OSHA Regulations do not apply to the Government of the District of Columbia.

Please leave your comments below: I am so grateful that Channel 7 has followed up on this case. As the wife of a "bearded" firefighter (he has had 23 years of service, with a beard) I am quite aware of the trauma this caused my husband and other firefighters. Did anyone noticed that the order to be clean shaven was mainly geared toward afro americans? Or did anyone in the department make provisions for the firefighters that, by doctors orders, could not shave? NO!, there was no consideration given to the medical restrictions nor to the religious purpose of not shaving. There are so many unethical practices going on in the DC Fire/EMS Department that are not investigated but are allowed. Another comment in reference to the person that says the judge should go into the a gas chamber and see what it feels like to be in a non-fitting mask is crap...my husband served in the military for 2 years and was diagnosed with Pseudo Folliculitis Barbae (he was not to shave or he would bleed, get lesions and blisters followed by infection with swelling ) not once did his wearing a beard keep him from being properly fitted, safely, with a gas mask on. Some people should keep their comment to themselves if it said out of ignorance or without proof. The vascillation that occured by this special order caused a lot of our dedicated firefighters stress and hardships and the department showed no loyalty to those that risk their lives to help the public. My point being, if the mask didn't fit the beards why didn't the department get a mask that did?

The judge's ruling is in direct conflict with the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard, which applies to all employers. Simply stated, the standard reads "...no employer can allow an employee to use a tight-fitting respirator facepiece if there is some means of interferring with the facepiece-to-face seal". Examples cited by OSHA include facial hair, scars, and false teeth. No firefighter should ever fall victim to inhalation hazards like smoke inhalation as long as a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) policy requires their use. If it doesn't assure a proper seal, it won't work. In industry, OSHA has often cited and fined employers for allowing respirator use by employees without clean-shaven faces.

OK the judge is basically saying that firemen with beards who can't perform their jobs because the beard interferes with the safety equipment be paid or reassigned to jobs which they may not be qualified for so they can keep their beards? WTF?

Also, when one of these bearded firemen demands to and sues to be allowed to actually fight fires and the equipment fails because it cannot make a tight seal then the city will be sued for negligence for allowing this person to fight fires with "faulty equipment".

I am all for different freedoms but when it interferes with the execution of your job then sometimes conformation is necessary.

The firefighters should have taken the judge into a controlled gas chamber like they do for the military and put him in there with gas mask that has an improper seal and watch him do the funky chicken.