29 CFR 1910.38 Emergency action plans
Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS), 29 CFR 1910.38 Emergency action plans OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.osha.gov), 1910 Occupational Safety and Health Standards, 1910.38 Emergency action plans, 1910.38(a) Application requires that “…an employer must have an emergency action plan whenever an OSHA standard in this part requires one. The requirements in this section apply to each such emergency action plan.” Emergency action plans include emergencies due to threats of thunderstorms and lightning strikes.
29 CFR 1926.35 Employee emergency action plans
Further, OSHS 1926 Safety and Health Regulations for Construction, Subpart C, General Safety and Health Provisions, 29 CFR 1926.35 Employee emergency action plans “…applies to all emergency action plans required by a particular OSHA standard. The emergency action plan shall be in writing (except as provided in the last sentence of paragraph (e)(3) of this section) and shall cover those designated actions employers and employees must take to ensure employee safety from fire and other emergencies.” Employee emergency action plans include employee safety from threats of thunderstorms and lightning strikes.
6 Protocols and Procedures for Lightning emergency action plans (EAP)
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.osha.gov) in collaboration with NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, www.noaa.gov) publish a fact sheet “Lightning Safety When Working Outdoors,” for outdoor workers, including workers in the construction industry and built environment. OSHA and NOAA warn that “lightning strikes can severely injure or kill workers whose jobs involve working outdoors.” Lightning emergency action plans (EAP) need to include the following six protocols and procedures at a minimum:
- Inform supervisors and workers to take action after hearing thunder, seeing lightning, and preceding any other warning signs of approaching thunderstorms.
- Indicate how workers get notified about lightning safety warnings, such as WeatherBuild real-time, hyper-local lightning strike detection alerts via SMS and text messages.
- Identify locations and requirements for safe shelters in the field and across the site for new construction and ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M).
- Indicate the required response times necessary for all outdoor workers to reach safe shelters in the field and across the site with geographically-distributed assets.
- Specify the protocols and procedures for suspending and resuming outdoor work activities and equipment operations due to threats of thunderstorms and lightning strikes.
- Account for the time required to evacuate site visitors, such as owner representatives, consulting engineers and project architects, and reach safe shelters.
Further, all employers must post information about lightning safety and the lightning emergency action plan (EAP), and train employees on how to follow the lightning EAP and respective lightning safety protocols and procedures.
More in the next blog post about lightning hazards and lightning safety for the construction industry and built environment…
(Source: https://www.weather.gov/media/owlie/OSHA_FS-3863_Lightning_Safety_05-2016.pdf)
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