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Author: Benjamin Bibik

OSHA


OSHA recently published significant changes to OHSA 1910.156 which has the potential to dramatically change the face of the US and NYS Fire Service. The proposed changes are in a 90-day (ends May 6th) comment period and require immediate action by your fire service organization. The 608-page document published by OSHA contains data and compelling stories as to why the changes are needed. While we 100% agree with firefighter safety and everything that can be done to improve it, we feel the financial and time-consuming changes in the standard will have negative impacts on the fire service organizations and will actually decrease the already struggling number of firefighters and may force many to leave the service. We also question the reliability of some of the data and theories used to produce this proposal. There are immediate actions that all fire service organizations could take that would have immediate impacts on firefighter safety and be of little or no expense to the AHJ. Several of these areas have been untouched by the proposed standard while costly and time-consuming requirements have made their way into the proposed regulation. 22 NFPA standards are now included in the proposed OSHA standard by reference. This means that any place the NVFA standard says “shall” or “must” the AHJ would be responsible for including them. There are another 14 NFPA standards that are included in part. The bottom line is these changes would have major implications for every AHJ, Officer, and firefighter in NYS. Our concern here is not unfunded mandates and possible fines, our biggest concern is the liability this will now place on organizations that have a firefighter death or injury. This proposed standard leaves the doors wide open for litigation and settlements at a level we have never seen.

AFDSNY hosted a webinar on Saturday morning 2/22/24 that explained the process and shed some light on the changes. We have made a copy of that webinar recording available for you to watch.  

Do you need help or ideas drafting your own public comment letter? 2nd VP Denniston has posted his and made it available to view. 

Denniston Proposed OSHA Public Comment Letter
 

To Submit A Comment visit: Federal Register : Emergency Response Standard 

(There will be a big green button reading “Submit A Formal Comment” at the top of the page)


Looking for a list of Freqently Asked Questions? Click Here

UPDATE (03-28-24: OSHA is extending the period for submitting comments by 45 days (ends JUNE 21st) to allow stakeholders interested in the NPRM on Emergency Response additional time to review the NPRM and collect information and data necessary for comment.
Source: Federal Register


We are asking that every AHJ in NYS assign someone to start reading the proposed standard and that every AHJ file a comment with specific information on the financial burden and hardships that would create for your municipality. This week alone, I have had conversations with representatives from USSBA, FEMA, PESH, state and local fire service organizations, and both NYS State and Federal elected officials. ALL of these have expressed concerns that this would have major impacts on how fire service is delivered here in NYS. The clock is ticking and we only have until May 6th to have our voices heard. The importance of immediate action of every AHJ can simply not be overstated. Both your boards and legal counsel should be included in your conversations.

        The document can be found here: Emergency Response Standard; Proposed Rule | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)

        The heart of the proposed regulation is here: Section 1910.156, Emergency Response (osha.gov)

        Additional US Department of Labor resources: Emergency Response Rulemaking | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)

        Informational webinar by OSHA Training Institute (1.5 hr.):  https://oshaedne.com/webinar-emergency-response-rule/        Informational webinar by NVFC (1.0 hr.): Proposed OSHA Emergency Response Standard Update and What It Means for Volunteer Fire Departments

        Informational webinar by NVFC: Q&A pdf document

        Additional information at:  Home – Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York (afdsny.org)

        Template of Public Comment Format: Word Document for Download

Presentations:
 

    To View a copy of the Initial Webinar Recording:  Click Here
            Initial Coffee with Commissions Presentation: Presentation
    April 4th Presentation: Click Here to View
    April 10th Presentation: Click Here to View

 

What Does This Mean For Us? Highlighter Project: 

 
To understand the impact that this proposed standard would have on your organization, we recommend that each organization download the heart of the new standard.
 
Here is the link erp-draft-reg.pdf (osha.gov)
 
Print the document out and grab at least three different highlighters.
 
Use one color ( use green or no color at all) to highlight the parts of this standard that you feel your organization is already doing. One example is if you are already using spotters each time you back a vehicle, use one color that will show you are already doing this.  
 
Use the second color to highlight areas that you are currently not doing, but could do fairly easily with a reasonable amount of time or expense to your organization. Say for example you currently do not have different classes of physicals for your members but feel you could implement a schedule of physicals for each member depending on what they did for your organization. Classes of members might include interior, exterior, driver, firepolice, EMS, and officer.
 
