(A) Scope.
The purpose of these requirements is to provide reasonable safety for life, limb, and health of employees.
These specific provisions of this chapter supplement those of Chapter 4123:1-5 of the Administrative Code, but to the extent of inconsistency between these and any provision of Chapter 4123:1-5 of the Administrative Code, these provisions shall apply. These provisions are minimum requirements of an employer for the protection of such employer's employees and no others. These provisions constitute protective standards for all employees while they are engaged in washing or cleaning windows on the outside and, where working from a level ten feet (three meters) or more above the floor, on the inside of buildings with the following exceptions. These provisions do not apply to employees so engaged in or on a building containing two or fewer full stories above ground level in which all of the units are residential. These provisions do not apply to employees so engaged in or on a single residential unit when employed to do so by the occupant of that unit. These provisions do not apply to a window opening onto a railed fire escape balcony or other railed balconies no less than two feet wide (sixty-one centimeters), nor more than twelve inches (30.5 centimeters) below the window sill, provided that the railing is no less than forty-two inches (106.7 centimeters) high.
Installations or constructions built or contracted for prior to the effective date of any specification are deemed to comply with the provisions of these rules if such installations or constructions comply either with the provisions of the current rules or with the provisions of any applicable rule which was in effect at the time contracted for or built.
(B) Definitions.
(1) "Anchor" means an installation near a window to which a window cleaner's safety belt or safety harness is attached.
(2) "Approved" means accepted or certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory, such as "UL Solutions," "FM Approvals," or a responsible governmental agency.
(3) "Boatswain's chair" means a seat supported by slings attached to a suspended rope, designed to accommodate one employee in a sitting position.
(4) "Equivalent" means alternative designs, materials, or methods to protect against a hazard which the employer can demonstrate will provide an equal or greater degree of safety for employees than the designs, materials, or methods specified in the standard.
(5) "Factor of safety" means the ratio between the ultimate breaking strength and the working stress of the material, structure, or device. For example, the term "factor of safety of four" means the materials, structure, or device is constructed of such strength that the maximum load will be one-fourth the designed ultimate breaking load. Where other factors of safety appear, they will apply in the same manner. The standards of the "American Society for Testing Materials" will be used in determining the strength of material except as otherwise provided herein.
(6) "Personal fall arrest system" means a system used to arrest an employee in a fall from a walking-working surface. It consists of a safety harness, anchorage, and connector. The means of connection may include a lanyard, deceleration device, lifeline, or a suitable combination of these.
(7) "Rated load" means the combined weight of employees, tools, equipment, and other material which the working platform is designed and installed to lift.
(8) "Roof car" means a structure for the suspension of the working platform, providing for its horizontal movement to working positions.
(9) "Roof car suspended platform" means equipment to provide access to the exterior of a building consisting of a suspended power-operated working platform, a roof car, and the necessary operating and control devices.
(10) "Roof-powered platform" means the working platform, of a roof car suspended platform, having the raising and lowering mechanism located on a roof car.
(11) "Safety belt" or "body belt" means a device worn around the body which, by reason of its attachment to a lanyard and lifeline or a structure, will prevent an employee from falling.
(12) "Safety harness" or "body harness" means a design of straps which may be secured about the employee in a manner that will distribute the fall arrest forces over at least the thighs, pelvis, waist, chest, and shoulders with means for attaching it to the other components of a personal fall arrest system.
(13) "Self-powered platform" means a working platform, of a roof car suspended platform, having the raising and lowering mechanism located on the working platform.
(14) "Shall" is to be construed as mandatory.
(15) "Standard guard railing" means a substantial barrier constructed in accordance with paragraph (E) of rule 4123:1-5-02 of the Administrative Code.
(16) "Substantial" means construction of such strength, of such materials, and of such workmanship that the object will withstand the wear, usage, or shock for which it is designed.
(17) "Swinging scaffold" means a power- or manually-operated platform suspended by two or more lines and independent of the building except for attachment at the roof or parapet.
(18) "Traveling cable" means a cable made up of electrical or communication conductors or both and providing electrical connection between the working platform and the roof car or other fixed point.
(19) "Two-point suspension scaffold" means a scaffold suspended from overhead supports the platform of which is supported by stirrups or hangers at two points to permit raising or lowering.
(20) "Working platform" means the suspended structure arranged for vertical travel which provides access to the exterior of the building.
Last updated February 3, 2025 at 8:38 AM