OSHA rule will prevent thousands of injuries yearly

Facing a lawsuit from the AFL-CI O and a congressional deadline to act, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA ) issued a rule on Nov. 14 that requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment for workers. For years, employers have interpreted the OSHA requirement to mean that they have to provide the necessary equipment, but not necessarily pay for it.

"America's working men and women deserve the proper equipment to keep them safe on the job," says AFL-CI O president John Sweeney, "and we will thoroughly review this rule to make sure it protects them."

Among the AFT members who will be affected by the rule, says AFT health and safety expert Darryl Alexander, are school nurses and paraprofessionals who have to wear aprons and gloves to avoid exposure to bloodborne pathogens, as well as other nurses who need respirators to care for patients with active cases of tuberculosis. In all those cases, the employer will have to pay for the required protective equipment.

The standard on personal protective equipment was first proposed in 1999, but OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor delayed issuing a final rule. By OSHA 's own estimates, implementation of the rule will prevent more than 21,000 job-site injuries per year.

"It should never have taken the threat of a lawsuit and legislation to get the Department of Labor to take these simple steps to prevent workers from everyday job-site hazards and prevent thousands of workplace injuries each year," says U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who introduced legislation last March to force OSHA to issue the final standard.

"While this long delay was unnecessary and unfortunate, I'm glad to see that the department has finally acted."