OSHA Alarm Regulations
- OSHA alarm regulations protect workers in emergency situations.fire alarm image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a part of the U.S. Department of Labor that regulates safe workplace standards. OSHA alarm regulations protect workers by providing standards to ensure that employers have sufficient alarms on-site to notify employees in the event of a fire or other emergency. - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires an alarm in the workplace to alert employees during an emergency and to warn them, ideally with enough time, to safely react to an emergency and/or escape the building.
- Per OSHA guidelines, alarm systems must be loud enough for employees to hear over ambient workplace noise, or lights must be noticeable over workplace lighting. Alarms can be sound-based, light-based or both, as long as employees see and/or hear the alarm. Employees incapable of seeing or hearing an alarm for any reason must have some type of tactile alert. Tactile alerts may be given by a designated employee runner, who will alert his co-worker with a tap and/or physically guide him to the emergency exits. Because OSHA does not have specific standards regarding the tactile alert, it can be anything that the employee is trained to recognize as an alert, such as a vibrating buzzer instead of an employee runner. The alarm for all employees should be distinct so that employees recognize it when it goes off.
- Employers need to establish an emergency procedure and teach it to employees. If there are 10 or fewer employees in a workspace, emergency notification can be vocal as long as the employees can easily hear each other. If there are more than 10 employees or if employees cannot easily hear each other, OSHA guidelines require employers to have an alarm system in place.
- OSHA alarm regulations state that employers must test alarm systems once every two months. Employers must also maintain alarm systems so that they work at all times, except when they are being repaired. Employers should make sure that anyone who performs maintenance on an alarm system is reliable and properly trained. When alarms are under repair, employers should create a backup system of alerts, such as a telephone system or employee runners.
- Under OSHA guidelines, employers must keep manual alarm triggers free from any obstructions that prevent employees from reaching them. Some workplaces have locked exit doors for security purposes. According to the U.S. Department of Labor OSHA Fire Safety Advisor, exit doors with alarms that lock from the outside should always open from the inside, even if the alarm has been set off.
