A Step in Time...

The chimney sweep industry may be many times non informed or that information was intentionally noy given to fellow competitors. Many industries follow OSHA regulations and OSHA is a great organization to help keep workers safe. But when is this burden too strict for various industries. It is based on many reasons, which include the size of your company and the classification of your industry. If you improperly classify your company than you may be inadvertently regulated to a stricter classification. There are three classification in the chimney sweep industry which was broadly set in 1973. Those are 811412 Appliance Repair and Maintenance 541350 Building Inspection Services 561790 Chimney Sweep (i.e. cleaning services) The first two are exempt from record keeping which is very burdensome to a company. Why as an industry that we have not understood that this is hurting our industry with strict requirements is unacceptable. 811412 Appliance Repair and Maintenance Appliance: Definition from NFPA 211 3.3.4 Any device that utilizes a fuel to produce light, heat, power, refrigeration or air conditioning. That is a fireplace Repair: obvious chimney repairs Maintenance: Cleaning, inspecting and keeping a chimney/fireplace in good condition. 811412 in my opinion as licensed professional engineer in many states fits the NAICS classification code of our chimney sweep industry and we should all be partially exempt from OSHA record keeping requirement.