Use the third color (orange is a good one for this) to highlight areas that you currently are not doing but with moderate time or expense, you feel that you could and should probably be doing.  An example of this category might be awareness level training for all members for any type of call you may be called on (swift water rescue, high angle rescue, confined space rescue, electric substation awareness, etc)
 
Now use the last color (Red or pink is a good one) to highlight things that you feel would be cost-prohibitive or very difficult for your organization to implement. An example of this may be establishing a physical fitness program geared to each class of member, overseen by someone certified to conduct such a program.
 
From this exercise, start to establish some different lists with bullet points by priority. Make one list of items from your red group and provide facts and figures as to why this would be difficult for you to meet the standard. By using the example above this might look like – The XYZ Fire District currently has no workout facility to do this. Cost estimates are $150,000 for the equipment and a certified trainer would cost us $67,000 a year. There is no gym in our community that we could send our members to and the closest gym costs $240 a year times our 50 members, this would cost us $12000 a year. We have an annual budget of $179,000 per year.
 
The second list could be your orange category. Your bullet point might look like this – We would need to implement awareness-level training in 7 categories that we currently haven’t covered. We have reached out to Johnny Firefighter Training LLC and they have given us a quote of $26,000 to get all of our members trained up to the awareness level standard.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above of purely an example and made-up numbers. Each organization will have different lists depending on what you are already doing, the resources available, and the hazards in your community. This is not a one-size-fits-all standard, so only you can determine what is doable and what is a pain point.  
 
Now use these lists to build your comment to the proposed standard. Remember that DATA, FACTS, and EXAMPLES are key. We need EVERY organization to do this self-assessment and file a comment before May 5th.
 
Thank you for your help and concerns.   

MEETING NOTICE – TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH, 2020

The New York State Fire Service Council

DATE:              TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH, 2020
TIME                10:00 A.M.
LOCATION      Town of Colonie Fire Training Facility, upper classroom

As a valuable contributor you are being invited to the next Fire Service Council meeting.  If you have dates and locations of upcoming events it would be very helpful to the Secretary if you submitted them in writing on the day of the meeting, it’s very difficult to capture the accurate information you wish to convey during the meeting.

If you have an idea for a guest speaker or a particular topic that needs to be focused upon please submit a request in writing so that it can be scheduled and the proper amount of time can be allocated during the meeting.  Our goal is cooperation, coordination and communication.

Our Additional Responsibility for 2020 will be the following:

As a function of the discussions related to “Creating an Evolving Fire Service Staffing Model”, we will be discussing several topics and forming sub-committees as an expanded role of the Fire Service Council.  This initiative was born out of several years of discussion related to the challenges being encountered by the volunteer and career fire service models in our State.  The earliest analysis of this problem began in 1987 with a white paper entitled The Future of the Fire Service in New York State under the auspices of Frank Stefanelli, Jim King and O. Jerry Clark.  Most recently a series of meetings was held with the fire service organizations and OFPC which was called “Moving Forward” and more recently a series of facilitated discussions lead by Chief Marc Bashoor and Chief John Buckman which took us beyond recruitment and retention.  One thing we all agree on is that we have a challenge, called adequate staffing, and we must take steps to provide guidance to fire departments across the state to address the problem.  At the most recent meeting of the organization’s representatives it was suggested that since almost all the representatives in the room also attended the Fire Council and I was named group facilitator it would be a wise use of time to continue the discussion in coordination with the Council meetings which also included other key members such as OFPC and divine guidance from members of the Chaplains Association.

Thank you we look forward to seeing you or your representative.

Tom Rinaldi, Chairman

Proposed By-law change

Proposed change shall read as follows:

All proposed changes must be submitted to the by-law committee in writing, at least Thirty (30) days before the Annual meeting, for review, and then distributed to the general membership at the annual meeting. Said proposed change shall be posted on the NY-SAFE website prior to the meeting for general membership to review.

Respectfully submitted ,

Bob Reed President

A reminder that there are requirements in NYS that all commercial businesses were required to have carbon monoxide detection in their buildings by June 27, 2016. These may be found in the NYS Uniform code supplement, Chapter 7, section 915.3 at the following link

Just how dangerous are portable space heaters?

Space heaters can warm up a chilly room. But beware.  There are a wide variety and number of them on the market, and have been around for decades.  BUT they can be dangerous, even deadly if not used safely.  They account for one-third of all home-heating fires each year, and more than 80 percent of home-heating fire deaths.  By following safety tips, you can assure a happier and warm outcome from their use.  You should also consider replacing older ones, since like anything they will have parts that wear out over time, even electric ones.

