Ohio Administrative Code › Title 4123:1 - Division of Safety and Hygiene › Chapter 4123:1-21 - Fire Fighting › Section 4123:1-21-03 - Personal protective clothing and equipment for wildland fire fighting

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) The employer
			 shall provide and require the use of all personal protective clothing and
			 equipment specified in this rule whenever employees are required to work in a
			 hazardous environment that may be encountered during wildland fire-fighting
			 activities, prescribed fire activities, or under similar conditions during
			 training activities.
(B) The
			 employer shall assure that protective clothing protects the head, body, and
			 extremities and consists of at least the following components: foot protection,
			 hand protection, body protection, and head and eye protection.
(C) Personal protective clothing and
			 equipment shall be properly sized for the wearer.
(D) Personal protective clothing and
			 equipment that is damaged or otherwise defective to the point of voiding its
			 intended protection shall be removed from service.
(E) Employers shall develop and require use
			 of a written plan covering the safe use, care, maintenance, inspection,
			 limitations, and replacement of the clothing and equipment required by this
			 rule, and all affected employees shall be trained in accordance with such
			 plan.
(F) Where employees choose to
			 provide their own protective clothing and equipment, such clothing and
			 equipment shall give equal or greater protection than that provided by the
			 employer.
(G) It shall be the
			 responsibility of the employee to properly use the equipment provided by the
			 employer as required in this rule.
(H) Body protection.
(1) Body protection shall consist of a
			 protective shirt or coat and trousers, or equivalent protection.
(2) Protective clothing shall be
			 melt-resistant, durable, lightweight, nonirritating to the skin, and
			 cleanable.
(3) The protective
			 shirt, jacket, or one-piece garment shall have long sleeves and shall not have
			 turned-up cuffs. Sleeve cuffs shall have a closure system that can be adjusted
			 to provide a snug and secure fit around the wrist while wearing a
			 glove.
(4) All collars on jackets,
			 shirts, and one-piece garments shall remain upright after extension into a
			 vertical position.
(5) Any
			 pass-through openings in garments shall have a means of fastening them in a
			 closed position.
(6) All pockets
			 that open to the exterior of garments, other than front waist pockets, shall
			 have a cover or closure system.
(7)
			 All garments that encompass the neck area shall have a closure system at the
			 neckline.
(8) All closure systems
			 shall not come into contact with the body. Hardware of any garment shall not
			 come into direct contact with the wearer's body.
(9) Protective clothing for wildland fire
			 fighting shall be repaired in accordance with manufacturer's requirements. If
			 protective clothing cannot be repaired without decreasing the protective
			 qualities, it shall be replaced.
(10) Protective clothing shall be designed to
			 give minimum interference to physical movement and to the use of fire-fighting
			 tools.
(11) Where wildland fire
			 fighting protective clothing is required, a fire shelter shall be
			 included.
(12) Performance
			 requirements.
(a) Protective garments shall be
			 capable of withstanding all tests specified in NFPA 1977, "Protective Clothing
			 and Equipment for Wildland Fire Fighting, 
										2011
			 Edition."
(b)
										 The thermal and moisture barriers
			 required for structural fire fighting in paragraph (J) of rule
			 4123:1-21-02
			 of the Administrative Code are not required for wildland fire
			 fighting.
(13) Each
			 garment shall have a product label(s) permanently and conspicuously attached.
			 At least the following information shall be on the product label:
(a) "This wildland fire-fighting protective
			 garment meets the garment requirements of NFPA 1977, Standard on Protective
			 Clothing and Equipment for Wildland Fire Fighting, 
										2011 Edition. Do
			 not remove this label."
(b)
			 Manufacturer's name, identification, or designation;
(c) Manufacturer's address;
(d) Country of manufacture;
(e) Manufacturer's garment identification
			 number, lot number, or serial number;
(f) Month and year of manufacture (not
			 coded);
(g) Model or style name,
			 number, or design;
(h)
			 Size;
(i) Garment materials and
			 percent content;
(j) Certification
			 organization's label, symbol, ;or identifying mark;
(k) Cleaning precautions.
(14) The garment manufacturer
			 shall provide a user manual that describes the care, use, inspection,
			 maintenance, limitations, and replacement of protective clothing.