API vs OSHA
API vs OSHA
(OP)
Good Morning;
I am not even sure if this would be in the right section, but it has to do with production tanks. I have a question that I have been trying to answer through searching and talking to people but I can't seem to get two sources to match. I am looking at the specs for API vs OSHA regarding catwalks & stairways for Oil Production Tanks.
What is the difference in the API and OSHA specs? How can API be different than OSHA yet still comply? From what I can find, OSHA is very similar but a stricter standard.
I am not even sure if this would be in the right section, but it has to do with production tanks. I have a question that I have been trying to answer through searching and talking to people but I can't seem to get two sources to match. I am looking at the specs for API vs OSHA regarding catwalks & stairways for Oil Production Tanks.
What is the difference in the API and OSHA specs? How can API be different than OSHA yet still comply? From what I can find, OSHA is very similar but a stricter standard.





RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
OSHA specifies minimum handrail sizes and spacing. But they also specify required loads, and if you use posts closer together or use other bracing, you can vary the handrail size accordingly.
OSHA also has the old traditional rules which are in the current CFR and has published "proposed rules" which may also be followed, and that complicates the issue considerably. For example, stairway railing heights that were mandatory under the "old" rules are prohibited under the "new" rules, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
The big issue were having at my company is getting people to pay more for "better" walkways. Most customers want the bare minimum (cheap). I think they have the mindset "if I save enough on walkways, I can buy an extra tank." For them, tanks = money, walkways = nothing. I could be wrong, but it's what it seems.
RE: API vs OSHA
RE: API vs OSHA
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2013-title29-vol5...
This is the same standard on the OSHA website:
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_docu...
Refer to page 9 on the pdf in the first link, and you find, "A stair railing shall be of construction similar to a standard railing but the vertical height shall be not more than 34 inches nor less than 30 inches from upper surface of top rail to surface of tread in line with face of riser at forward edge of tread."
This is an OSHA publication from 2003 (actually newer than the "old" rules above):
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3124.pdf
On Page 9 of this publication, you find "Stair rails installed after March 15,1991, must be not less than 36 inches (91.5 cm) in height."
So whatever conforms to the official OSHA publication violates their own rules and vice versa.
From this page:
https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/proposed-rulemaking-fa...
"In 1973, OSHA published a proposed revision of subpart D that was withdrawn in 1976 because, in the Agency's view, it had become outdated and did not reflect then-current information. In 1990, OSHA published another proposed rule to reorganize, update, and clarify the subpart and add personal fall protection requirements to subpart I, which regulates personal protective equipment. In 2003, the rulemaking record was reopened and several issues were raised. Comments to the record indicated that the 1990 proposed rule was outdated and did not give adequate consideration to newer technology. In 2005, the decision was made to completely redraft the proposed rule. The 1990 proposal was not withdrawn, and therefore is still on record today as a proposed rule."
Not stated here, but stated elsewhere, is that OSHA considers compliance with a proposed rule that violates an actual rule to be a "de minimis violation" that will not be cited or fined. So it's not necessarily a big deal from an employer's standpoint, but makes it awkward if you're selling the stairway.
RE: API vs OSHA