§ 1915.501 General provisions.

(a) Purpose. The purpose of the standard in this subpart is to require employers to protect all employees from fire hazards in shipyard employment, including employees engaged in fire response activities.

(b) Scope. This subpart covers employers with employees engaged in shipyard employment aboard vessels and vessel sections, and on land-side operations regardless of geographic location.

(c) Employee participation. The employer must provide ways for employees or employee representatives, or both to participate in developing and periodically reviewing programs and policies adopted to comply with this subpart.

(d) Multi-employer worksites —

(1) Host employer responsibilities. The host employer's responsibilities are to:

(i) Inform all employers at the worksite about the content of the fire safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures;

(ii) Make sure the safety and health responsibilities for fire protection are assigned as appropriate to other employers at the worksite; and

(iii) If there is more than one host employer, each host employer must communicate relevant information about fire-related hazards to other host employers. When a vessel owner or operator (temporarily) becomes a host shipyard employer by directing the work of ships' crews on repair or modification of the vessel or by hiring other contractors directly, the vessel owner or operator must also comply with these provisions for host employers.

(2) Contract employer responsibilities. The contract employer's responsibilities are to:

(i) Make sure that the host employer knows about the fire-related hazards associated with the contract employer's work and what the contract employer is doing to address them; and

(ii) Advise the host employer of any previously unidentified fire-related hazards that the contract employer identifies at the worksite.