New OSHA Rule Update: Employer Payment for Personal Protective Equipment

April 29th, 2008 — Roofing Contractor Info, Roofing Safety

Personal Protective EquipmentA new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding employer payment for personal protective equipment (PPE) goes into effect on May 15, 2008. The new rule adds provisional language to eliminate the confusion surrounding payment for PPE required to be worn by workers under OSHA standards.

OSHA concluded that Congress intended employers to pay for PPE because the statute makes employers solely responsible for compliance with occupational safety and health standards. Additionally, a uniform requirement applicable to all standards that require PPE places the burden of payment on employers except for some safety-toe footwear, logging boots and prescription safety glasses.

OSHA reasons employee protection would be better served by a rule that requires employer payment because the employer is more knowledgeable, has control over selection & issuance, and is in a better position to get employee cooperation if the PPE is provided without charge.

The final rule published by OSHA follows the basic concepts and rationales of the proposed rule and clarifies the exceptions with a little more specificity:

  • An employer is not required to pay for PPE that an employee asks to use that is different from PPE the employer has provided at no cost.
  • An employer is not required to pay for ordinary safety-toe footwear or prescription safety eyewear provided the employer does not restrict use of that PPE off the job site.
  • An employer is not required to pay for safety footwear with integrated metatarsal (instep) protection if the employer pays for metatarsal guards that attach to the shoes.
  • An employer is not required to pay for everyday clothing. OSHA acknowledges that long-sleeve shirts, long pants, normal work boots and other similar clothing often serve as PPE. Clothing used solely for weather protection, such as jackets or parkas, also is excluded from the employer-payment requirement.
  • Ordinary hand tools are not considered PPE under this rule.
  • An employer may require an employee who loses or intentionally damages PPE to pay for the replacement equipment. Reasonable and appropriate disciplinary measures by the employer, proportionate to the employee offense, are permissible to ensure employee compliance with PPE care, use and maintenance requirements.
  • An employer is required to pay for replacement PPE once its useful service life has been exceeded.
  • Employees occasionally may want to use their own PPE. If an employer allows it, employees may do so under the new rules but the employer is not required to pay for the PPE. An employer may not require employees to provide their own PPE or make them pay for it. Employees’ use of their own PPE must be completely voluntary.

If an item is not PPE or not required by an OSHA standard, employer payment is not required. Also, it remains an employer obligation to ensure the adequacy of PPE when employees provide their own and make sure proper maintenance and sanitation of the PPE is done by employees. For example, an employer must ensure an employee’s personal sunglasses used for eye protection at work meet the requirements of ANSI Z87.1 as required by OSHA’s PPE regulations. Similarly, hard hats with sports team logos, which are commonly worn by workers, require employer verification that they meet the minimum requirements of ANSI Z89.1.

Employer payment provisions for PPE must be implemented by May 15. The new rules may not have a significant effect on how roofing contractors provide required PPE to their workers, but the rules may provide stability and structure to common situations where workers lose or intentionally misuse PPE that a roofing contractor has provided. The added clarity of the new rules should be useful in implementing replacement procedures for PPE, disciplining workers for lost or misused PPE, and resolving potential disputes as to the nature of work clothing and voluntary use of some PPE.

See an NRCA Special Report for more information.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 7:52 am and is filed under Roofing Contractor Info, Roofing Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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2 Comments so far

  1. Bill Wade on April 29, 2008 8:20 am

    We just had a meeting yesterday, April 28, 2008 and revised our Safety Policy to have Affordable Roofing verses the employees pay for their own personal protective equipment.

  2. curt on April 30, 2008 2:21 am

    This new rules are going to clarify this, otherwise quite confused topic.
    However, I think, that every employer should have offered unified and optimal protective equipment to their employees, if wanted to create the optimal working conditions and optimal results of all business activities of the company.
    Just one personal example. My father has always provided his workers with the best possible safety equipment by his personal judgment, no matter, if they have been working indoor, on the field, in the highway/railway tunnel, or deep in the mine.
    Many times, I was very impressed to see the state of the art ’safety heavy labor’ footwear, gore-tex fabric, electronic communication equipment, top scientific sensor gadgets. He said to me:’I always buy at wholesale - prices, ask for the ‘regular customer’ and ‘direct payment’ discounts, and comprehend the cost of any safety equipment and devices as a regular cost of our business activities. He even has his ‘fashion designer company’, who optimally incorporates company’s logo…
    His company has been always achieving outstanding financial results and minimal employee fluctuations (more than 35 years).

    p.s.
    Believe me, his many workers like him very much and are quite proud working for him, even though I am not one of them.
    p.p.s.
    While a young apprentice in a large mine, he had experienced many casualties, which had happened due to bad working conditions and lack of safety measures. Maybe, those sightings have profoundly influenced his attitude towards Health and Safety.

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