federal OSHA taking over construction inspections in those states that don’t comply.

Prompting federal OSHA’s decision to ...