The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  is proposing an update to the federal “fire brigades” standard, a standard that regulates firefighting training, personal protective equipment, health & safety standards, and the organization and operation of a fire department. The existing standard is over 40 years old, and the proposed changes would expand the standard to include other emergency services like emergency medical services and technical search & rescue services.

According to the National League of Cities (NLC), while the rulemaking began as far back as a 2015 stakeholdering process, there is concern that local governments were not significantly engaged in the process. NLC is submitting comments that including highlighting several key issues, including:

• The proposed rule could impose unfunded mandates, leading to a considerable increase in local spending on fire and emergency services,
• Concern about the new rules’ implications for volunteers and potentially classifying them as employees,
• Questions about the proposed rules’ feasibility, including the broad implications for search & rescue services, costs of upgrading living areas for emergency responders, and proposed new health and fitness requirements,
• Concern that OSHA’s preliminary economic analysis underestimates the true financial impact to local governments,
• Concerns about penalties for non-compliance and broader liability concerns and impacts on local governments.

If cities are interested in filing their own comments, OSHA is accepting comments until June 21, 2024 and they can be submitted here. You can read more about the proposed emergency services standard, including the 250-page proposed rule, here.

Washington is a “state plan” state for the purposes of labor laws – meaning that while the state has elected to enforce its own labor laws (not merely default to federal law), state laws must be at least as protective as existing federal labor laws and rules. Part of the state plan requires that the state enforce new federal standards until equivalent or more protective state standards are adopted. Any aspects of a new federal Emergency Services Standard (if adopted) that aren’t already included in Washington laws or regulations would need to be enforced by L&I until the state adopted its own standards meeting or exceeding federal rules.