Page 40 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2019

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
2. The hazard was recognized. Evidence may include employee complaints, OSHA 300 logs, consultant reports, information from safety data sheets, information provided by industry or trade asso- ciations, or information from other federal, state, or local govern- ment agencies.
3. The hazard was causing or was likely to cause death or serious physical harm. This requirement may include information from industry-related, peer-reviewed studies or an expert.
4. There was a feasible and useful method to correct the hazard. Evidence may include information from the safety data sheet and/ or other NIOSH studies.
This means that in order to be cited under the general duty clause, all elements must be present and documented. The memo- randum goes on to say that citations under the general duty clause should not be based solely upon evidence that measured concen- trations were above a threshold limit value from the ACGIH, a rec- ommended limit value from NIOSH, or documentation that the air contaminant is a carcinogen. If all elements are not met, OSHA should send a hazard alert letter to the employer instead that pro- vides recommendations for exposure control.
Going back to silica: the prior permissible exposure limit was not a concentration number, but rather, the product of a formula based on the amount of silica detected on the collected sample. NIOSH established an exposure level of 50 μg/m3 in its 1974 rec- ommendation (that exposure limit is now OSHA’s current permis-
sible exposure limit). The challenge of whether to use regulatory limits or guidelines is not limited to chemicals; the same can be said about noise measurements. Measurements for OSHA compliance require an exchange rate of 5 decibels, but ACGIH and NIOSH recommend using an exchange rate of 3 decibels. Measurements made with a lower exchange rate will yield higher results; therefore, the results can be considered more restrictive than measurements made for OSHA compliance.
So, should avoiding citations be the only reason to implement safety precautions? As you would in any part of your business, look at the most up-to-date information available from the experts. In this tight labor market, employees’ health and safety conditions have tremendous impact on a company’s bottom line.
Luis F. Pieretti is a manager of industrial hygiene at The MEMIC Group with more than 15 years of occupational safety, industrial hy- giene and training experience in both the private and public sector.
REFERENCES
1. http://static.politico.com/f4/24/5ab29a5f4e1099cff2d20a6c1d24/ afl-cio-versus-osha.pdf
2. https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf
3. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2018-11-02
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