In my line of work, I deal with a lot of fire departments. It almost never fails that I am told at least once while on scene that “all that OSHA stuff don’t apply to us”. In many cases this is a true statement; however, EPA has adopted OSHA’s Hazwoper standard (1910.120) and will enforce it when OSHA has no juridiction. But I also want to point out that in several states, such as in the state of Ohio, the state Bureau’s of Worker’s Compensation (BWC) actually has safety standards for those workers/employees that fall outside OSHA’s enforcement arm. We saw this a couple of years ago in Middletown, OH when a public service worker died inside a confined space; it was the OH BWC that issued the citations to the township using their own safety standards. One of the more popular myths is that firefighters do not have to be medically evaluated and have an annual fit test. As you will see, these requirements are IN FACT REQUIRED. Here is a look at the OH BWC safety rules for firefighters in the state of OH…