Fire extinguishers and toeboards in home construction

April 19, 1993

Mr. Bob Masterson
Manager of Safety and Loss Control
Ryland Building Company
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Masterson:

This is in response to your November 20 letter requesting comments on your proposals for compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard that addresses portable firefighting equipment (29 CFR 1926.150(c)), and a determination of whether or not a 1 1/2-inch high bottom plate on a studded wall meets the intent of the toeboard requirement for falling object protection. I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiries.

With regard to your proposal concerning the placement of fire extinguishers, please be advised that the provisions at 29 CFR 1926.150 are oriented towards large structures where a fire in one part or level of a building could trap employees in another part who are unaware of the hazard and egress is difficult. In such situations, sufficient fire fighting equipment is necessary to fight the fire. In smaller structures, such as houses under 3000 square feet, the awareness factor and escape factor are different. In such situations, the equipment is necessary to help employees quickly eliminate a small fire and to help them escape. The fire equipment is not required by OSHA in order to save the house. Consequently, an extinguisher located in a truck and not in the house does not satisfy OSHA's concerns. If employees can get to the truck, they are safe and there is no need to reenter the burning house. However, in small buildings under 3000 square feet in size when activities do not present fire hazards (e.g. welding, cutting, open flame heaters), OSHA would consider one fire extinguisher, centrally located within 100 feet of all crews, to be a "de minimis" violation of paragraph 1926.150. A "de minimis" violation is one that has no direct or immediate relationship to employee safety and health. Of course, the extinguisher does not have to be in the house when no employees are in the house.

With regard to whether a 1 1/2-inch high bottom plate would meet the intent of OSHA's existing toeboard requirements, please be advised that it would not. However, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Subpart M -- Fall Protection, issued November 25, 1986 (51 FR 42718), recognizes in paragraph .501(e), copy enclosed, that toeboards would not be required if the potential fall objects are placed away from the edge of the floor a distance sufficient to prevent them from going over the edge should they be accidentally displaced such as by kicking. This proposed paragraph has not yet become final, but compliance with this proposed paragraph in the situation you describe would be considered by OSHA to be a "de minimis" violation of existing paragraph 29 CFR 1926.500(c)(1)(ii).

If we can be of any further assistance, please contact me or Mr. Dale Cavanaugh of my staff at (202) 219-8136.

Sincerely,
Roy Gurnham, P.E., Esq.
Director
Office of Construction and Maritime
Compliance Assistance

Enclosure

[Requester letter reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]