Appendices OSHA Laboratory Standard

In addition, all researchers should be familiar with the principal provisions and concepts of the most important laws and regulations that affect laboratories across the country. The two most important are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration s regulation. Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories (the OSHA Laboratory Standard) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), under which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates hazardous waste. Because of its importance, the text of the OSHA Laboratory Standard is reprinted in Appendix A. Researchers, laboratory workers, and, in particular, laboratory managers and supervisors should read and understand these regulations. 

Throughout This Chapter pertinent excerpts from Prudent Practices in the Laboratory Handling and Disposal of Chemicals (1) are used to support and amplify certain points. This is referred to hereinafter as Prudent Practices 1995. The earlier editions (1981) of this volume (1) and a companion volume (1983) (1) served as the basis for the non-mandatory recommendations of the National Research Council for chemical hygiene in laboratories that appears as Appendix A in the OSHA Laboratory Standard 29 CFR 1910.1450. This volume is widely cited and accepted by the chemical laboratory community, and represents a basic reference for response to OSHA by academia. An excerpt from the discussion in Section l.D, Special Safety Considerations in Academic Laboratories, expresses the basic the philosophy of this Symposium Volume. 

As stated in the section on the hazard communication standard. Section VII.B of this chapter, OSHA defines health effects, for the purposes of the standard, in Appendix A to 29 CFR 1910.1200. The definitions given below are from that appendix. The laboratory safety standard also specifically suggests using these same definitions for guidance in defining hazardous... 

Other OSHA standards setting forth permissible exposure limits (PELs) apply to the extent that they require limiting exposures to below the PEL and, where the PEL or "action level" is routinely exceeded, the Laboratory Standard s provisions require exposure monitoring and medical surveillance. The requirements for exposure monitoring and medical surveillance are found in Appendix A, sections (d) and (g) of the Laboratory Standard. 

National Research Council. Prudent Practices in the Laboratory Handling and Disposal ef Chemicals. Appendix B Laboratory Chemical Safety. Summaries—Ethidium Bromide, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1995, pp. 310—311. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in the Lab atory—29 CER 1910.1450 available at http //www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show document p table=STANDARDS p id=10106 (accessed August 28, 2009). 

OSHA. 1990. National Research Council Recommendations Concerning Chemical Hygiene in Laboratories (Non-Mandatory). Occupational Safety and Health Standards. U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Code of Federal Regulations. 29 CFR 1450, Appendix A. 

Appendix D lists methods of sampling and analysis which have been tested by NIOSH and OSHA for use with acrylonitrile. NIOSH and OSHA have validated modifications of NIOSH Method S-156 (See Appendix D) under laboratory conditions for concentrations below 1 ppm. The employer has the obligation of selecting a monitoring method which meets the accuracy and precision requirements of the standard under his unique field conditions. The standard requires that methods of monitoring must be accurate, to a 95-percent confidence level, to 35-percent for concentrations of AN at or above 2 ppm, and to 50-percent for concentrations below 2 ppm. In addition to the methods described in Appendix D, there... 

---