Text from
the OSHA Logging Compliance Directive, CPL 2-1.22J.
Definitions and clarifications
* * *
4. Paragraph (d)(5) - Environmental Conditions
a. The final rule requires that work terminate and employees move to a place of safety
when environmental conditions create a hazard for an employee. OSHA has revised the final
rule to indicate that hazardous environmental conditions include strong winds which may
adversely affect the fall of a tree.
b. Fire is also identified as a hazardous environmental condition. However, the
standard, read in its entirety, does not require employees to leave the area any time a
fire starts. Other requirements of the standard contemplate that an employee may be called
upon to put out a fire. However, if a fire were to start in an area where there is no fire
extinguisher or other equipment or supplies which allow the employee to safely suppress
it, the employer would be responsible for assuring that employees are moved out of the
danger area. Likewise, where a fire, because of its size, intensity or the conditions of
the area, creates a hazard for an employee who remains in the area, either to work or to
attempt to suppress the fire, the employer must also assure that employees are removed
from the area of danger instead of trying to extinguish the fire. The standards on fire
protection in Subpart L of Part 1910 and not the Logging Operations standard govern the
fighting and suppression of fires at logging worksites.
* * *
Back