Quad-Cities volunteer fire chiefs worried about implementing proposed OSHA rules (2024)

A proposed workplace safety rule change could have significant impacts on local fire departments.

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule, the Fire Brigades standard was first put into effect in 1980. According to the OSHA website, the safeguards in this rule are inadequate and outdated for safeguarding against the full range of hazards faced by emergency responders.

The proposed update was published in February of this year. If enacted, it would expand the scope of emergency responders protected and introduce more stringent rules for firefighters, including guidelines on replacing personal protective equipment, fitness testing and additional administrative tasks, among other things.

East Moline Fire Chief Robert DeFrance said that an update is long overdue. East Moline is a career department.

“There’s a lot of things now that makes firefighting dangerous, more dangerous than it was certainly when I came up,” DeFrance said.

The construction of houses and household goods are more combustible than they used to be, DeFrance said, and household goods tend to be made of more plastics and polymers than they used to be, which can give off toxic gasses when they burn.

Some of the proposed rules focus on personal protective equipment and respiratory protection to a much greater degree than what is covered in the 1980 Fire Brigades standard.

DeFrance said that another benefit of the proposed rule is that it can help departments secure funding they need to increase the safety of their firefighters. Spending money on more in-depth physicals or updated safety equipment can go from something that might seem like a luxury to something that is required to meet OSHA standards.

“I think everybody knows that this is not something we can just do immediately. But it doesn’t mean that the goal is bad,” DeFrance said. “I think some of the changes are needed, and they’re being proposed for the right reasons, with firefighter safety in mind. How do I not support that as a fire chief?”

Volunteer departments voice concerns

Despite the intentions behind OSHA’s Emergency Response standard, multiple local volunteer fire departments have expressed concerns about meeting the proposed rules.

Colona Fire Chief John Swan recently held a press conference to bring attention to the rule change, repeating that one size does not fit all.

Tasks that might be a small hurdle to clear for a career fire department can seem insurmountable for volunteer departments.

One of the unique challenges volunteer departments face is the retention of their volunteer firefighters. Career fire departments tend to have more funding and can send their firefighters to trainings and to get certifications as part of their job. But volunteer firefighters typically have a day job along with other responsibilities that they juggle with their volunteer commitments.

A May 2023 guidepublished by the U.S. Fire Administration says, “recruitment and retention have become two of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. fire and emergency services in recent decades.”

The guide goes on to describe the increasing demands of training, saying that volunteers can become overwhelmed and frustrated, followed by attrition.

Chief Justin Hicks of the Andalusia Fire Protection District provided an example of what one of the more volunteer-friendly certifications in Illinois, the Basic Operations Firefighter course, can look like.

“’You’re doing a great job; I hope you’re enjoying it. You know what? The next 18 weeks, Mondays and Wednesdays, I need you on the computer for two hours, and then every other weekend, the whole weekend, Saturday and Sunday, you’re going to go do skills check. I hope your wife and kids are OK with it.’ There will be a point in time where you’re going to say to me, ‘You know what, I have enjoyed this, and you’ve been great, but I can’t make that commitment, because my family is more important to me,’” Hicks said.

Many of the proposed rules come with a cost. Trainings, equipment replacement, or time that could be spent on other tasks can quickly add up, especially for volunteer departments with thin budgets.

“If we run five structure fires a year, that’s a huge number for us, where the city guys, they might run five fires in two days. So, their gear, maybe it should be on a 10-year replacement, but maybe mine should be, after 10 years we need to assess it,” Hicks said. “It costs five grand a guy right now to replace gear. So, if I have to replace 10 sets of gear that’s $50,000. That can upset a budget really easily in a volunteer fire department.”

Closely tied to available funding is the amount of time that departments will have to reach compliance with the proposed rules. Silvis Fire Chief John Winters said his department would have trouble immediately meeting the standards as they’re currently written.

“They can’t implement all these at once,” Winters said. “If they put it all out at once that’s going to be devastating to the fire service. If they bring it out in small, little packets and keep adding to this over the next 20, 30 years to get to that point, fire departments may be able to adapt to that.”

Winters, Hicks and Swan all said that they support the effort and idea behind the rule change, but are wary of the demands that could be placed on their volunteer departments.

“We’re not trying to avoid safety. We aren’t trying to cheat corners, we want to do all this, it’s just a matter of, how do we do it? Feasibly, without a ton of extra expense, a ton of extra time for our firefighters,” Winters said.

OSHA explains goals

A spokesperson from OSHA did not address specific questions from the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus about the length of time departments would have to come into compliance, what penalties might look like if departments can't meet the proposed standards, or whether assistance would be offered to departments. The agency did offer a statement on the goals of the proposed rule changes.

“OSHA’s intent in proposing this rule is to better protect emergency responders from respiratory diseases, cancers, and other hazards that have plagued this group of heroic workers and caused tragedy for them and their families. It is not OSHA’s intent to finalize a rule that undermines public safety of any community,” the spokesperson said in an email.

But, with hundreds of pages of documentation, it’s hard to know exactly how the proposed rule change will impact departments until the changes are implemented.

The proposed rule changes are just that, “proposed." The public comment period runs until Monday, July 22, and according to the email response from OSHA, the agency is planning a multi-day public hearing with virtual participation to allow for stakeholders around the country to provide input.

“Our intent is to use the information we gather during our rulemaking not only to improve our own standard but also to help better inform the states as they each decide how to address the issue of whether and/or how volunteer emergency responders will be covered,” the OSHA spokesperson said.

Throughout the text of the proposed rule there are sentences stating that OSHA is still seeking comment, feedback, input and additional information.