New OSHA Rule Could Fuel FR Growth
The flame-resistant (FR) market is about to get a boost, courtesy of a new OSHA rule that will impact electric utility companies, starting July 10.
On that date the initial phase of 29 CFR 1910 269, Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distributionwill take effect. This wide-ranging rule covers an array of safety topics related to electrical power, including flame-resistant workwear. The July 10 deadline will formalize rules for providing protective clothing to all employees who work in proximity to electrical equipment that could expose them to injuries from an arc flash incident. An arc flash happens when electricity leaves its normal path and produces tremendous heat and shock waves that can severely injure or kill an employee.
To help readers gain a better understanding of the situation,Textile Services Weekly recently interviewed two textile industry experts about the new rule. James Cliver, senior development engineer, Milliken & Co., and Josh Moody, vice president – technical services, Westex Inc., said the new regulation is not a big surprise to people in the FR field, though many in the textile services industry may be less familiar with it.
Cliver and Moody said that the rule builds on an earlier regulation dating to 1994 that called on utility companies to provide protective wear to employees, but lacked specificity. That rule was refined into a new draft rule in 2005, which formed the basis for the new rule that was announced in April.
Specifically, the rule will tighten requirements to enhance protection so that the protective clothing that utility employees wear is matched against their potential exposure to arc flash hazards. By July 10, employers must provide flame-resistant clothing to their employees where there is a risk of garment ignition.
Other changes include the fact that employees may no longer wear short sleeves of any kind, or heavyweight denim jeans. FR clothing is required for all vulnerable areas of an employees’ body. “Some utilities out there went the route of buying a flame-resistant shirt, the top, but staying with a denim jean pant, or a heavyweight cotton pant,” Moody said. “The new OSHA standard makes it very clear. It’s head-to-toe protection. There’s no exception to that. Workers exposed to potential hazards must have flame-resistant fabrics throughout the entire body. Obviously, the need is for the garment not to ignite and continue to burn. And there’s an exposure potential for all parts of the body, so just having a flame-resistant top or shirt on is simply not enough.”
By Jan. 1, 2015, OSHA will require utilities to have calculated the arc flash risk in their equipment so that they can match that rating to arc rated flame-resistant clothing that’s sufficient to handle that level of energy and protect the wearer. This can be done by applying a formula of heat energy or calories per centimeter squared. “You can calculate, based off of your power, your system, the individual equipment that the worker would be using, and receive a number, which is the estimated incident energy that they can receive,” Moody said. “Then you match that up by clothing, which is also rated to a certain amount of energy. The rating must be equal to or higher than what’s been calculated.” By April 1, 2015, all utility companies must have all of their employees who are exposed to arc flash hazards outfitted in protective workwear that’s rated to handle the level of exposure at the worksite.
These rule changes could accelerate demand for FR wear, particularly at smaller utilities that may not have tracked developments in FR protection standards as closely as their larger counterparts.
“A lot of the larger investor-owned utilities, for example Exelon and Duke Power, many of the larger companies out there have been in programs for many years,” Moody said. “This is going to probably force them just to update or upgrade their calculation methods to revisit it and make sure that they’re doing the right thing. It will affect some of the larger companies that have gone shirt only in their programs. And it most definitely will affect the smaller municipalities and rural electrics that many have not been in a program.”
One other point that the rule clarifies is this: employers must provide FR clothing to employees just as they would any other type of personal protective equipment (PPE). This requirement applies to contractors as well. In the past, employers have provided stipends or other benefits for employees to obtain their own FR clothing. The rule now makes employers directly responsible for providing this workwear. “OSHA made it very clear in both their FAQs and within the body of their standard that they consider flame-resistant clothing to be personal protective equipment,” Moody said. “Therefore, under their rules, the employer shall provide that. So that may be, as far as an effect on existing customers and existing wearers, that may be a big change for them.”
Bottom line? These regulatory changes could help make an already robust FR apparel market even stronger as utilities large and small upgrade to meet the new standards. Moody and Cliver said manufacturers already are geared up for expansion. “We’re ready to supply and I think we’ve anticipated … to be honest, this market has been growing for years,” Cliver said. “We’ve been in constant growth mode as to supplying the industry. From the OSHA standpoint, it’s a pretty big change for them. It’s what we’ve been anticipating for several years.”
Readers with additional questions about the rule should contact their FR garment suppliers for more information.