The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ecently published a final rule that updates requirements for personal protective equipment for workers at MROs, among others. The rule, which goes into effect on April 25, updates references in OSHA’s Eye and Face Protection Standards to recognize ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2010, while deleting the outdated 1986 standard. However, there is some confusion about the rule, because equipment currently available in the marketplace reflects an even newer standard, ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2015.
OSHA can’t keep up with the changes, according to Dan Shipp, president of the International Safety Equipment Association. “Our association is the administrator of the ANSI Z87 committee, which consists of equipment manufacturers, test labs, researchers and other special interest groups,” Shipp told AIN. “For us, this is an ongoing process. As new materials, manufacturing processes and product improvements come out, we issue an updated standard and send it to OSHA. The problem is that OSHA then has to go through a full rulemaking process just to update its reference to a voluntary standard, and that takes a lot of time.”
Shipp said what’s currently available in the safety equipment marketplace reflects an ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2015 standard, but he doesn't consider this to be a problem. OSHA isn’t going to take an MRO to task because it has equipment that meets the latest standard, Shipp said.
Further complicating matters, said Shipp, changes relate to the product manufacturer and are transparent to the end user.
