California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety › Subchapter 7 - General Industry Safety Orders › Group 16 - Control of Hazardous Substances › Article 109 - Hazardous Substances and Processes › Appendix B - Section 5198 Summary

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
This appendix summarizes key provisions of the standard
						  that you as a worker should become familiar with.
I. Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL)
The standard sets a permissible exposure limit (PEL) of
						  fifty micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air (50
						  [MICRO]g/M3), averaged over an 8-hour workday. This
						  is the highest level of lead in air to which you may be permissibly exposed
						  over an 8-hour workday. Since it is an 8-hour average it permits short
						  exposures above the PEL so long as for each 8-hour workday your average
						  exposure does not exceed the PEL.
This standard recognizes that your daily exposure to
						  lead can extend beyond a typical 8-hour workday as the result of overtime or
						  other alterations in your work schedule. To deal with this, the standard
						  contains a formula which reduces your permissible exposure when you are exposed
						  more than 8 hours. For example, if you are exposed to lead for 10 hours a day,
						  the maximum permitted average exposure would be 40
						  [MICRO]g/M3.
II. Exposure Monitoring
If lead is present in any quantity in the workplace
						  where you work, your employer is required to make an initial determination of
						  whether the action level is exceeded for any employee. This initial
						  determination must include instrument monitoring of the air for the presence of
						  lead and must cover the exposure of a representative number of employees who
						  are reasonably believed to have the highest exposure levels. If your employer
						  has conducted appropriate air sampling for lead in the past year he may use
						  these results. If there have been any employee complaints of symptoms which may
						  be attributable to exposure to lead or if there is any other information or
						  observations which would indicate employee exposure to lead, this must also be
						  considered as part of the initial determination. This determination must have
						  been completed within 30 days of the effective date of the standard. If this
						  initial determination shows that a reasonable possibility exists that any
						  employee may be exposed, without regard to the use of respirators, over the
						  action level (30 [MICRO]g/M3), your employer must
						  set up an air monitoring program to determine the exposure level of every
						  employee exposed to lead at your workplace.
In carrying out this air monitoring program, your
						  employer is not required to monitor the exposure of every employee but must
						  monitor a representative number of employees and job types. Enough sampling
						  must be done to enable each employee's exposure level to be reasonably
						  represented by at least one full-shift (at least 7 hours) air sample. In
						  addition, these air samples must be taken under conditions which represent each
						  employee's regular, daily exposure to lead. All initial exposure monitoring
						  must have been completed within 90 days of the effective date of the
						  standard.
If you are exposed to lead and air sampling is
						  performed, your employer is required to quickly notify you in writing of air
						  monitoring results which represent your exposure. If the results indicate your
						  exposure exceeds the PEL (without regard to your use of respirators), then your
						  employer must also notify you of this in writing and also provide you with a
						  description of the corrective action that will be taken to reduce your
						  exposure.
Your exposure must be rechecked by monitoring every six
						  months if your exposure is over the action level but below the PEL. Air
						  monitoring must be repeated every three months if you are exposed over the PEL.
						  Your employer may discontinue monitoring for you if two consecutive
						  measurements, taken at least two weeks apart, are below the action level.
						  However, whenever there is a production, process, control, or personnel change
						  at your workplace which may result in new or additional exposure to lead, or
						  whenever there is any other reason to suspect a change which may result in new
						  or additional exposure to lead, your employer must perform additional
						  monitoring.
III. Compliance
Except for certain industries, the regulation requires
						  employers to reduce and maintain employee exposure to lead at or below the
						  permissible exposure limit by means of engineering, work practice, and
						  administrative controls to the extent that such controls are feasible. Even
						  though such controls may not be sufficient to effect compliance with the PEL,
						  they must be instituted to achieve the lowest feasible exposure level and the
						  employer must provide supplemental protection in the form of
						  respirators.
Where employee exposure above the PEL occurs
						  intermittently for no more than 30 days per year, feasible engineering controls
						  must be implemented to achieve compliance with an exposure limit of 150
						  [MICRO]g/M3 but compliance with the PEL may be
						  accomplished by any combination of engineering, work practice, and
						  administrative controls and respiratory protection.
