Within weeks, construction workers across the country should be able to rely upon their employers and others with possession, custody, or control of their construction site to provide them with personal protective equipment (PPE) that complies with a new final safety rule effective January 13, 2025.
This should come as no surprise to anyone in management or with duties of care regarding PPE on a construction site. The rule has been in process during the usual comment period, etc. for many months. Furthermore, it complies with existing general industry standards.
However, for safety agencies and those advocating for worker victims and their loved ones, it will come as no surprise to learn that many construction workers in Chicagoland, Illinois, and Indiana will continue being asked to work on a site where PPE does not comply with this new safety standard.
The longstanding behavior of disrespect and disregard of workplace safety, putting workers at risk of catastrophic harm or even death, is notorious within the construction industry.
Consider just this week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) pointed out in its national Quick Takes publication a Chicago area roofing contractor who has been cited eight times in the past four years for violating established safety regulations designed to keep workers safe from fatal falls. For details, read, “Lake Zurich roofing contractor continues to ignore safety regulations, exposing workers to deadly fall hazards in 8 inspections since 2020,” published by the Chicago Region of the U.S. Department of Labor OSHA on December 4, 2024.
New 2025 Construction Worker PPE Rule
This new Final PPE Rule for construction work safety will be found in revised 29 CFR §1926.95. Its complete language can be found, with background information, in the December 12, 2024 publication of the Federal Register, 84 FR 100346.
What does the New PPE Rule Require?
The new requirement addresses the common problem of workers being forced to work on task with PPE that fails to fit properly, putting them at risk of harm. Things like improperly fitting gloves, goggles, or helmets not only fail to provide reasonable and needed protection but, in some situations, may exacerbate the risk of bodily injury.
The new regulation clearly mandates that construction industry PPE must fit the individual worker properly and as intended.
From Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker:
“I’ve talked to workers in construction, particularly women, who have spoken of personal protective equipment that didn’t fit or was simply unavailable at the jobsite in their size. PPE must fit properly to work. I’m proud of the broad support from both employers and unions for OSHA’s efforts to make clear that employers must provide the right PPE for each worker who needs it.”
Importantly, this new regulation also addresses the reality of our construction worksites. Most are places where more than one person or company may have safety duties for those who are employed on the site. For more, read: Who Can Be Held Liable for Construction Worker Accidents? and Multiple Employers on the Construction Site: Who Is Liable For Construction Worker Accidents?
Other PPE Legal Safety Requirements
Of course, this duty to keep workers safe on the job with their own personal protections is multi-faceted. It involves different needs for different sites, as well as for different tasks on the jobsite. Welders will need different protections than forklift operators, for example.
This new safety law works with many other safety regulations that apply to personal protective equipment specifics. These include the following:
- 29 CFR §1926.96, Occupational foot protection
- 29 CFR §1926.100, Head protection
- 29 CFR §1926.101, Hearing protection
- 29 CFR §1926.102, Eye and face protection
- 29 CFR §1926.103, Respiratory protection
- 29 CFR §1926.104, Safety belts, lifelines, and lanyards
- 29 CFR §1926.105, Safety nets
- 29 CFR §1926.106, Working over or near water.
Construction workers need to be working with the right PPE for their specific work at the time it is being done. That is the first thing that workers are owed on any construction site. And once this duty of care is recognized, it is also vital that the PPE fits them properly.
Tossing anything at a worker in an attempt at compliance with safety laws, even if it is too big or too small, is now a clear and distinct violation of a legal duty of care and safety.
Violations of these safety standards can form the basis of claims for third party injury damages as well as workers’ compensation benefits under both state and federal law.
Federal OSHA Standards on Illinois and Indiana Worksites
In our part of the country, both Illinois and Indiana have joined with around twenty other states to have their own “OSHA State Plans”. See, OSHA Map of State Plans. This is in accordance with federal law (Section 18(f) of OSHA Act), where each state can build their own programs as long as they are at least as effective as OSHA in protecting workers and in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and death.
Federal OSHA oversees these state plans pursuant to Section 18(f) of OSHA. The federal government likewise retains the right to enact federal safety standards and these control over any state standard addressing the same concern.
Illinois State Plan
Indiana State Plan
The Indiana State Plan adopts all federal OSHA standards and regulations except for the Indiana excavations work safety standard.
Claims for Justice When Personal Protective Equipment Contributes to Construction Worker Accident Injury
The new PPE safety regulation, effective January 13, 2025, should make workers on all sorts of construction sites here in Indiana and Illinois safer from being hurt on the job. Construction workers in Chicagoland and elsewhere should be alert to this new legal duty and how being provided with ill-fitting PPE is a separate legal safety violation detailed in revised 29 CFR §1926.95.
Sadly, all too many construction sites are filled with workers who deal with realities where they are not provided with PPE, much less PPE that fits them. These construction workers obviously face a serious risk of being hurt or killed in a construction site accident.
Any construction worker who is involved in a work accident where PPE either failed to protect them from harm (as the PPE is designed to do) or where the PPE was ill-fitting and contributed to the event and their harm, has legal rights for justice to pursue.
These legal claims may be against several different third-parties on the construction site. See, Chicago Road Construction Worker Accidents: List of Third Parties Potentially Liable for On-the-Job Injuries.
Damages may be available for both the construction worker victim as well as loved ones as defined by statute. For more on damages and construction site injuries, read:
- Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana: Workers Compensation Claim vs. Personal Injury Damages
- Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life
- Wrongful Death Damages After Fatal Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
- Who Can Claim Damages After a Work Accident in Indiana or Illinois?
OSHA workplace safety laws and regulations exist to keep workers safe on the job. However, far too many employers and third parties with duties of safety routinely disregard or disrespect these safety laws and people get hurt or killed. The new 2025 PPE Rule will only be as effective as it is followed. Please be careful out there!