  1. NEVER place any space heater within 3’ of items that can burn, like clothe, paper products, wood, etc.
  2. Only use them while home of in the office
  3. Always plug directly into the socket — don’t use an extension cord
  4. If fossil fuel fired ( natural gas, propane, fuel oil) make sure they are UL listed for unvented use
  5. Newer units have tip-sensors which will turn them off if they tip over
  6. If it uses any type of fuel, fill it outside
  7. Use of electric heaters may pose a shock hazard if near water or they have a frayed cord
  8. Do NOT overload electrical circuits with multiple heaters
  9. Portable heaters may get HOT, and pose a hazard of burn, especially to small children

If the need arises for using space heaters, please do it safely.  The NYS 2015 Fire Code prohibits using unvented portable kerosene heaters in sleeping rooms, bathrooms, storage or toilet rooms.  Also they are prohibited from use in use groups A, E, I, R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4 occupancies.  Fire Code 603.4 and NYS 2015 Mechanical code 922.2 as amended by the 2016 Uniform Supplement

2018 Regional Minutes

NEW YORK STATE FIRE SERVICE COUNCIL MARCH 20, 2018 Meeting held on Tuesday March 20th, 2018 at Colonie Training Center. Meeting opened at 1004 hours with a salute to the flag led by John Farrell and an opening prayer for sick and departed members led by Ken Palmer. MMSPVV to accept minutes of previous meeting printed and distributed with corrections. MMSPVV to accept treasures report as read, $1723.83 in account Chairmen’s report: Chairman Jacobowitz thanked all for attending. OFPC: Chief Jim Cable of OFPC reported proposed capital projects at Montour Falls includes building renovations, apparatus building constructing and parking lot renovations. Swift- water evolution project near completion in Oriskany. Newly trained personnel to be assigned to Oriskany for all training evolutions. Possible meeting in Oriskany to tour and inspect swift- water evolution. Haz-mat training in April in Montour Falls, 21 in training class, five year arson special ops. NYS Chiefs: Association all set for Turning Stone in June, moving to Syracuse in 2019. Chiefs are out of the hotel business and are using Syracuse training center for conference in 2019. Working on producing white paper at Oswego College on millennials. Working on proposals in counties for merges and consolidation. Sprinkler grant program growing by using PSA’S. EMS cost recovery bill moving forward. Legislative Day, May 15th, shorter program, meeting room 7 in Egg. NYS Fire Coordinators: No report NYS Fire Districts: Dennis Grenele new Region 11 Director. Annual meeting at workshop in April in Albany. Numerous by-law changes to be presented to membership. Looking to have volunteer resource summit to discuss problems with volunteer fire service needing solutions and proposals to many concerns. United concerns issues being worked on. On-site commissioner training around state, one in June. Regional training in Regions 5 & 6 and will have others around the state. Fall workshop in Niagara Falls in 2019. NYS FIRE SAFETY EDUCATORS: May 4th- 6 annual Public Education Training in Montour Falls. NYS FIRE POLICE: Frank Guarino under the weather. May 3-6 Fire Police conference in Niagara Falls, Oct 12-13 in No. Queensbury. Spring meeting March 1-2, 2019 in Newburgh. Fire Police training class went well in Montour Falls. 21 hour course still being used around state, 4 hour refresher class for Fire Police has limited availability. NYS FIRE CHAPLAINS; Annual meeting April 15-18 in Plainview, LI. “Tolerance” theme for conference, will visit holocaust museum in Glen Cove. Recruiting chaplains across the state to be trained as volunteer chaplains to help all fire service around the state. Lay chaplains can be used, we will train them. FASNY: Annual convention Aug. 8-11. Registration forms available with July 10 cutoff for housing and training forums. May 1st, cutoff for request for convention booth. Working on cancer gap insurance, RFP process nearing completion with 4 proposals being considered. Each insurance company will take physicals from departments and premium will be under $300. Committee is aware of precise timeline for districts budget concerns. Recruit NY April 28-29, all info on line. Recruit vehicle on the road and will be at community, fire and EMS events across the state. Working on new commercials, “Is There a Fire in You” for the SAFER Grant. NFFF: 13 Line-of-Duty Deaths to date. Cardiac seminar in Washington. NFFF studying effects of firefighting on fire fighters during alarms, will produce white paper discussing this major health issue. Requesting response policies of departments to be sent to Shawn Brimhall. Drop out in academy class due to fitness concerns. NFPA 3000 out for public comments. Discussing emergency fire response to incidents, traffic incidents and proposing stay clear action, ability to move vehicles at accident scenes occurring without injury. OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: MMSPVV to send gift to Frank Guarino. MMSPVV to adjourn meeting at 1120 hours Next meeting Wednesday May 16th, 2018 at the Colonie Training Center, we will use the building on the west end of the facility. Respectfully submitted, Robert McConville, Council Secretary

