Have you seen OSHA’s proposed ER standard? It will replace 1910.156 and encompass all aspects of emergency response, such as firefighting, fire rescue, emergency medical service, technical rescue (rope/high angle, cave, etc.), vehicle/machinery rescue, water rescue/recovery (land/shore-based, Swiftwater, underwater), search and rescue (urban, mountain, wilderness). I have gone through the proposed standard and structured it so as to make it more clear as to how it is laid out and each section’s applicability. Over the next several months I will be writing about some of the key changes this proposed standard intends to bring about in the ER field; some of which are badly needed and some which are causing all kinds of uneasiness in the PSM/RMP world. For example, this proposed rule expands the “planning” requirements in a very structured way. But here are the sections of the PROPOSED standard: