The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a final rule for Employer Payment for Personal Protective Equipment in November that specifies that employers must provide personal protective equipment to workers at no cost to the employee.

The standard – OSHA Regulation 29CFR 1910.132 (h) – was published in the Federal Register, 72 Fed. Reg. 64342.

The regulation was filed as a change to an existing OSHA rule, and applies to general industry, construction, shipyard, long-shore and marine terminal workplaces.

OSHA’s previous personal protective equipment standards required employers to provide, or to make available, personal protective equipment, but some of the provisions of those previous standards did not require the employer to pay for the personal protective equipment. This final rule requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment, with exceptions to specific items.

While this final ruling does not contain any new requirements regarding the types of personal protective equipment that must be provided and the circumstances in which it must be provided, the rule does make clear when employers must pay for personal protective equipment that is used to comply with OSHA standards.

Under this rule, employers are required to pay for any item of personal protective equipment that is required by an OSHA standard, with a few narrow exceptions.

The exceptions include if an employee asks to use different personal protective equipment than that provided by the employer, or to use personal protective equipment they already own.

If an employer decides to use upgraded personal protective equipment, the employer is responsible for the cost of the upgraded personal protective equipment.

This rule does not address respiratory protection or hearing protection because rules already require that this equipment be provided at no cost to the employee.

This final rule became effective Feb. 13, and the deadline for employers to be compliant was set as May 15.

While flame-resistant clothing, steel-toed work boots and other clothing items such as long-sleeved shirts or blue jeans are exempt from employer payment, examples of items for which employer is required to pay include hard hats, work gloves when they are required to protect employees from hazards, specialty footwear such as steel-toe shoes or boots, but only if the employer does not allow the items to be worn offsite; respirators that are required to comply with OSHA standards (29CFR 1910.134) and hearing protection (29 CFR 1910.95).

If an employee’s prescription glasses cannot be fitted into a respirator without compromising the seal, special lenses/inserts will be needed to protect the employee, and they must be provided at no cost to that employee. OSHA has determined that when special-use prescription lenses must b e used or mounted inside the respirator facepiece, employers must pay for the lenses/inserts.

Welding leathers, including gloves, aprons and welding shields required for welding must be paid for by the employer, because OSHA decided not to exempt welding equipment from the standard’s employer payment provisions.

All of the above-mentioned equipment is considered personal protective equipment. If the employee brings his or her own personal protective equipment to the worksite, and the employer determines that it is appropriate for the work to be performed, then the employer is not required to provide the personal protective equipment at no cost to that employee.

OSHA’s “Pay for personal protective equipment” final rule is available at the U.S. Department of Labor’s website at www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9777.