New regulations proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have local fire companies worried.

The proposed change to the Fire Brigades Standard would update the organization’s 44-year-old regulation and expand protections to emergency medical service agencies and companies, first aid squads, and other areas or groups not originally included.

The Federal Register, the Daily Journal of the United States Government, states in its summary that “the new standard [Emergency Response] would address a broader scope of emergency responders and would include programmatic elements to protect emergency responders from a variety of occupational hazards.”

David Denniston, second vice president of the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York, explained that the update includes a 608-page document outlining why firefighting is hazardous and the reasoning for the increase in safety regulations. The last 40 pages of the document detail the rules that fire departments and EMS services would be required to follow.

Denniston further explained that within the new rules, fire departments would have to follow National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, which would now become the rule. The NFPA is recognized as a self-funded nonprofit founded in 1896 dedicated to eliminating death, injury, property, and economic loss from fire, electrical, and other related hazards. The organization’s impact and reach are now recognized worldwide.

However, the addition of these standards adds more rules and regulations that agencies must follow and comply with, and it leaves room for interpretation. Concerns grow over civil liabilities in the event of an injury or death. In the OSHA proposal, the level of change in the regulations is concerning for Denniston.

In December, the fire service organizations in New York met when the proposal was released to digest, understand, and communicate with all members of the organizations. “One of our biggest concerns is they’ve [OSHA] made this a one-size-fits-all rule that applies to industrial fire brigades, career fire departments, volunteer fire departments, and EMS agencies, and each one of those different agencies or organizations is run completely differently,” said Denniston.

“There are a number of things in here that a large municipal career fire department may be able to comply with, but we think they would have trouble complying with a lot of the things that are in here,” Denniston continued. “You take that down to a small, rural volunteer fire service organization, and just the scope and requirements of this are overwhelming for those organizations, which would leave them with two choices. Either they continue to operate and ignore the fact that they are not in compliance with the federal regulation, or they would have to close the operation. Neither option is good for your local community.”

The immediate area has several active volunteer fire departments. These organizations have seen a decline in volunteers and are actively recruiting.

“Our problem is that when OSHA refers to NFPA, NFPA leaves a lot to be interpreted by whoever, and if they don’t like the interpretation or think you’re wrong, they take you to court,” said Cronomer Valley Commissioner Donald Greene.

“Whether it’s volunteer or paid, it’s very difficult to go through all the information and have an intelligent opinion on it by the end of the second comment period, which (was) July 22,” said Quassaick Bridge Fire District Commissioner David Wolfe.