IV. Respiratory Protection
Your employer is required to provide and assure your
						  use of respirators when your exposure to lead is not controlled below the PEL
						  by other means. The employer must pay the cost of the respirator. Whenever you
						  request one, your employer is also required to provide you a respirator even if
						  the air exposure level does not exceed the PEL. You might desire a respirator
						  when, for example, you intend to have children in the near future, and want to
						  reduce the level of lead in your body to minimize adverse reproductive effects.
						  While respirators are the least satisfactory means of controlling your
						  exposure, they are capable of providing significant protection when properly
						  chosen, fitted, worn, cleaned, and maintained and are replaced when they stop
						  providing adequate protection.
Your employer is required to select respirators from
						  the types listed in the respiratory protection subsection of the standard. Any
						  respirator chosen must be approved by the National Institute for Occupational
						  Safety and Health (NIOSH) under the provisions of 42 CFR part 84 . The
						  respirator selection table will enable your employer to choose a type of
						  respirator which will give you proper protection based on your airborne lead
						  exposure. Your employer may select a type of respirator that provides greater
						  protection than that required by the standard; that is, one recommended for a
						  higher concentration of lead than that to which you are exposed.
An air purifying respirator is any respirator which has
						  a filter, cartridge or canister which cleans the work room air as you breathe
						  it. The typical air purifying respirator is a negative pressure respirator
						  because it requires the force of your inhalation to draw air through the
						  filtering element. It is less protective than a powered air purifying
						  respirator (PAPR) which also has a filter, cartridge or canister to clean the
						  air, but a power source which continuously blows filtered air into your
						  breathing zone. Your employer might make a PAPR available to you to ease the
						  burden of having to wear a negative pressure air purifying respirator for long
						  periods of time. The standard provides that you can obtain a PAPR upon
						  request.
Supplied-air respirators are also available which, as
						  the name implies, are respirators to which breathing quality air is supplied
						  from a source such as an air compressor, blower or compressed air cylinder.
						  Three types of supplied-air respirators are availabledemand, pressure demand,
						  and continuous flow. The demand-type requires the force of inhalation to open a
						  diaphragm valve thus admitting air from the supply source. As any leakage
						  around the facepiece will permit the concurrent admission of contaminated air,
						  the demand-type only provides protection generally equivalent to that of the
						  typical negative pressure air purifying respirator of the same facepiece type.
						  Greater protection is provided by either the pressure-demand or continuous-flow
						  types as positive air pressure exists within the respirator at all
						  times.
Your employer must also start a Respiratory Protection
						  Program in accordance with General Industry Safety Orders section
						  5144. This program must include
						  written procedures for the proper selection, use, cleaning, storage, and
						  maintenance of respirators.
Your employer must assure that your respirator
						  facepiece fits properly. Proper fit of a respirator facepiece is critical and
						  no single facepiece fits all facial configurations equally well. Obtaining a
						  proper fit thus may require your employer to make available two or three
						  different mask types in order that facepiece leakage is minimized for each
						  employee. In order to assure that your respirator fits properly and that
						  facepiece leakage is minimized, your employer must give you either a
						  "quantitative or qualitative fit test" as specified in Appendix A of Section
						  5144, Respiratory
						  Protection.
You must also receive from your employer proper
						  training in the use of respirators. Your employer is required to teach you how
						  to wear a respirator, to know why it is needed, and to understand its
						  limitations.
The standard provides that if your respirator uses
						  filter elements, you must be given an opportunity to change the filter elements
						  whenever an increase in breathing resistance is detected. You also must be
						  permitted to periodically leave your work area to wash your face and respirator
						  facepiece whenever necessary to prevent skin irritation. If you ever have
						  difficulty in breathing during a fit test or while using a respirator, your
						  employer must make a medical examination available to you to determine whether
						  you can safely wear a respirator. The result of this examination may be to give
						  you a positive pressure respirator (which reduces breathing resistance) or to
						  provide alternative means of protection.
V. Protective Work Clothing and Equipment
If you are exposed to lead above the PEL, or if you are
						  exposed to lead compounds such as lead arsenate or lead azide which can cause
						  skin and eye irritation, your employer must provide you with protective work
						  clothing and equipment appropriate for the hazard. If work clothing is
						  provided, it must be provided in a clean and dry condition at least weekly, and
						  daily if your exposure to airborne lead is greater than 150
						  [MICRO]g/M3. Appropriate protective work clothing
						  and equipment can include coveralls or similar full-body work clothing, gloves,
						  hats, shoes or disposable shoe coverlets, and face shields or vented goggles.
