New year, new rule. As we ring out the old in 2016, we ring in the first major general industry OSHA update since the 1970s for walking-working surfaces (subpart D) and fall protection systems standards (subpart I) when a new ruling takes effect on January 17.1
Best practices in walking-working surface and fall protection have evolved over the past several decades along with continually revised national consensus standards that reflect these practices and emerging technology, but OSHA’s standards remained unchanged.2 In November 2016, though, OSHA announced a final ruling that would update and align these standards to provide greater flexibility and ultimately better protect and train general industry workers.3