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In accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 29 CFR 1926.106, requires employers to have a boat available on standby to ensure a timely rescue of a fallen worker. The requirement in §1926.106(d) for a skiff (vessel) shall be immediately available at locations where employees are working over or adjacent to water in the event of fall protection device failure or lapse in their usage. This is to ensure that prompt rescue of employees that fall into the water, regardless of other precautions that may have been taken to prevent the incident from occurring.

OSHA states that a skiff (vessel) being supplied is a back up to a fall protection device failure, and not a substitute for a skiff (vessel). Therefore, the failure to provide a skiff (vessel) these types of circumstances would be a direct violation of the §1926.106(d). At least one skiff (vessel) available could, at a minimum, retrieve an employee from the water no mort than three (3) to four (4) minutes from the time they entered the water. However, if there are any additional hazards, such as very cold water, rapids an employee could be swept into, etc., the lifesaving skiff (vessel) would have to be able to retrieve an employee before they sustained injuries as a result of those additional hazards.

Furthermore, an employer is required to comply with all other applicable standards including, but not limited to, the requirements that an injured employee be treated by medical personnel, or an employee certified in first aid within three (3) to four (4) minutes from the time the injury occurred. This would mean that first aid treatment should begin inside the lifesaving skiff (vessel).