Summary

Servicing Multi-Piece and Single Piece Rims (OSHA 1910.177)

This section applies to the servicing of multi-piece and single piece rim wheels used on large vehicles such as trucks, tractors, trailers, buses and off-road machines. It does not apply to the servicing of rim wheels used on automobiles, or on pickup trucks and vans utilizing automobile tires or truck tires designated “LT”.

Employee Training

• The employer shall provide a program to train all employees who service rim wheels in the hazards involved in servicing those rim wheels and the safety procedures to be followed.

• The employer shall assure that no employee services any rim wheel unless the employee has been trained and instructed in correct procedures of servicing the type of wheel being serviced, and in the safe operating procedures described in paragraphs (f) and (g) of this section.

• Information to be used in the training program shall include, at a minimum, the applicable data contained in the charts (rim manuals) and the contents of this standard.

• Where an employer knows or has reason to believe that any of his employees is unable to read and understand the charts or rim manual, the employer shall assure that the employee is instructed concerning the contents of the charts and rim manual in a manner which the employee is able to understand.

• The employer shall assure that each employee demonstrates and maintains the ability to service rim wheels safely, including performance of the following tasks:

• Demounting of tires (including deflation);

• Inspection and identification of the rim wheel components;

• Mounting of tires (including inflation with a restraining device or other safeguard required by this section);

• Use of the restraining device or barrier, and other equipment required by this section;

Handling of rim wheels;

• Inflation of the tire when a single piece rim wheel is mounted on a vehicle;

• An understanding of the necessity of standing outside the trajectory both during inflation of the tire and during inspection of the rim wheel following inflation; and

• Installation and removal of rim wheels.

• The employer shall evaluate each employee’s ability to perform these tasks and to service rim wheels safely, and shall provide additional training as necessary to assure that each employee maintains his or her proficiency.

Tire servicing equipment.

• The employer shall furnish a restraining device for inflating tires on multi-piece wheels.

• The employer shall provide a restraining device or barrier for inflating tires on single piece wheels unless the rim wheel will be bolted onto a vehicle during inflation.
  

Restraining devices and barriers shall comply with the following requirements:

• Each restraining device or barrier shall have the capacity to withstand the maximum force that would be transferred to it during a rim wheel separation occurring at 150 percent of the maximum tire specification pressure for the type of rim wheel being serviced.

• Restraining devices and barriers shall be capable of preventing the rim wheel components from being thrown outside or beyond the device or barrier for any rim wheel positioned within or behind the device;

• Restraining devices and barriers shall be visually inspected prior to each day’s use and after any separation of the rim wheel components or sudden release of contained air. Any restraining device or barrier exhibiting damage such as the following defects shall be immediately removed from service:

Other Notes from the Standard

• Multi-piece wheel components and single piece wheels shall be inspected prior to assembly. Any wheel or wheel component which is bent out of shape, pitted from corrosion, broken, or cracked shall not be used and shall be marked or tagged unserviceable and removed from the service area. Damaged or leaky valves shall be replaced.

• Employees shall stay out of the trajectory when inflating a tire.

• Tires shall not be inflated to more than the inflation pressure stamped in the sidewall unless a higher pressure is recommended by the manufacturer.

• Tires shall not be inflated above the maximum pressure recommended by the manufacturer to seat the tire bead firmly against the rim flange.

• Cracked, broken, bent, or otherwise damaged wheels shall not be reworked, welded, brazed, or otherwise heated.