After eight years of work,
OSHA has finally produced a
new fall protection standard
for construction. According to
the new rule, due to take effect
in February, whenever workers
are more than 6 feet off the
ground, contractors must provide
measures like guardrails,
safety nets, lifelines, and body
harnesses.
Builders have long objected
that hassling with gadgets such
as lifelines or safety nets complicates
the job — and even
increases the dangers. The surprise
this time is that OSHA
agrees. Residential builders
helped write the new OSHA
rules, and residential job sites
are treated as a special case.
Home builders will not always
need to provide physical fall
protection.
In fact, OSHA even names
some of the times when physical
fall protection devices may
not be the