BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                 Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
                              Senator Ben Hueso, Chair

          Date of Hearing: June 25, 2014               2013-2014 Regular  
          Session                              
          Consultant: Alma Perez-Schwab                Fiscal:Yes
                                                       Urgency: No
          
                                  Bill No: AB 2146
                                   Author: Skinner
                        As Introduced/Amended: June 17, 2014
          

                                       SUBJECT
          
                         Occupational safety: firefighters 


                                     KEY ISSUES

          Should the Legislature encourage continuous review of standards  
          for firefighters' personal protective equipment to ensure that  
          they are providing the greatest degree of protection?  

          Should the Legislature require that the Occupational Safety and  
          Health Standards Board review new standards adopted by the  
          National Fire Protection Association to determine if these  
          standards provide a greater degree of protection to CA  
          firefighters, and if so, consider modifying our standards to  
          ensure the highest protection possible?


                                      ANALYSIS
          
           The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973  was  
          enacted to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for all  
          California workers by, among other things, authorizing the  
          enforcement of effective standards as well as assisting and  
          encouraging employers to maintain safe and healthful working  
          conditions. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health  
          (DOSH, also known as Cal/OSHA), within the state Department of  
          Industrial Relations (DIR), is charged with enforcing  
          occupational health and safety laws, orders, and standards,  
          including the investigation of alleged violations of those  
          provisions. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board,  
          also within DIR, is the entity tasked with promoting, adopting  









          and maintaining reasonable and enforceable standards that ensure  
          a safe and healthful workplace for CA workers. 
           
          Existing regulations  establish standards for the minimum  
          requirements of personal protective clothing and equipment for  
          firefighters when exposed to the hazards of firefighting  
          activities and training activities involving a hazardous  
          environment.  Employers are responsible for ensuring  
          availability, maintenance, and use of all protective clothing  
          and equipment in accordance with specified Orders. (CA Code of  
          Regulations, Title 8, Section §3401) 
           
          This Bill  would encourage continuous review of standards for  
          firefighters' personal protective equipment (PPE) by requiring  
          that the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board  
          (Standards Board) follow specified tasks.  Specifically, this  
          bill would:  

             1)   Require the Standards Board, within 30 days of the  
               adoption by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)  
               of new standards for firefighters' personal protective  
               equipment, to commence a review of existing regulations for  
               personal protective clothing and equipment to determine if  
               the new NFPA standards provide a greater degree of  
               protection to a firefighter.

             2)   Provide that if the Standards Board determines that new  
               NFPA standards adopted provide a greater degree of  
               protection, it shall consider modifying existing  
               regulations to reflect the NFPA standards as a new safety  
               standard for all employers of firefighters in CA.  



                                      COMMENTS

          1.  National Fire Protection Association: 

            The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an  
            international nonprofit organization established in 1896  
            comprised of firefighter professionals, industry  
            representatives, and others concerned with fire safety.  
            According to the NFPA website, the organization's mission is  
          Hearing Date:  June 25, 2014                             AB 2146  
          Consultant: Alma Perez-Schwab                            Page 2

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            to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on  
            the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus  
            codes and standards, research, training, and education.  NFPA  
            develops, publishes and disseminates over 300 codes and  
            standards that are designed to minimize the risk and effects  
            of fire by establishing criteria for building, processing,  
            design, service, and installation in the United States, as  
            well as many other countries.  

            The NFPA also establishes minimum requirements related to fire  
            prevention and suppression activities, including Personal  
            Protective Equipment (PPE) standards. According to NFPA, in  
            order to ensure the optimum protection of firefighters,  
            regardless of condition, PPE should be updated at least every  
            five years and pulled from the field after ten years, which  
            equates to two NFPA standard cycles. Adherence to the NFPA  
            standards, as well as to a PPE retirement criteria is crucial  
            to ensuring that the clothing and equipment used by  
            firefighters is as up-to-date as possible.  NFPA states that  
            fire protection entities that ascribe to such criteria  
            ultimately are able to better protect their first responders  
            by reducing or eliminating altogether those on-the-job  
            injuries that can otherwise be attributed to the use of  
            outdated or inadequate PPE.

