OSHA Abatement Methods

Strive to identify persons with active tuberculosis. Provide medical surveillance at no cost to the employee, including preplacement evaluation, tubercnlosis skin tests, annual evaluations, and twice-yearly exams for those exposed. Evaluate and manage individuals with a positive skin test. Use acid-fast bacilli isolation rooms for those with active or snspected TB infection. Maintain such rooms under negative pressure and use outside exhaust or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered ventilation. Develop an employee information and training plan. 

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In its NEP, OSHA points out that for workplaces not covered by 1910.272, but where combustible dust hazards exist within dust control systems or other containers, citations under section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act (the General Duty Clause) may generally be issued for deflagration (fire) or explosion hazards. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards should be consulted to obtain evidence of hazard recognition and feasible abatement methods. Other standards are applicable to the combustible dust hazard. For example, if the workplace has a Class II location, then citations under 29 CFR 1910.307 may be issued to those employers having electrical equipment not meeting the standard s requirements. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has defined Abatement as action by an employer to comply with a cited standard or regulation or to eliminate a recognized safety or health hazard identified by OSHA during an inspection. Examples of methods commonly used to abate cited hazards include the use of engineering controls, correction of a deficiency in a program, or the use of permissible equipment to avoid a hazard. 

The courts have interpreted OSHA s general duty clause to mean that an employer has a legal obligation to provide a workplace free of conditions or activities that either the employer or industry recognizes as hazardous and that cause, or are hkely to cause, death or serious physical harm to employees when there is a feasible method to abate the hazard. 

Lead detection kits are useful as a quick check for screening areas for lead abatement. A positive response is evidence of the presence of lead or a positive interference. A negative response, however, is not conclusive evidence of the absence of lead. The test provides presumptive evidence for the presence of lead, not its absence. A more thorough determination may need to be performed by a quantitative laboratory analysis of any representative bulk material available to substantiate the absence of lead. Samples are analyzed for lead at OSHA s Salt Lake Technical Center (SLTC) using OSHA methods ID-121 with Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), ID-125 G with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), or ID-206 (Solders by ICP). If necessary, lower limits of detection for lead may be achieved using ICP Mass Spectrometer procedures. 

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