The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released a lengthy Q&A that clarifies the scope of its controversial Confined Spaces in Construction final rule, which received negative feedback from the HVACR industry and was labeled as overreaching and burdensome to residential contractors when it was released last spring. The Q&A clarifies that the final rule has a very limited application in the residential HVAC industry.
“After the OSHA rule came out, a petition for review went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,” said Barton James, senior vice president of government relations for ACCA. “The National Association of Home Builders [NAHB] was the lead, and it resulted in a settlement after months of negotiations. With this settlement, OSHA agreed to provide the Qs and As to its regional offices as well as state plan programs, and to publish it on its webpage. OSHA will also incorporate the Qs and As into its compliance directive for the rule.”