U.S. Department of Labor | June 23, 2017
Rule would modify standards for construction,
shipyard sectors in January 2017 final rule
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of
Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health
Administration today announced a proposed rule that would modify the agency’s
recent beryllium standards for the construction and shipyard sectors. Representatives
of the shipyards and construction industries, as well as members of Congress,
raised concerns that they had not had a meaningful opportunity to comment on
the application of the rule to their industries when the rule was developed in
2015-16. This proposal provides a new opportunity to comment on the rule for
those industries and the public. The new proposal would make changes to the
rule only for the shipyard and construction sectors. The general industry
standard is unaffected by the proposal.
The proposal for
shipyards and construction would maintain the requirements for exposure limits
(permissible exposure limit of 0.2
μg/m3 and short-term exposure limit of 2.0 μg/m3), which will
continue to protect workers from a serious beryllium-related lung disease known
as chronic beryllium disease. The proposal instead revises the application of
ancillary provisions such as housekeeping and personal protective equipment in the
January 2017 final standards for the construction and shipyard industries. OSHA
has evidence that exposure in these industries is limited to a few operations
and has information suggesting that requiring the ancillary provisions broadly may
not improve worker protection and be redundant with overlapping protections in
other standards. Accordingly, OSHA is seeking comment on, among other things,
whether existing standards covering abrasive blasting in construction, abrasive
blasting in shipyards, and welding in shipyards provide adequate protection for
workers engaged in these operations.
The Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking for Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds
in Construction and Shipyard Sectors will be published in the Federal
Register on June 27, 2017. OSHA encourages the public to participate in this
rulemaking by submitting comments during the 60-day comment period. Click here for information
on submitting comments on the proposed rule and requesting public hearings.
On Jan. 9, 2017, OSHA issued a final rule that established
new protections for workers who are exposed to beryllium in general industry, construction,
and shipyards. Beryllium is a lightweight metal used primarily in specialty
alloys and beryllium oxide ceramics. It is also present as a trace material in
metal slags.
OSHA also announced it will not enforce the Jan. 9, 2017, construction
and shipyard standards without further notice while determining whether to
amend the Jan. 9, 2017, rule.
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Media Contacts:
Amy
Louviere, 202-693-9423, louviere.amy@dol.gov Mandy Kraft, (202) 693-4664, kraft.amanda.c@dol.gov
Release Number: 17-658-NAT
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