TIP OF THE WEEK

November 16, 2007

Did you know...?

On November 14th the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

announced a final rule on employer-paid personal protective equipment (PPE). This final rule will clarify who is

responsible for paying for PPE, which OSHA anticipates will lead to greater compliance and potential

avoidance of thousands of workplace injuries each year.  Under the rule, all PPE, with a few exceptions, will

be provided at no cost to the employee.  OSHA anticipates that this rule will have substantial safety benefits that

will result in more than 21,000 fewer occupational injuries per year.  The rule is published at www.osha.gov.

The final rule contains a few exceptions for ordinary safety-toed footwear, ordinary prescription safety eyewear,

logging boots, ordinary clothing and weather-related gear.  The final rule also clarifies OSHA's

requirements regarding payment for employee-owned PPE and replacement PPE.  While these clarifications

have added several paragraphs to the regulatory text, the final rule provides employees no less protection than

they would have received under the 1999 proposed standard.

The rule also provides an enforcement deadline of six months from the date of publication to allow employers

time to change their existing PPE payment policies to accommodate the final rule.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and

healthful workplaces for their employees.  OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's

working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education;

establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health.

For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.  U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the

Internet at http://www.dol.gov.

To learn more about services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services Team

at (816) 559-6306 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us

*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*

OHS-COMPCARE has eight (8) area clinical facilities:

Blue Springs Clinical Facility	Independence Clinical Facility	Johnson County Clinical Facility	St. Joseph Clinical Facility
801 NW St. Mary’s Drive	19000 E. Eastland Center Crt, St. 200	10415 Lackman Road	904 Edmond Street
Blue Springs, MO 64104	Independence, MO 64055	Lenexa, KS 66219	St. Joseph, MO 64501
816-224-9121	816-478-9299	913-495-9905	816-233-7702
	After Hours Available

KCMO/Broadway Clinical Facility	KCMO/Front Street Clinical Facility	Wyandotte County Clinical Facility	Grandview Clinical Facility
1650 Broadway	6501 East Commerce, Suite 110	1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 200	13830 S Us Highway 71
Kansas City, MO 64108	Kansas City, MO 64120	Kansas City, KS 66102	Grandview, MO 64030
816-842-2020	816-483-5550	913-596-2774	816-761-4664