The final phase of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new rules governing exposure to hexavalent chromium, in which employers are required to implement feasible and/or necessary engineering controls into their workplaces, will take effect on May 31, 2010.
Hexavalent chromium is created in many types of welding, but primarily stainless steel welding. The new regulations apply to general industrial, shipyard and construction welding.
All employers have already been required to ensure employees are exposed to no more than 5 micrograms of hexavalent chromium per cubic meter of air, which was mainly accomplished through the use of respirators and work practice controls. However, these new regulations require employers go one step further to implement engineering controls, such as the use of localized air filtration systems and facility-wide ventilation systems.
One of the challenges employers face as they strive to meet the new regulations will be to understand how the new engineering controls rules affect their specific operations. Without direction that applies to their individual workplaces, the definition of “feasible and/or necessary” could place companies in the position of enacting too few or too many engineering controls.
Has your company begun implementing the engineering controls required to comply with OSHA’s hexavalent chromium regulations? Are you struggling to understand whether your company needs to implement engineering controls, or whether work practice changes and respirators are enough to meet the new OSHA requirements in effect May 31, 2010? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.