2014 Meeting Minutes

NY SAFE Spring meeting March 31, 2018

The spring meeting was called to order by President Reed at 9 am.

The minutes from the annual meeting were read and a motion by Tim Thomas was made to accept as read seconded by Frank motion passed.

Tim Thomas made the motion to pay all bills associated with this meeting and any expenses related to the mailing of the membership renewals. Seconded by Jerry Wheeler motion passed

Treasurer report: attached to this report. Membership secretary report: attached to these minutes.

Director’s reports:

Rich: not much going on. He did speak with Lillian Wood and she did state she was pretty busy and wouldn’t be able to help. Rich said he will continue to look for help. He has updated his web site on the NY-SAFE website. He will continue to help with school programs as time allows.Tim T. June 5, 2018 is the Oneida County Fire Safety Expo. Not much else is going on, is scheduled for surgery again and won’t be at Pub Ed. Tom B(past president) Tom and Frank are still going to the Joint council meeting and is sending the minutes to Lisa to forward to the board. The legislation is on hold until some questions are answered. Bob Reed stated he isn’t getting any help moving it forward. The bill is in law but the financial committee is holding it up. Frank: report attached to these minutes. The Chaplin’s are reporting that they too are having trouble finding people to join. They will take anyone that is interested.Jerry: Senator O’Mara proposed a bill that if any fire fighter is hurt during a fire at suspected meth lab the crime would now be Arson in the 1st degree. It is in the third printing should be law soon. Mary K Appy to us the my safe home program for the program he has been working on. It is a good program already done just a few things to be added. We need to market it to the insurance companies to get them on board. Lisa made a motion that Jerry give Mary K a dead line to give him a price on the program already written. He can then shop it around to insurance companies. If it works we can ask for a percentage of any money they collect. Tim T seconded motion passed. New board members were welcomed: Joe Nemier was introduced as the new director from the central area. He will be taking over for Steve Yaciuk who stepped down due to lack of time. Jason Benn who comes to us from Canada. He will take over from Dave Blizzard who has retired. Rick Nemier made the motion to appoint Joe to fill out Steve’s spot and then run in May. He amended to include appointing Jason also. This is not a voted director spot. Tim Thomas seconded motion passed.Presidents Report: over the last three years some thing were accomplished and some were not. Thanks to all for the help and support and wishes Rich F well.

Bob reports that the plaque is finally up on the wall at the academy and he has emailed the mission statement to them and that should be up by Pub Ed as well.

Bob will email everyone the pass word and instruction on how to get on the web site and update your spot.Just a reminder that dues should be paid prior to elections in May.

T-shirt blanket: thanks to all who sent Lisa shirts. The blanket is done and now we need tickets. Jason offered to print up tickets and bring with him to Pub Ed. Since some of the activities are off site we should be able to sell tickets at Pub Ed this year.

Bob brought up that in Mass. There is legislation that upon a closing on a house that the fire dept do a walk through to inspect for smoke alarms and co detector. Bob proposed this to be our next project to get this in NY also. Jerry had a few questions, training of fire fighters to do these inspections and set a universal price for the cost of doing these inspections and explain where the money goes.

Tom would like information on this to take to joint council, Bob will get it to him. A discussion ensued.

NY-SAFE educational scholarship:

Lisa brought up that she and Rick N have been working on a scholarship to the Pub Ed conference. The idea is to encourage people to attend the conference. It is aimed at people who can’t get their fire dept to pay. Lisa has a criteria typed up and will send it out to the board for approval. The hope is that the raffle of the blanket will fund this over time.

Jerry suggested that we ask the fire dept cover 25.00 of the cost of the conference. The scholarship would cover the rest. The cost of the conference runs around 110.00. Lisa brought up naming it the Mike Finneran scholarship, Rich F said he would try and reach out to Mikes kids and see if they are ok with the idea. For now it will be named The NY-SAFE educational fund.

