Does "Subpart F - Terminal Facilities" Apply to You?

If you have terminal facilities, then this will be yes as all or parts of subpart F applies to terminals. Subpart F provides the standards related to terminal facilities including maintenance and load limits, guarding of edges, clearance heights, cargo doors, platforms, skids, elevators, escalators, manlifts, ladders, stairways, employee exits, illumination, dockboards, river banks, sanitation, signs, markings and guarding temporary hazards. 

Marine terminal means wharves, bulkheads, quays, piers, docks and other berthing locations and adjacent storage or adjacent areas and structures associated with the primary movement of cargo or materials from vessel to shore or shore to vessel including structures which are devoted to receiving, handling, holding, consolidating and loading or delivery of waterborne shipments or passengers, including areas devoted to the maintenance of the terminal or equipment. The term does not include production or manufacturing areas nor does the term include storage facilities directly associated with those production or manufacturing areas. 

All employers that have marine terminals need to comply with maintenance and load limits (i.e., maintaining the structural integrity of docks, piers, wharves, terminals and other working surfaces; posting of load limits), guarding edges (i.e., vehicle protection (i.e., curbs, bull rails, barriers) in areas where there are waterside (i.e., aprons, bulkheads) or other edges where vehicles may fall; employee protection (i.e., criteria for guardrails, toeboards, and stair railings where employees are exposed to floor or wall openings or waterside edges), clearance heights (prominently posted), and cargo doors (i.e., specific requirements for mechanically operated, tackle operated, horizontal sliding). In addition, subpart F provides requirements for employee exits (i.e., markings, width, accessibility, signage), illumination (i.e., lighting intensity, supplemental lighting), dockboards and bridge plates (i.e., hand holds, properly maintained, strength, ramps, slip-resistant), guarding temporary hazards (i.e., ditches, pits, excavations), sanitation  (i.e., washing and toilet facilities, drinking water, prohibited eating areas, garbage and overboard discharges) and signs and markings (i.e., legibility, clearly worded, key words, signs for first aid facilities, posted telephone numbers, emergency equipment signs).

Additional related information can be found on the safety and health topics pages for exits and exit routes, illumination, signs, markings and tags and walking and working surfaces

To learn more about requirements found in subpart F, click on the tabs below to identify which standards apply to your workplace. 

Subpart F - Terminal Facilities

Tab/Accordion Items

If yes, then you need to comply with platforms and skids.  It provides requirements for guardrails, falling object protection, posted or marked safe working loads, and preventing accidental movement. 

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on elevators and escalators. It provides requirements for inspections, posting load limits, and for designated persons operating elevators. It also requires that elevator landings with openings need to be provided with doors, gates, or other equivalent protection when elevator is not at the landing. 

Elevator means a permanent hoisting and lowering mechanism with a car or, platform moving vertically in guides and serving two or more floors of a structure. The term excludes such devices as conveyors, tiering or piling machines, material hoists, skip or furnace hoists, wharf ramps, lift bridges, car lifts and dumpers.

Escalator means a power-driven continuous moving stairway principally intended for the use of persons.

Also reference the safety and health topic page for hoists.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on manlifts. It provides requirements for monthly inspections of manlifts by a designated person, weekly inspections of safety switches, maintaining inspection records for one year, and posting inspections.  It has requirements for an emergency stop, posting manlift instructions, having warning signs and lights, upper limit stops, handholds and steps, emergency ladders, and landings. It also has requirements for maintenance, bottom pulleys, top clearance (at least 11 feet) and brakes.

More information can be found on the safety and health topics page for manlifts.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on fixed ladders. This standard provides requirements for handling defective ladders, ladder specifications, protection against falls (i.e., cage, ladder safety device), and individual rung ladders.

It applies to all fixed ladders except:

  • Ladders forming an integral part of railway cars, highway carriers, cargo containers or other transportation carrier equipment.
  • Climbing devices such as step bolts or structural members of tanks and towers;
  • Ladders built into or vertically attached to tubular scaffold framing; and
  • Ladders used only for firefighting or emergency purposes.

Fixed ladder means a ladder including individual rung ladders, permanently attached to a structure, building or piece of equipment.

Ladder safety device means a support system limiting an employee's drop or fall from the ladder, and which may incorporate friction brakes, lifelines and lanyards, or sliding attachments.

Cage (basket guard) means a barrier enclosing or nearly enclosing a ladder's climbing space and fastened to one or both of the ladder's side rails or to another structure.

Related information can be found on the safety and health topics page for stairways and ladders.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on portable ladders. This standard applies to all portable ladders, including job-made ladders for temporary use. It provides criteria for manufactured portable ladders (i.e., rung spacing, side rail width), meeting American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements, and criteria for job-made portable ladders. It also provides requirements for maintenance and inspections (i.e., daily, after an occurrence), and ladder usage (i.e., slip-resistant bases, extending 36 inches above support level). 

Related information can be found on the safety and health topics page for stairways and ladders.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on fixed stairways. This standard provides requirements related to landings, handrails, railing height, restricted areas and maintenance.

Fixed stairway means interior and exterior stairs serving machinery, tanks and equipment, and stairs to or from floors, platforms or pits. The term does not apply to stairs intended only for fire exit purposes, to articulated stairs (the angle of which changes with the rise and fall of the base support) or to stairs forming an integral part of machinery.

Related information can be found on the safety and health topics page for stairways and ladders.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on spiral stairways. This standard provides minimal dimensions for spiral stairways, loading capacity, railing criteria, vertical clearance and maintenance.

Spiral stairway means one with closed circular form, uniform sector-shaped treads and a supporting column.

Related information can be found on the safety and health topics page for stairways and ladders.

If yes, you may need to comply with the standard on riverbanks. This standard applies to temporary installations or temporary operations near a riverbank. It states that when working surfaces at river banks slope that are so steep that an employee could slip or fall into the water, the outer perimeter of the working surface shall be protected by posting or other portable protection such as roping off. In these situations, employees must wear a personal flotation device meeting the requirements of other protective devices, paragraph (b).

Related information can be found on the safety and health topics page for personal protective equipment.