Benefits of the Final Rule

The Final Rule increases worker protection in many ways, as follows:

• Eliminates the hazard of workers climbing extended heights without fall protection.
• Phases in a requirement that fixed ladders over 24 feet be equipped with ladder safety or personal fall protection systems to prevent workers from falling or to stop their fall before contact with a lower level.
• Provides performance criteria for personal fall protection equipment in general industry.
• Requires the use of body harnesses, and prohibits body belts, in personal fall arrest systems to distribute fall arrest forces over a larger area of a worker's body.
• Requires that workers who use personal fall protection, and other equipment the standard covers, to be trained, and retrained as necessary, in fall and equipment hazards before they work at elevated heights or use that equipment, including fall protection systems.

The Final Rule is easier for employers to follow and provides employers with greater flexibility, as follows:

• Provides compliance flexibility for employers by increasing the fall protection options employers may use.
• Provides greater consistency between OSHA's general industry standards and construction standards, which makes compliance easier for employers who perform both general industry and construction activities.
• Incorporates advances in technology, industry best practices, and national consensus standards, which provide employers with effective and cost-efficient measures to protect workers.
• Replaces outdated specification requirements with performance-based language and criteria, which provides greater flexibility and makes the Final Rule easier for employers and workers to understand and follow.

To learn more about Walking Working Surfaces visit our Walking Working Surfaces & Personal Fall Protection Systems Online Training web page.