          2.  Need for this bill?

            The Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board is a  
            seven-member body appointed by the Governor whose objective is  
            to adopt reasonable and enforceable standards at least as  
            effective as federal standards. Under current law, all  
            employers in California are required to provide, at minimum,  
            Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for their employees who  
            engage in firefighting activities that meet specified  
            standards adopted by the Standards Board. According to the  
            author and sponsors of this measure, with respect to some of  
            the firefighting PPE standards, such as head, hand and wrist  
            protections, the standards have not been updated by the Board  
            in over 25 years. Other state PPE standards, such as  
            respiratory and body protections have not been updated by the  
            Board in roughly 15 years.  
            
            The Blue Ribbon Commission Task Force, an 18-member  
          Hearing Date:  June 25, 2014                             AB 2146  
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            independent panel of fire service professional that was  
            established by the Governor after the fires of 2003, was  
            created to review efforts to fight the State's 2003 wildfires  
            and provide recommendations to policy makers on ways to help  
            prevent destruction from future fires.  In January 2008, the  
            Task Force published a report summarizing the most critical  
            issues facing the fire service and the State of California -  
            emphasizing that fire protection and prevention is an urgent  
            need that cannot wait for the next catastrophic disaster.  In  
            its report, the task force, among other things, recommended  
            that for those California fire agencies charged with  
            responding to Wildland Urban Interface incidents, the current  
            standards found in Title 8 governing Personal Protective  
            Equipment for firefighters needed to be updated to adequately  
            reflect firefighter PPE needs when responding to emergencies.

            As such, the author and sponsors of this bill believe this  
            measure is necessary to ensure that firefighter personal  
            protective clothing and equipment (PPE) standards are  
            up-to-date, thereby resulting in a direct and critical effect  
            of reducing the number of job-caused injuries and illnesses  
            sustained by firefighters due to outdated, inadequate PPE.

          3.  Proponent Arguments  :
            
            According to the author, whether mitigating a fire, emergency  
            medical situation, hazardous materials incident or terrorist  
            attack, a firefighter's only means of protection is his or her  
            Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The PPE worn by  
            firefighters is intended to provide protection from the  
            harmful and often deadly outside environment.  Unfortunately,  
            the author argues, some of the standards governing this  
            equipment have not been updated for many years. Meanwhile,  
            proponents argue, technological advances have brought to  
            market many safer and more effective alternatives for  
            firefighter PPE.  

            According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were  
            451,500 non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses in  
            California reported in 2012. Proponents argue that such  
            workplace injuries and illnesses cause an enormous amount of  
            physical, financial and emotional hardship for workers and  
            their families. According to proponents, CalOSHA is  
          Hearing Date:  June 25, 2014                             AB 2146  
          Consultant: Alma Perez-Schwab                            Page 4

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            responsible for the protection of workers from job-related  
            health and safety hazards in almost every workplace in  
            California, including firefighters, by using research to  
            create and enforce standards that keep workers safe.  
            Therefore, proponents argue, requiring that the Standards  
            Board review existing regulations for firefighter PPE will  
            help ensure that our workers are wearing the most protective  
            gear available to ensure their safety. This bill encourages  
            the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to bring  
            firefighter personal protective clothing and equipment (PPE)  
            standards up-to-date, thereby resulting in a direct and  
            critical effect of reducing the number of job-caused injuries  
            and illnesses sustained by firefighters due to outdated,  
            inadequate PPE.


          4.  Opponent Arguments  :

            None received. 

          5.  Prior Legislation  :

            AB 2184 (De Leon) of 2008:  Held in Assembly Appropriations  
            Committee 
            This bill would have required the Occupational Safety and  
            Health Standards Board to review and adopt revised state  
            regulations that are at a minimum in conformance with the NFPA  
            PPE standards by December 31, 2009.  Unlike AB 2184, this bill  
            (AB2146) requires the review of CA standards when a new NFPA  
            PPE standard is adopted but only encourages the Standards  
            Board to consider modifying state regulations to reflect these  
            updates. 



                                       SUPPORT
          
          California Professional Firefighters (Sponsor)
          California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
          California Nurses Association
          California State Firefighters' Association
           
          
          Hearing Date:  June 25, 2014                             AB 2146  
          Consultant: Alma Perez-Schwab                            Page 5

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                                     OPPOSITION
          
          None received 








































          Hearing Date:  June 25, 2014                             AB 2146  
          Consultant: Alma Perez-Schwab                            Page 6

          Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations