Source: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3096/3096.html
Timestamp: 2015-04-18 09:04:38
Document Index: 119041397

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1926', 'art 1926', 'art 763', 'art 1926', 'art 1', 'art 1926', 'art 2']

Asbestos Standard for	the Construction Industry
Asbestos Standard for
This information is available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 693-1999; Teletypewriter (TTY) number: (877) 889-5627. Contents
What construction activities does this booklet cover?
What is work classification?
Which asbestos operations must employers monitor and assess?
What is the function of a competent person?
surveillance programs for employees?
Do employers have to keep any employee records?
Who is responsible for communicating asbestos hazards at worksites?
Does the OSHA standard require the posting of warning signs?
Must employers provide asbestos warning labels?
Do employers have to train employees regarding asbestos exposure?
What methods must employers use to control asbestos exposure levels?
What are the compliance requirements for Class I work?
What are the compliance requirements for Class II work?
What are the compliance requirements for Class III work?
What are the compliance requirements for Class IV work?
Does the competent person have duties that apply to more than one work class?
What does the OSHA standard require concerning respirators?
Do employers have to provide protective clothing for employees?
What are the hygiene-related requirements for employees performing Class I asbestos work involving more than 25 linear feet or 10 square feet of thermal system insulation or surfacing ACM or PACM?
What are the hygiene-related requirements for employees performing other Class I asbestos work and Class II and III asbestos work where exposures exceed a PEL or where a negative exposure assessment has not been produced?
What are the hygiene-related requirements for employees performing Class IV work?
What are an employer's housekeeping responsibilities?
Quick Reference of Provisions by Work Class
How do I obtain consultation services? What are Voluntary Protection Programs (VPPs)?
OSHA Consultation Projects Introduction
The asbestos standard for the construction industry (29 CFR Part 1926.1101, see www.osha.gov) regulates asbestos exposure for the following activities:
Employers must ensure that no employee is exposed to an airborne concentration of asbestos in excess of 0.1 f/cc as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA). In addition, employees must not be exposed to an airborne concentration of asbestos in excess of 1 f/cc as averaged over a sampling period of 30 minutes.
Employers must assess all asbestos operations for the potential to generate airborne fibers, and use exposure monitoring data to assess employee exposures. You must also designate a competent person to help ensure the safety and health of your workers.
On all construction sites with asbestos operations, employers must designate a competent person—one who can identify asbestos hazards in the workplace and has the authority to correct them. This person must be qualified and authorized to ensure worker safety and health as required by Subpart C, General Safety and Health Provisions for Construction (29 CFR Part 1926.20). Under these requirements for safety and health prevention programs, the competent person must frequently inspect job sites, materials, and equipment.
The competent person must attend a comprehensive training course for contractors and supervisors certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state approved training provider, or a complete a course that is equivalent in length and content.
For Class III and IV asbestos work, training must include a course equivalent in length, stringency, and content to the 16-hour Operations and Maintenance course developed by EPA for maintenance and custodial workers. For more specific information, see 40 CFR Part 763.92(a)(2).
To determine expected exposures, a competent person must perform an initial exposure assessment to assess exposures immediately before or as the operation begins. This person must perform the assessment in time to comply with all standard requirements triggered by exposure data or the lack of a negative exposure assessment and to provide the necessary information to ensure all control systems are appropriate and work properly. A negative exposure assessment demonstrates that employee exposure during an operation is consistently below the permissible exposure limit (PEL).
The initial exposure assessment must be based on the following criteria:
Results of employee exposure monitoring, unless a negative exposure assessment has been made; and
Observations, information, or calculations indicating employee exposure to asbestos, including any previous monitoring.
For Class I asbestos work, until employers document that employees will not be exposed in excess of the 8-hour TWA PEL and short-term exposure limit STEL, employers must assume that employee exposures are above those limits.
