Safety and Health Administration

This administration, an agency of the Department of Labor, develops and enforces safety and health rules applying to all US mines. They assist mine operators with special compliance problems and issues. The administration also provides technical, educational, and other types of 

---

Exposure limits (threshold limit value or TLV) are those set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and represent conditions to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effects. The TLV value is expressed as a time weighted average airborne concentration over a normal 8-hour workday and 40-hour workweek. 

Occupation Safety and Health Administration Standards and Regulations of U.S. Gopemment, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1990. 

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). 

Occupational Exposure to Formaldehyde, Final Rule," Fed. Reg, Part 11, Dept, of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR, Part 1910, May 27, 1992. 

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). 

Mica mining is subjected to local, state, and federal laws. The Mining, Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regularly monitors mica mining operations for safety violations. 

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. 

Code of Federal Regulations, Tide 29, part 1910.1200, OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Washington, D.C. 

Control of Ha rdous Energy (Eockoutf Tagout), 29 CFR 1910.147, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Sept. 1, 1989. 

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). 

Amorphous sihca is classified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a nuisance dust. The principal reported health reaction is contact dermatitis resulting from the absorption of protective oils from the skin (1). 

Talc is considered a nuisance dust and subject to regulation in the workplace by both the Occupational Health and Safety Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Eight-hour exposure limits for talc dust are two milligrams of talc per cubic meter. 

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). 

When it approved the New Animal Drug AppHcation (NADA) of formalin, FDA ruled that use of formalin for fisheries was safe for humans and the environment. They ruled that effluents from fish treatments at 250 mg/L should be diluted 10 times and from egg treatments 75 times if 1,000 —2,000 mg/L were used (10,11). Before registering the compound, FDA also addressed carcinogenicity by stating it was not concerned about human exposure from either water or fish treated with formalin. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has procedural guidelines that should protect workers from harm fill levels of formalin. Calculations based on treatment levels demonstrated that a fishery worker is exposed to not more than 0.117 mg/L formalin in the air, well below the levels estabUshed by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers. 

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... 

Workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) has estabUshed workplace permissible exposure limits (PEL) for chromium metal and three forms of chromium compounds. OSHA s PEL for chromic acid and chromates is 0.1 mg/m 3 both a ceiling, ie, no exposure above this concentration is allowed, and an 8-h time-weighted average (TWA). Chromium metal and insoluble chromium salts have an 8-h TWA PEL of 1.0 mg/m Cr, and the same standard is 0.5 mg/m Cr for soluble Cr(III) and Cr(II) compounds (144). 

---