A recent SC&RA newsletter reported that a temporary enforcement policy issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration informs Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) that they should not issue citations involving proximity alarms and insulating link use with cranes and derricks in construction when workers are otherwise properly protected. The policy goes into effect July 26, 2012, and ends November 8, 2013.
In a memorandum sent to its Regional Administrators, OSHA said it had set the temporary enforcement policy because no current proximity alarm or insulating/link device meets the Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) requirements of the OSHA Cranes and Derricks standard, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC. Moreover, OSHA noted that although proximity alarms and insulating links and devices continue to be available, as they have been for decades, no NRTL is recognized by the agency “to perform the required testing to list, label or accept either type device.”
CSHOs were advised to contact the NRTL Program Office within the Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management for clarification if they encounter devices ”of unknown or questionable status or markings”. Click here for the OSHA memorandum.
