The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which would update the National Consensus

Standard in its Eye and Face Protection standard. The proposed changes will impact the general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, longshoring, and construction eye and face protection standards.

This proposed rule change will look to incorporate the three most recent updates to the American

National Standards Institute Occupational and Educational Eye and Face Protection standard.

This will attempt to make the workplace safer and harmonize all standards and policies, making for an easier approach to audit-friendliness. However, it is important to review the proposed changes to see what impact it will have on your business.

And unfortunately if you incorporate eye and/or face protection at your jobsite, it might mean that your personal protective equipment safety plans and procedures need to be updated to align with the changes. If you are unsure of how these changes will impact your business, it is important to contact a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm to help you understand what needs to change should these rule changes take place. This is not something you want to be reactive about; it is important to stay in front of these rules changes.

If you have any questions about the proposed rule change or how it might impact you, or if you have any questions about occupational safety and health in general, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the changes, please leave a comment.