Students are legally covered if they get a W-2 tax form for their work -
i.e. they are employees of the institution.  This is the case for
schools such as military academies, graduate teaching assistants, etc.
Otherwise they do not gain "employee - status".  Most institutions do
not obey the OSHA laws for students.  The OSHA general duty clause still
applies - an employer has to provide a safe workplace.

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of
Steve
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:49 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Hold on a minute, Dr. E.

Sadly, what Dr. Elston says about a structured respiratory protection
program would be true if 29 CFR 1910.134 applied to students. According
to
29 CFR 1910.5, the General Industry Standards have no applicability in
the
described academic situation because students are not employees.

I have not heard of any cases where the General Industry Standards were
applied to students. Since absence of evidence does not prove absence; I
would be interested in learning what standards schools have been held
to. I
suppose that a lawyer could argue that failure to follow OSHA standards
is
evidence that reasonable and prudent precautions for structuring a
safety
program were not taken...if a suit were filed after an accident. No
school
would worry about an OSHA inspection unless an employee were put at
risk,
and then, only if a complaint were filed.

Could it be that kids are in this gray area because they tend to heal
fast,
or maybe because over-exposure symptoms tend to manifest after
graduation?

JSBonnell, Mgr., Env. Svc.
Barr Laboratories, Inc.

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