OSHA Releases Silica Rule

As OSHA releases silica rules, we at Lawley Construction want to keep you updated. OSHA has said the proposed silica rule “would bring protections into the 21st century” because it currently enforces 40-year-old permissible exposure limits for crystalline silica in general industry, construction and shipyards.

The new silica rule was released on March 24, 2016. OSHA had been working on the proposed rule for years and published an NPRM on Sept. 12, 2013, then considered more than 2,000 comments and held 14 days of hearings before releasing the new rule.

The National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) and other organizations that have pushed for this rule to be enacted have welcomed it immediately. “Workers across America can breathe easier today,” said National COSH Acting Executive Director Jessica Martinex. “We’ve known for decades that silica dust is deadly. With new common-sense rules in place to limit exposure, we can save lives and reduce suffering from silicosis, cancer and other life-threatening diseases.”

The rule will cut the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for silica dust to 50 micrograms of silica per cubic meter of air, averaged over an eight hour day, a limit two to five times lower than the current PEL.

OSHA Releases Silica Rule with New Standards

Two standards are in the final rule and they took effect on June 23, 2016. Affected industries have varying amounts of time to come into compliance with most requirements. Some examples include:

• Construction: June 23, 2017
• General Industry & Maritime: June 23, 2018
• Hydraulic fracturing: June 23, 2018 (for all provisions except engineering controls for which the compliance date is June 23, 2021)

New Rule to Protect Millions from Toxic Work Sites

“Decades in the making, OSHA’s new silica rule will better protect millions of workers from a highly toxic, cancer-causing substance that has killed thousands while the rule slowly worked its way through the regulatory gauntlet, administration after administration. Today, in quarries, foundries, building sites, and kitchen rehab jobs across the country, workers can look forward to breathing cleaner air,” said Center for Progressive Reform Executive Director Matt Shudtz. “But, the updated rule is far from the end of the story. Next comes the inevitable litigation. Following their tired playbook, special interest groups will beg a court to put a hold on the rule, hoping to delay or undo it. Workers have waited long enough for this rule. It is high time industry made an investment in the future by establishing the protections this rule requires. Investing now in tools and policies to better protect workers will save hundreds of lives every year. That’s not just a number; these are real people who will not have to suffer the pain and indignity of gasping for breath simply because they went to work at a job where the hazards of silica dust were ignored because OSHA’s outdated standard required so little of their employers.”

NIOSH’s Howard said the new rule matches what NIOSH recommended way back in 1974. For too long, employers opposed to lower PEL would say, “it’s just dust,” Howard said “Well, no, no, no — it’s silica. Our surveillance scientists still count cases that occur to day that we hope this new rule will prevent.”

OSHA’s Michaels said the previous PEL was out of date at the time when it was promulgated, allowing unnecessarily harmful worker exposures to silica dust for decades. “We commit ourselves to finishing the rule within the final term of President Obama,” he said. He also called the rule a “huge milestone.”

Inhaling respirable crystalline silica exposes workers to the risk of silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease. This new rule from OSHA could help protect those workers and keep them safe.