Tom made the motion that Rick N sent aside 200.00 now ( cost of the having the blanket made (75.00) plus 125.00) seconded by Jerry motion passed.

Tim Thomas made the motion to move forward with this seconded by Joe N motion passed. Jason said that his wife Amy will be donating a hand made quilt for next years raffle. A huge thank you to Amy!

Slate of officers for next year:

Pres: Jerry nominated Rich F seconded by Bob R motion passed

V.Pres: Tom B nominated Jerry W seconded by Frank F motion passed Membership Bob Reineke, Bob sent a letter saying he would like to run again. Rick N made the motion to accept his letter seconded by Tom B motion passed. Treasurer: Frank F nominated Rick N seconded by Lisa motion passed Secretary: Bob nominated Lisa S seconded by Rick N motion passed. East: Bob nominated Frank F seconded by Tim T motion passed West: Lisa S nominated Bob Reed seconded by Jerry motion passed Central :Rick N nominated Joe Nemier seconded by Lisa motion passed North Central :Rick N nominated Tim Thomas seconded by Rich F motion passed Hudson is still open.

The annual meeting will be held at the Pub Ed conference on Friday night at 5 with the room to be announced there.

Good of the Order: Tom a motion that the spring meeting be moved to the Syracuse area since the majority of the board lives closer to that area. And that the meeting be held in late February or early March. Seconded by Frank motion passed.

By law change: Article V line 4 change 90 day prior to meeting to 30 days. For by law changes. Some discussion. The motion was made by Bob Reed seconded by Joe N motion passed . Bob will write it up.

Meeting adjourned at 11:55

Motion to adjourn made by Tim T seconded by Frank F motion passed

Respectfully submitted Lisa Shellman, Secretary, NY-SAFE

NY-SAFE Annual meeting May 5, 2017 The annual meeting of NY-SAFE was called to order by President Bob Reed at 6pm

Following the pledge of Allegiance the minutes from the spring meeting were read and a motion by Tom Burns was made to accept as read seconded by Rich Frasco motion passed

The treasures report was unchanged from the spring meeting so a motion was made Rich Frasco to accept as read the month before seconded by Tom Burns motion passed.

Presidents report: not much to report since last month. Bob has been updating the web site as people send him stuff and now has it so even google chrome users can access their areas and update it.

Vice President: no report. Has been attending the joint council meetings

Membership Secretary; see attached

Directors reports:

Rich: not much going on. Was going to reach out to Lillian from Oak hill Durham about taking over his Hudson valley spot but believed she’d be too busy with her fasny work also but will check with her. Steve Y: has been asked by Lisa to do a program for the preschoolers at the state chief’s conference in June.

Frank: sent some information to Bob Reed to go on web site about hoarding and the fire service. There is some good information on there.

Tim Thomas: has had surgery to repair shoulder injury and will be laid up for a bit. Will keep us posted on his progress. Al: no report sent but will be stepping down.

Past President: Tom and Bob Reineke have new art work for the new application should have them by state chiefs in June. Joint council agrees that they are having communication problems with each other and are looking to do better moving forward.

Jerry: working on the final pieces of program and will be contacting insurance companies soon. Bob Reed said he would reach out to state farm and some others. Jerry will reach out to vfis.

Jerry will also get the information to Tom Burns so that he can bring it back to Joint council. The next joint council meeting will be June 8th and Rick Nemier said he was hoping to attend also.

No old business

New Business NoneGood of the order; Tom Burns made a motion that the president seek a new Canadian liaison for NY SAFE seconded by Tim Boel motion passed. Rick Nemier suggested Bob reach out to Jason Benn who was attending the conference.

Bob Reed stated that he had a brass trumpet that he will be donating for the raffle and handed out tickets. The drawing will be in June at State Chiefs.

Election of officers:

Tim Boel made the motion that the secretary cast one vote for al unopposed offices except the secretary position seconded by Tom Burns motion passed.

Tim Boel made the motion that the President cast one vote for the position of secretary seconded by Frank Fiato motion passed.

Officers elected:

President: Bob Reed

Vice President: Rich Frasco

Membership secretary: Bob Reineke

Treasurer: Rick Nemier

Secretary: Lisa Shellman

West Central Director Jerry WheelerPast President Tim Boel gave the oath of office.

Motion to adjourn made by Rick Nemier seconded by Rich Frasco motion passed

Meeting adjourned 6:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted: Lisa Shellman, Secretary NY-SAFE