House committee postpones action on firefighter safety rule
The House of Representatives` Workforce Protections Subcommittee has postponed action on H.R. 1783 that would modify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) "two-in/two-out rule." The rule requires that two fully equipped firefighters wearing self-contained breathing apparatus remain outside a structural fire to keep track of the firefighters entering the burning building to perform any needed rescue operations. H.R. 1783 would have decreased the number of "outside" firefighters to one.
The committee originally was to move on the proposal as part of its Corrections Day process, a fast-track mechanism for eliminating "dumb, silly, and ludicrous" regulations. On July 11, the subcommittee heard testimony on the OSHA-rule proposal and two other regulations marked for elimination. Harold A. Schaitberger, executive assistant to Alfred K. Whitehead, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), testified against the change in the OSHA safety regulation.
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