OSHA Forces Commitment
Here is an interesting article about the fire brigade at the James Lick Observatory in California. The University of California-Santa Cruz was using employees of the observatory to staff the fire brigade when fires broke out. However, OSHA regulations require that the personnel receive the proper training. It looks like UC – Santa Cruz opted to reduce their fire protection instead of committing to training their personnel.
"The briefing by the OSHA investigator was very explicit," said Stone: "If we fight fires, we're liable for major fines."So the brigade has been renamed the Mount Hamilton Safety Brigade. It can assist firefighters and respond to medical emergencies -- always a key function for its members. It can keep an eye out for fires -- especially important in a high-brush summer after a wet winter, like this one, said the mountain's resident police officer, Mark McDonald. But it can't fight them.
I wonder if they considered forming a volunteer fire department at the observatory instead relying on distant units to provide fire protection.
