Cal/OSHA Worker Personal Protective Equipment Requirements for Fire Clean‑up, Removal, and Demolition Work

Before commencing fire clean-up, demolition or related activities, employers must establish an effective plan to identify and minimize hazards at the site (Title 8 California Code of Regulations [T8CCR], sections 1509(a), 1510(c), 3203, 5192(c)). Employers must train workers to identify and prevent exposure to those hazards (T8CCR 1509, 1514, 1521, 1528, 1529, 3203, 5192(e)). Fire cleanup work, including ash, soot, and debris removal and cleaning of fire or smoke-damaged structures, is not household domestic service. Employees performing this work are covered by Cal/OSHA's health and safety standards.

  • Electricity, downed power lines, solar panels that may still produce power
  • Unstable structures, objects, excavations, and trees
  • Asbestos insulation, tiles, and siding
  • Lead from batteries, paint, ceramics, artwork, electronics, and building materials
  • Toxic ash, soot, and dust
  • Pesticides, paints, fuels, chemical products
  • Compressed gas cylinders, aboveground and underground fuel tanks
  • Enclosed spaces with low oxygen and toxic atmospheres
  • Coccidioides spores in soil (Valley Fever)
  • Heavy equipment and vehicular traffic
  • Heat illness
  • Carbon monoxide from the use of gasoline- or diesel-powered equipment indoors

In addition to respiratory protection, employers must provide all personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to protect employees from exposure to hazardous substances and conditions during fire cleanup, recovery and demolition work. Employers are required to identify and evaluate hazards at these worksites and select the type of PPE that will protect employees from the identified hazards. Employers must select PPE that properly fits each affected employee; train employees on the necessity, use, maintenance, and limitations of the PPE; and ensure employees correctly use the PPE (T8CCR 3380)

At fire cleanup, removal and demolition sites, employers must provide the following PPE:

  • Hardhat
    • Employers must provide head protection where employees may be at risk of injury from flying or falling objects, electric shock, burns or other hazards.
    • Head protection must meet the requirements of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard Z89.1.
    • Employers must ensure that head protection properly fits each employee (T8CCR 3381).
  • Eye protection (Safety glasses or goggles)
    • Employers must provide eye protection where employees may be at risk of an eye injury from contact with dust, debris, soil, chemicals, flying or falling objects, and other hazards.
    • Employers must provide appropriate eye protection when employees may be exposed to light rays from welding operations or lasers (T8CCR 3382).
  • Hearing protection (earplugs or earmuffs)
    • Employers must provide effective hearing protection, such as earplugs or earmuffs, if engineering or administrative controls fail to reduce employee noise exposures to allowable levels (T8CCR 5096).
  • Full-body Tyvek or equally effective coveralls
    • Employers must provide employees with full body coveralls that include a head cover to prevent dust, debris or soil from contacting the employees' clothes, skin, or hair (T8CCR 5192).
    • Employers must provide appropriate protective clothing to employees who may be exposed to hazardous objects or chemical substances (T8CCR 3383).
  • Hand protection (Gloves)
    • Employers must select, provide, and require employees to use appropriate gloves when employees' hands may be exposed to harmful substances, cuts or lacerations, abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, radioactive materials, harmful temperatures, or other hazards (T8CCR 5192).
    • Employers must provide gloves that will protect employees from any unique hazards at the worksite. Some gloves are designed to prevent cuts and punctures, for example, while other are designed to protect against chemicals or harmful temperatures (T8CCR 3384).
  • Employers must provide employees with chemical resistant gloves to prevent contact with dust, debris, soil or chemical substances (T8CCR 5192).Foot protection and covers
    • Employers must provide employees with shoe covers to prevent dust, debris or soil from contacting the employees' shoes, socks, or skin (T8CCR 5192).
    • Employers must provide safety shoes or safety boots to employees who may be at risk of foot injuries from sharp objects, chemical substances, falling or crushing objects, electrical hazards, hot surfaces, unusually awkward walking surfaces, abnormally wet locations, or other hazards.
    • Safety shoes or boots must meet the requirements and specifications of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard F2412-05 and ASTM standard F2413-05 (T8CCR 3385).
  • Chaps and other PPE for chainsaw work
    • Employers must comply with Cal/OSHA's chainsaw design, engineering, work practice, and PPE requirements when employees use chainsaws to remove trees, vegetation, structural elements, debris or other materials (T8CCR 6283).
  • Fall protection when working at elevated locations
    • In most cases, employer must provide guardrails to protect employees from falls at elevated locations. Where guardrails cannot be installed, employers must provide employees with personal fall protection.
    • Employers must establish safe anchorage points to attach fall protection systems. Anchorage points for fall protection must be at or above the employee's waist.
    • Employers must train employees on the proper use of fall protection systems.
    • Fall protection systems must prevent employees from free falling more than six feet or contacting any lower level during a fall (T8CCR 3210, 1621 and 1670).

Employers must comply with Cal/OSHA's respiratory protection standard (T8CCR 5144 ) and provide NIOSH-approved respiratory protection to workers who enter burned areas to perform clean-up, removal, demolition, or related activities, as follows:

  • Provide elastomeric air-purifying respirators (APRs) equipped with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter combined with an organic vapor (OV) and formaldehyde cartridge (T8CCR 5144 ). A P100, N100 or R100 filter may be used in lieu of a HEPA filter. N95s are not acceptable except as noted below.
  • Provide N95 respirators to workers in areas where only vegetation or untreated wood alone have burned, in place of an elastomeric APR (T8CCR 5144 ).
  • To avoid counterfeit products, please visit the NIOSH Certified Equipment List

For information on Cal/OSHA's respiratory protection requirements, please visit Respiratory Protective Equipment During Fire Cleanup Operations .

All Cal/OSHA title 8 regulations listed above can be found at: https://www.dir.ca.gov/samples/search/query.htm

Employers who have questions or need assistance with workplace health and safety programs can call Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch at 800-963-9424.

Workers in California are protected regardless of immigration status. Workers who have questions about safety and health in the workplace can call 833-579-0927 to speak with a live bilingual Cal/OSHA representative between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Complaints about workplace safety and health hazards can be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices.

February 2025