Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA

OSHA has developed Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) for 20 metals and metal compounds (Table 7.1). PELs are regulatory limits on the amount or concentration of a substance in the air to protect workers against the health effects of exposure to hazardous substances (OSHA 2006). OSHA PELs are based on an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposure. 

Tlie Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) was enacted by Congress in 1970 and established tlie Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which addressed safety in tlie workplace. At tlie same time die USEPA was created. Both USEPA and OSHA are mandated to reduce tlie exposure of liazardous substances over land, sea, and air. Tlie OSH Act is limited to conditions that exist in the workplace, where its jurisdiction covers both safety and health. Frequently, both agencies regulate tlie same substances but in a different manner as they are overlapping environmental organizations. 

Congress intended tluit OSHA be enforced tlu ough specific standards ill an effort to achieve a safe and healthful working enviromnent. A general duty clause was added to attempt to cover those obvious situations tliat were admitted by all concerned but for which no specific standard existed. The OSHA standards are an extensive compilation of regulations, some tliat apply to all employers (such as eye and face protection) and some tliat apply to workers who engaged in a specific type of work (such as welding or crane operation). 

Employers are obligated to miliarize themselves with the standards and comply with tliein at all times. 

Health issues, most importantly, contaminants in die workplace, have become OSHA s primary concern. Hetiltli hazards are complex and difficult to define. Because of this, OSHA lias been slow to implement liealtli standards. To be complete, each standard requires medical surveillance, record keeping, monitoring, and physical reviews. On the otlier side of the ledger, safety hazards are aspects of the work environment lliat are e.xpected to cause dealli or serious physical hann immediately or before tlie unminence of such danger can be eliminated. 

Probably one of the most important safely and health standards ever adopted is tlie OSHA hazard communication standmd, more properly known as tlie riglil to know laws. Hie liazard communication standard requires employers to communicate information to tlie employees on liazaidous chemicals tliat exist witliin die workplace. Tlie program requires employers to craft a written liazard communication program, keep material safety data sheets (MSDSs) for all liazardous chemicals at the workplace and provide employees with training on diose hazardous chemicals, and assure diat proper warning labels are in place. 

Cleanup operations at uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that have been identified for cleanup by a govermiient healtli or enviromnental agency Routine operations at liazardous waste TSD (Transportation, Storage, and Disposal) facilities or tliose portions of any facility regulated by 40 CFR Parts 264 and 265 

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For chemical faciUties in the United States, hazard analysis is not an option if inventories of hazardous chemicals are maintained in amounts greater than the threshold quantities specified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 1910.119. Many faciUties are finding that hazard analysis has many benefits. The process or procedure often works better, the quaUty of the product is improved, the process experiences less down time, and the employees feel more comfortable in the work environment after a hazard analysis has been completed. 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a ceiling level for iodine of 0.1 ppm in air. The American Conference of Government and Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) estabUshed 0.1 ppm as the TLV (TWA) for iodine. The maximum allowable concentration in air (MAK value) is also 0.1 ppm (104—106). 

Mock OSHA Inspection. Maintenance can learn a lot about how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) trains thein inspectors and what is emphasized in an OSHA inspection. Some of the training of OSHA inspectors follows a program involving the recognition of potential hazards, avoidance of these hazards, and prevention of accidents (RAP). 

It is good practice to keep concentrations of airborne nickel in any chemical form as low as possible and certainly below the relevant standard. Local exhaust ventilation is the preferred method, particularly for powders, but personal respirator protection may be employed where necessary. In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) personal exposure limit (PEL) for all forms of nickel except nickel carbonyl is 1 mg/m. The ACGIH TLVs are respectively 1 mg/m for Ni metal, insoluble compounds, and fume and dust from nickel sulfide roasting, and 0.1 mg/m for soluble nickel compounds. The ACGIH is considering whether to lower the TLVs for all forms of nickel to 0.05 mg/m, based on nonmalignant respiratory effects in experimental animals. 

Health and Safety. Petroleum and oxygenate formulas are either flammable or combustible. Flammables must be used in facUities that meet requirements for ha2ardous locations. Soak tanks and other equipment used in the removing process must meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for use with flammable Hquids. Adequate ventilation that meets the exposure level for the major ingredient must be attained. The work environment can be monitored by active air sampling and analysis of charcoal tubes. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates the exposure to chemicals ia the workplace. From the poiat of view of the inorganic pigments iadustry, the limits estabUshed for lead and cadmium exposure are particularly important. A comprehensive lead standard adopted by OSHA ia 1978 has been successful ia reduciag the potential for lead contamination ia the workplace. 

The two main federal agencies involved in the protection of human health and the environment are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). EPA s principal concern is the protection of the environment, in most cases, the area outside of an industrial faciUty. There are 10 regional offices that carry out the regulatory functions of the agency (Table 1). Primary laws covered by EPA are the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and LiabiUty Act (CERCLA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and Eederal Insecticide, Eungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

Exposure to tantalum metal dust may cause eye injury and mucous-membrane irritation. The threshold limit value (TLV) in air is 5 mg/m, LD q is <400 mg/kg and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) time weighted average (TWA) exposure limit is 5 mg/m (47). The immediate dangerous to life or health (IDLH) concentration is 2500 mg/m (48). Whereas some skin injuries from tantalum have been reported, systemic industrial poisoning is apparently unknown (47). 

The threshold limit value (TLV) set by the American Conference of Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) for teUurium and its compounds is 0.1 mg/m which is about ten times the amount which has been known to produce the adverse garUc odor (45,50). The ACGIH TLV for teUurium hexafluoride is 0.1 mg/m or 0.02 ppm of air. Likewise, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has estabUshed its permissible exposure limit (PEL) for teUurium and its compounds at 0.1 mg/m the PEL for teUurium hexafluoride is 0.2 mg/m or 0.02 ppm of air (50). 

The handling of arsenic in the workplace should be in compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations the maximum permissible exposure limit for arsenic in the workplace is 10 p-g/m of air as deterrnined as an average over an 8-h period (33). 

Safe Exposure Levels. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has adopted workplace exposure limits designed to keep airborne concentrations weU below the levels known to cause health problems (35) including ( ) daUy time-weighted average (TWA) exposure over an eight-hour day is not to exceed beryUium concentrations of 2 lg/m of air and (2) short-term exposure should not exceed beryUium concentrations of 25... 

Rrst responders are divided into two levels of competency first responder awcireness and first responder of>-erational. First responders at the awareness level shall be trained to meet all of the requirements of Section -2 of this chapter and first responders at the operational level shall be trained to meet all of the requirements of Section 2 and Section -3 of this chapter. All first responders shall receive annual training to meet federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements. 

Occupational Safety and Health Guidance Manual for Hazardous Waste Site Activities. Prepared by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHj, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), October 1985, p. 4-1. 

Congress passed the Occupational and Safety Health Act to ensure worker and workplace safety. Their goal was to make sure employers provide their workers a place of employment free from recognized hazards to safety and health, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions. In order to establish standards for workplace health and safety, the Act also created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as the research institution for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA is a division of the U.S. Department of Labor which oversees the administration of the Act and enforces Federal standards in all 50 states. 

The mission of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is to save lives, prevent injuries and protect the health of America s workers. 

Occidental Chemical Corporation, See OxyChem, subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (US), 241 Occidental Petroleum Corporation, 241 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 286 Ocean Chemicals Group, 212... 

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