For any specific asbestos job that trained employees perform, employers may show that exposures will be below the PELs (i.e., negative exposure assessment) through the following:
Objective data demonstrating that ACM, or activities involving it, cannot release airborne fibers in excess of the 8-hour TWA PEL or STEL;
Exposure data obtained within the past 12 months from prior monitoring of work operations closely resembling the employer's current work operations (the work operations that were previously monitored must have been conducted by employees whose training and experience were no more extensive than that of current employees, and the data must show a high degree of certainty that employee exposures will not exceed the 8-hour TWA PEL or STEL under current conditions); or
Current initial exposure monitoring that used breathing zone air samples representing the 8-hour TWA and 30-minute short-term exposures for each employee in those operations most likely to result in exposures over the 8-hour TWA PEL for the entire asbestos job.
Yes. Employers must determine employee exposure measurements from breathing zone air samples representing the 8-hour TWA and 30-minute short-term exposures for each employee. Employers must take one or more samples representing full-shift exposure to determine the 8-hour TWA exposure in each work area. To determine short-term employee exposures, you must take one or more samples representing 30-minute exposures for the operations most likely to expose employees above the excursion limit in each work area.
You must also allow affected employees and their designated representatives to observe any employee exposure monitoring. When observation requires entry into a regulated area, you must provide and require the use of protective clothing and equipment.
For Class I and II jobs, employers must conduct monitoring daily that is representative of each employee working in a regulated area, unless you have produced a negative exposure assessment for the entire operation and nothing has changed. When all employees use supplied-air respirators operated in positive-pressure mode, however, you may discontinue daily monitoring. When employees perform Class I work using control methods not recommended in the standard, you must continue daily monitoring even when employees use supplied-air respirators.
For operations other than Class I and II, employers must monitor all work where exposures can possibly exceed the PEL often enough to validate the exposure prediction.
If periodic monitoring shows that certain employee exposures are below the 8-hour TWA PEL and the STEL, you may discontinue monitoring these employees' exposures.
Changes in processes, control equipment, personnel, or work practices that could result in new or additional exposures above the 8-hour TWA PEL or STEL require additional monitoring regardless of a previous negative exposure assessment for a specific job.
Are employers required to establish medical surveillance programs for employees?
It depends. Employers must provide a medical surveillance program for all employees who do the following:
Engage in Class I, II, or III work or are exposed at or above the PEL or STEL for a combined total of 30 or more days per year; or
Wear negative-pressure respirators.
In addition, a licensed physician must perform or supervise all medical exams and procedures that you provide at no cost to your employees and at a reasonable time. Employers must make medical exams and consultations available to employees as follows:
Prior to employee assignment to an area where negative pressure respirators are worn;
Within 10 working days after the 30th day of combined engagement in Class I, II, and III work and exposure at or above a PEL, and at least annually thereafter; and
When an examining physician suggests them more frequently.
If an employee was examined within the past 12 months and that exam meets the criteria of the standard, however, another medical exam is not required. Medical exams must include the following:
Medical and work histories;
Completion of a standardized questionnaire with the initial exam (see 29 CFR Part 1926.1101, Appendix D, Part 1) and an abbreviated standardized questionnaire with annual exams (see 29 CFR Part 1926.1101, Appendix D, Part 2);
Physical exam focusing on the pulmonary and gastrointestinal systems; and
Any other exams or tests deemed necessary by the examining physician.
Employers must provide the examining physician with the following:
Copy of OSHA's asbestos standard and its appendices D, E, and I;
Description of the affected employee's duties relating to exposure;
Employee's representative exposure level or anticipated exposure level;
Description of any personal protective equipment and respiratory equipment used; and
It is the employer's responsibility to obtain the physician's written opinion containing results of the medical exam as well as the following information:
Any medical conditions of the employee that increase health risks from asbestos exposure.
Any recommended limitations on the employee or protective equipment used.
A statement that the employee has been informed of the results of the medical exam and any medical conditions resulting from asbestos exposure.
A statement that the employee has been informed of the increased risk of lung cancer from the combined effect of smoking and asbestos exposure. Note: A physician's written opinion must not reveal specific findings or diagnoses unrelated to occupational exposure to asbestos. You must provide a copy of the physician's written opinion to the employee involved within 30 days after receipt.
