Document ID: OSHA-2014-0008-0002
Agency: osha
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2014-12-29T05:00Z

Attn:  Variance Request
Directorate of Enforcement Programs
U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
200 Constitution Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20210

Re:  Fall Protection Variance Request					October 10, 2013

Dear Directorate of Enforcement Programs:

Please take this letter to request a Variance under the walking/working surface regulation to access the top of ovens when being serviced.  

Background:  my organization, ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, DBA Hobart Service, repairs, maintains and installs commercial food equipment.  In that capacity, our technicians need to work on bakery ovens that have a height that would put them under consideration of the fall protection standard. 

We have evaluated proper anchor points and passive fall protection options while servicing the tops of ovens in varying industrial kitchens across the country.  Commercial kitchens come in varying sizes and designs.  We have not been able to consistently find a proper, safe solution within these varied kitchen settings with one exception.  The exception is when we install new ovens and the oven has eyelets designed for lifting the oven. In these situations we are safely able to tie off at foot level with a double lanyard to each corner of the unit for positioning.  The eyelets are not available on every model oven installed in commercial kitchens.  

Absent these eyelets, in most kitchens, it is next to impossible to find rated anchor points at chest level or above.  

The Hobart Service Safety Committee has discussed this as a team.  We explored an option for telescopic posts from Miller Fall Protection Equipment.  Miller's representative showed us the telescopic posts that we considered using on every oven.  However, the tops of the ovens we work on are not rated for the plates the post must mount to in order to anchor successfully.  The tops of the ovens are more like a fascia and the only structural steel lies on the eyelets that are only on certain models.  While servicing the top of the oven, our Associates are standing or kneeling on the surface which is at 85", shown below. They work closer to the wall than the front of the equipment.  Most times they are kneeling since there is not enough clearance above their heads to stand.  The distance from the wall to the edge of the ovens ranges from 51" to 62".
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                             Side view 51" to 62" from wall side
						

                                                85"
									

Hobart Service takes safety very seriously.  We are committed to Safety as 1 of our top 3 business initiatives.  In fact, just this past year, we invested over $600,000 in Arc Flash protection and other PPE updates.  Through this targeted focus, our first priorities have reduced our Incident Frequency Rate from 8.94 to below the OSHA Average to 3.76.  We did this by targeting our areas of risk.  Repairs on commercial ovens have not been an identified risk area as there have been no falls.

I respectfully ask for a Variance when servicing the tops of ovens when we are unable to recognize a properly rated anchor point or passive system.  We are willing to invest in a solution should a viable option be found in the future
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Sincerely,