Washington – OSHA has revoked 24 permanent variances regarding falling object protection and fall protection requirements, saying revisions to the agency's scaffold standards have made the variances unnecessary.

The variances, granted between 1975 and 1977, specified alternative means of complying with general scaffold protection requirements. OSHA's scaffold standards for construction were revised in 1996 to include provisions duplicating the variances.

The revocation of the permanent variances went into effect March 4.