Yes. Employers must maintain employee records concerning objective data, exposure monitoring, and medical surveillance.
If using objective data to demonstrate that products made from or containing asbestos cannot release fibers in concentrations at or above the PEL or STEL, employers must keep an accurate record for as long as it is relied on and include the following information:
Exempt products.
Objective data source.
Testing protocol, test results, and analysis of the material for release of asbestos.
Exempt operation and support data descriptions.
Relevant data for operations, materials, processes, or employee exposures.
Employers must keep records of all employee exposure monitoring for at least 30 years, including following information:
Operation involving asbestos exposure that you monitored.
Methods of sampling and analysis that you used and evidence of their accuracy.
Type of protective devices worn.
Name, social security number, and exposures of the employees involved.
Employers must also make exposure records available when requested to affected employees, former employees, their designated representatives, and/or OSHA's Assistant Secretary.
In addition to retaining a copy of the information provided to the examining physician, employers must keep all medical surveillance records for the duration of an employee's employment plus 30 years, including the following information:
Employee's medical exam results, including the medical history, questionnaires, responses, test results, and physician's recommendations.
Employee's medical complaints related to asbestos exposure.
Employers must also make employees' medical surveillance records available to them, as well as to anyone having specific written consent of an employee, and to OSHA's Assistant Secretary.
Also, employers must maintain other records. Employers must maintain all employee training records for 1 year beyond the last date of employment.
If data demonstrate ACM does not contain asbestos, building owners or employers must keep associated records for as long as they rely on them. Building owners must maintain written notifications on the identification, location, and quantity of any ACM or PACM for the duration of ownership, and transfer the records to successive owners.
When employers cease to do business without a successor to keep their records, employers must notify the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at least 90 days prior to their disposal and transmit them as requested.
A regulated area is a marked-off site where employees work with asbestos, including any adjoining areas where debris and waste from asbestos work accumulates or where airborne concentrations of asbestos exceed, or can possibly exceed, the PEL.
All Class I, II, and III asbestos work, or any other operations where airborne asbestos exceeds the PEL, must be performed within regulated areas. Only persons permitted by an employer and required by work duties to be present in regulated areas may enter a regulated area. The designated competent person supervises all asbestos work performed in this area.
Employers must mark off the regulated area in a manner that minimizes the number of persons within the area and protects persons outside the area from exposure to airborne asbestos. You may use critical barriers (i.e., plastic sheeting placed over all openings to the work area to prevent airborne asbestos from migrating to an adjacent area) or negative pressure enclosures to mark off a regulated area.
Posted warning signs demarcating the area must be easily readable and understandable. The signs must bear the following information:
RESPIRATORY AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
Employers must supply a respirator to all persons entering regulated areas. (See respiratory protection requirements elsewhere in this booklet.) Employees must not eat, drink, smoke, chew (tobacco or gum), or apply cosmetics in regulated areas.
An employer performing work in a regulated area must inform other employers onsite of the following:
The contractor creating or controlling the source of asbestos contamination must abate the hazards. All employers with employees working near regulated areas, must daily assess the enclosure's integrity or the effectiveness of control methods to prevent airborne asbestos from migrating. General contractors on a construction project must oversee all asbestos work, even though they may not be the designated competent person. As supervisor of the entire project, the general contractor determines whether asbestos contractors comply with the standard and ensures that they correct any problems.
The communication of asbestos hazards is vital to prevent further overexposure. Most asbestos-related construction involves previously installed building materials. Building/facility owners often are the only or best source of information concerning these materials.
Before work begins, building/facility owners must identify all thermal system insulation at the worksite, sprayed or troweled-on surfacing materials in buildings, and resilient flooring material installed before 1981. They also must notify the following persons of the presence, location, and quantity of ACM or PACM:
Prospective employers applying or bidding for work in or adjacent to areas containing asbestos.
Building owners' employees who work in or adjacent to these areas.
Other employers on multi-employer worksites with employees working in or adjacent to these areas.
All tenants who will occupy the areas containing ACM.