OSHA will direct field offices to investigate whether coal slag abrasive manufacturers are complying with the hazard communication standard, due to concerns relayed to OSHA that beryllium in coal slag products is not being disclosed to end users, an agency official told Inside OSHA Online.
OSHA will direct field offices to investigate whether coal slag abrasive manufacturers are complying with the hazard communication standard, due to concerns relayed to OSHA that beryllium in coal slag products is not being disclosed to end users, an agency official told Inside OSHA Online. The move follows a formal demand by a public interest group for the agency to step up enforcement of the standard.
Public Citizen urged OSHA to elevate enforcement activities to ensure that manufacturers meet the hazcom requirements for beryllium levels in coal slag abrasive, which is used in blasting operations on surfaces such as bridges. Worker advocates are concerned that employers of blasting workers are not informed of beryllium hazards because of failure of manufacturers to include warnings.
The industry argues that while all coal ash products contain trace amounts of metals, they are not toxic unless the metals are ingested at levels to cause harm, and in the case of coal slag, those metals are particularly immobile.
OSHA is taking steps to respond to the concerns, which Public Citizen conveyed in a memo to Thomas Galassi, director, OSHA Directorate of Enforcement Programs, contending that manufacturers of coal slag abrasive are failing to report their product’s beryllium exposure risks. Such omissions deny abrasive blasting workers their right to know about hazardous exposures as established under the hazcom standard, Public Citizen says.
“OSHA has been informed of potential violations involving several manufacturers or upstream suppliers of coal slag abrasive blasting materials and their failure to provide the required hazard information on their Material Safety Data Sheets,” an agency official said in an email.
OSHA was presented with documents pertaining to worker exposure to beryllium and other toxic metals via coal slag abrasives used in blasting operations, the official said. “We have performed an independent review of the relevant scientific literature and have determined the proper course of action. The agency will be investigating the matter of inadequate MSDS by referring the issue to the Area Office within whose jurisdiction the manufacturer or supplier is located.”
The detailed investigative procedures are established in OSHA's compliance directive for hazcom, the official said.
Justin Feldman, worker health and safety advocate, Public Citizen, told Inside OSHA Online that the agency's response is the most OSHA can do, at least for now. “That's their protocol. That's the way they work,” he said. “They're treating it as a referral.” Feldman said he is “confident that OSHA's side will prevail” if it comes to legal action.
Beryllium is a highly toxic metal that can result in chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer, Public Citizen says, adding that even short-term exposure at low levels can be dangerous, causing immune system sensitization to beryllium in as little as two months. OSHA's own analysis conducted for its draft beryllium standard indicates that abrasive blasters may face higher beryllium exposure than any other occupation, the group says.
Public Citizen also cited several studies to show that coal slag abrasive can release beryllium at concentrations over established occupational exposure limits, including OSHA permissible exposure limits (PELs) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists threshold limit values (TLVs).
But a spokesman for the American Coal Ash Association said there is a difference between coal ash materials containing substances such as beryllium, and the materials causing harm. “The coal ash, and coal slag, has trace levels of a number of metals, and those levels are similar to the levels found in materials coal ash replaces when it's recycled,” he said. “[In] the slag products, the metals are particularly immobile, because the material has been vitrified; it's very hard.”
The spokesman called it “disingenuous” to conclude that because the substances are present that the materials themselves are toxic. “All parts of coal contain trace levels of metals that are well below action limits and comparable to the levels found in other common materials,” he said. “The metals aren't toxic unless they get out of what they're in and into you in a quantity sufficient to cause harm.”
A former OSHA official said beryllium exposures are a serious concern because OSHA's PEL of two micrograms per cubic meter, time-weighted average has been shown to be far too high and that the beryllium TLV of .05 “would be a good place to start. I think it should be lower than that.”
“OSHA is the real conspicuous outlier in having the oldest and most unconscionably high PEL for beryllium,” the source said. “It's a big worry. This is a case where there's nothing else that gives you beryllium disease. It may be a wake-up call to go out and do some sampling.”
The former official added, “It is in my opinion a symptom of a bigger problem with hazard communication ... OSHA has never been very interested in enforcing the content requirements of the data sheets ... almost never gone after the manufacturers for supplying employers with false data.”
Public Citizen contended that OSHA's PEL for beryllium needs to be updated, though even without moving on that issue, the agency should at least step up hazcom enforcement related to the substance. “Ten years ago, Public Citizen petitioned OSHA to update the beryllium PEL. Our petition has not yet resulted in a beryllium regulation that actually protects workers’ health,” the memo states. “In absence of an adequate beryllium standard, the least that the OSHA Directorate of Enforcement Programs could do is ensure workers are informed about their risks, a right they are afforded by existing law.”
Feldman conceded that he sees a new standard as a long way off, however. “We're not going to hold our breath on that.” -- Christopher Cole (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )