Hazards control: administrative exposure, 81 OSHA standards

Per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.1450, Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, is a written plan that includes specific work practices, standard operating procedures, equipment, engineering controls, and policies to ensure that employees are protected from hazardous exposure levels to all potentially hazardous chemicals in use in their work areas. The OSHA standard provides for training, employee access to information, medical consultations, examinations, hazard identification procedures, respirator use, and record-keeping practices. 

Recommended exposure limit (REL) is the name used by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for the occupational exposure limits (OELs) it recommends to protect workers from hazardous substances and conditions in the workplace. RELs are not regulations. While they are intended primarily as recommendations to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for use in promulgating legal standards, they also may help employers, workers, and health professionals to recognize and control occupational hazards. Most RELs have been developed for chemical air contaminants, usually... 

An exposnre of an individual relates directly to the concentration of a hazardous substance as related to the per-unit volume of air. We usually express airborne concentrations in terms of milligrams of substance per cubic meter of air (mg/m ) or parts of substance per million parts of air (ppm). Express asbestos and other airborne fibers by using per cnbic centimeter (f/cc) or fibers per cubic meter (f/m ) of air. OSHA requires consideration of feasible administrative or engineering controls to reduce exposure risks. When these controls prove ineffective, organizations must use PPE or other protective measures to protect employees. Ensure that the use of any equipment and/or technical measures receive approval from a competent industrial hygienist or other technically qnalified person. 29 CFR 1910, Subpart Z, contains exposure limit Tables Z-1, Z-2, or Z-3 for substances not covered by a specific standard. 

In 1990 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), recognizing that laboratories require a different approach from industrial settings in managing exposures, issued the regulation Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, known today as the Lab Standard. This Lab Standard is a performance standard, meaning that OSHA does not tell an employer how to prevent exposure to its employees, but rather each employer can use his/her own methods to control exposures... 

When exposure to hazards cannot be engineered out of uormal operations or maintenance work, and when safe work practices and other forms of administrative controls cannot provide sufficient protection, a supplementary method of control is the use of PPE. PPE may also be appropriate for controlling hazards while engineering and work practice controls are being installed. For specific OSHA requirements on personal protective equipment, see OSHA s standard, 1910 Subpart I. 

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