Source: https://www.osha.gov/dsg/power_generation/SubpartV-final-settlement.html
Timestamp: 2019-02-18 18:25:27
Document Index: 73629307

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1926', 'art 1926', 'art 1926', 'art 1926', 'art 1910', 'art 1926', 'art 1926', '§1910']

Subpart V Final Settlement | Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA agrees that on or before February 20, 2015, it will issue the documents attached hereto as Exhibit A (“Questions and Answers on 29 CFR 1910.269 and 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart V”), Exhibit B (“29 CFR 1910.269 and 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart V- Fall protection”), Exhibit C (“29 CFR 1910.269 and 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart V- Enforcement dates”), and Exhibit D (“Clarification of the applicability of 29 CFR 1910.269 to line-clearance tree trimming”).
Each party agrees to bear its own attorneys’ fees, costs, and other expenses that have been incurred in connection with the parties’ petitions for review and the negotiation of this Agreement.
Paragraph (l)(3)(ii) of 29 CFR 1910.269 and paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of 29 CFR 1926.960 require the employer to determine the maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, through an engineering analysis or assume a maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, in accordance with Table R-9 or Table V-8, respectively. The preamble to the 29 CFR 1910.269 and 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart V final rule explained OSHA’s conclusions regarding how prestrikes and restrikes influence the determination of maximum transient overvoltage as follows:
Paragraph (l)(8)(v) of 29 CFR 1910.269and paragraph (g)(5) of 29 CFR 1926.960 require the employer to “ensure that each employee exposed to hazards from electric arcs wears protective clothing and other protective equipment with an arc rating greater than or equal to the heat energy estimated under” 29 CFR 1910.269(l)(8)(ii) or 29 CFR 1926.960(g)(2), as applicable, “whenever that estimate exceeds 2.0 cal/cm2.” Those provisions generally require this protective equipment to cover the employee's entire body; however, “[a]rc-rated protection is not necessary for the employee's head when the employee is wearing head protection meeting” 29 CFR 1910.135 or 29 CFR 1926.100(b)(2), as applicable, “if the estimated incident energy is less than 9 cal/cm2 for exposures involving single-phase arcs in open air or 5 cal/cm2 for other exposures.” Must an employee exposed to electric arcs during the placement or removal of meters (which is not an exposure involving arcs in open air) wear arc-rated protection for the head if the employee works behind a meter shield that reduces the incident energy to which the employee is exposed to less than 5 cal/cm2?
Cable-supported devices are not “poles, towers, or similar structures.” Consequently, the duty to provide fall protection for employees working from these devices is not set by 29 CFR 1910.269(g)(2)(iv)(C)(2) and (g)(2)(iv)(C)(3) or by 29 CFR 1926.954(b)(3)(iii)(B) and (b)(3)(iii)(C). See Note 1 to these provisions. Those notes indicate that the duty to provide fall protection associated with these working surfaces is contained in 29 CFR Part 1910, Subpart D, and 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart M, respectively. However, under 29 CFR 1910.269(g)(2)(i) and 29 CFR 1926.954(b)(1)(i), personal fall arrest systems must meet 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart M. An employer may use a conductor as an anchorage for a personal fall arrest system provided the employer relies on recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, with consideration given to such factors as design specifications and maintenance procedures, in determining whether the conductor meets the strength requirements in 29 CFR 1926.502(d)(15), and provided the employer ensures that a visual inspection by the employee before use reveals that nothing about the appearance of the anchorage (for example, broken conductor strands) suggests that the applicable strength criteria would not be met.
No. Notes to 29 CFR 1910.269(g)(2)(iv)(E) and 29 CFR 1926.954(b)(3)(v) provide that wood-pole fall-restriction devices meeting ASTM F887-12e1 are deemed to meet the anchorage strength requirement when they are used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Moreover, the employer does not need to determine the strength of each bolted attachment that will potentially be used as an anchorage on a wood pole, provided the employer ensures that a visual inspection by the employee before use reveals that nothing about the appearance of the anchorage (for example, corrosion or cracks) suggests that the applicable strength criteria would not be met. When possible, any bolted attachment used as an anchorage at the final working position needs to be assessed using recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, with consideration given to such factors as design specifications and maintenance procedures, to determine whether the strength requirements in 29 CFR 1910.269(g)(2)(iv)(E) and 29 CFR 1926.954(b)(3)(v) are met. In making this assessment, the employer is not required to contact a third party that installed a particular anchorage to obtain information unless that third party is a host employer or contract employer for that particular project. If, at the working position, it is not possible to use the wood-pole fall-restriction device as an anchorage and to assess the strength of this bolted attachment, then the employer may rely on the bolted attachment as an anchorage without an assessment. OSHA encourages employers to require the use of the primary strap, with the inner security strap properly engaged, as an anchorage whenever employees use wood-pole fall-restriction devices, but acknowledges that the use of secondary straps may be necessary.
Paragraph (x) of 29 CFR 1910.269 defines line-clearance tree trimming as “[t]he pruning, trimming, repairing, maintaining, removing, or clearing of trees, or the cutting of brush, that is within the following distance of electric supply lines and equipment: (1) For voltages to ground of 50 kilovolts or less - 3.05 meters (10 feet); (2) For voltages to ground of more than 50 kilovolts - 3.05 meters (10 feet) plus 0.10 meters (4 inches) for every 10 kilovolts over 50 kilovolts.”
The tree is within the specified distance if any part of the tree is on the side of that vertical projection closest to the line or equipment (D) without regard to the radial distance from the line or equipment (R). (See 29 CFR 1910.269(a)(1)(i)(E) for information about the applicability of §1910.269 to line-clearance tree trimming.
1 Note that OSHA’s reliance on the BPA report is not an indication that the Agency concludes that BPA’s experience is typical. To the extent OSHA relied on the BPA report with respect to prestrikes, OSHA acknowledges that prestrikes are an expected occurrence.