						  Your employer is required to provide all such equipment at no cost to you. He
						  is responsible for providing repairs and replacement as necessary, and also is
						  responsible for the cleaning, laundering or disposal of protective clothing and
						  equipment. Contaminated work clothing or equipment must be removed in change
						  rooms and not worn home or you will extend your exposure and expose your family
						  since lead from your clothing can accumulate in your house, car, etc.
						  Contaminated clothing which is to be cleaned, laundered or disposed of must be
						  placed in closed containers in the change room. At no time may lead be removed
						  from protective clothing or equipment by any means which disperses lead into
						  the workroom air.
VI. Housekeeping
Your employer must establish a housekeeping program
						  sufficient to maintain all surfaces as free as practicable of accumulations of
						  lead dust. Vacuuming is the preferred method of meeting this requirement, and
						  the use of compressed air to clean floors and other surfaces is absolutely
						  prohibited. Dry or wet sweeping, shoveling, or brushing may not be used except
						  where vacuuming or other equally effective methods have been tried and do not
						  work. Vacuums must be used and emptied in a manner which minimizes the reentry
						  of lead into the workplace.
VII. Hygiene Facilities and Practices
The standard requires that change rooms, showers, and
						  lunchrooms be made available to workers exposed to lead above the PEL. When the
						  PEL is exceeded, the employer must assure that food and beverage is not present
						  or consumed, tobacco products are not present or used, and cosmetics are not
						  applied, except in these facilities. Change rooms, showers, and lunchrooms, if
						  available, must be used by workers exposed in excess of the PEL. After
						  showering, no clothing or equipment worn during the shift may be worn home, and
						  this includes shoes and underwear. Your own clothing worn during the shift
						  should be carried home and cleaned carefully so that it does not contaminate
						  your home. Lunchrooms may not be entered with protective clothing or equipment
						  unless surface dust has been removed by vacuuming, downdraft booth, or other
						  cleaning method. Finally, workers exposed above the PEL must wash their hands
						  and faces prior to eating, drinking, smoking or applying cosmetics.
All of the facilities and hygiene practices just
						  discussed are essential to minimize additional sources of lead absorption from
						  inhalation or ingestion of lead that may accumulate on you, your clothes, or
						  your possessions. Strict compliance with these provisions can virtually
						  eliminate several sources of lead exposure which significantly contribute to
						  excessive lead absorption.
VIII. Medical Surveillance
The medical surveillance program is part of the
						  standard's comprehensive approach to the prevention of lead-related disease.
						  Its purpose is to supplement the main thrust of the standard which is aimed at
						  minimizing airborne concentrations of lead and sources of ingestion. Only
						  medical surveillance can determine if the other provisions of the standard have
						  effectively protected you as an individual. Compliance with the standard's
						  provisions will protect most workers from the adverse effects of lead exposure,
						  but may not be satisfactory to protect individual workers (1) who have high
						  body burdens of lead acquired over past years, (2) who have additional
						  uncontrolled sources of non-occupational lead exposure, (3) who exhibit unusual
						  variations in lead absorption rates, or (4) who have specific non-work related
						  medical conditions which could be aggravated by lead exposure (e.g., renal
						  disease, anemia). In addition, control systems may fail, or hygiene and
						  respirator programs may be inadequate. Periodic medical surveillance of
						  individual workers will help detect those failures. Medical surveillance will
						  also be important to protect your reproductive ability regardless of whether
						  you are a man or woman.
All medical surveillance required by the standard must
						  be performed by or under the supervision of a licensed physician. The employer
						  must provide required medical surveillance without cost to the employees and at
						  a reasonable time and place. The standard's medical surveillance program has
						  two parts periodic biological monitoring and medical examinations.
Your employer's obligation to offer medical
						  surveillance is triggered by the results of the air monitoring program. Medical
						  surveillance must be made available to all employees who are exposed in excess
						  of the action level (without regard to the use of respirators) for more than 30
						  days a year. The initial phase of the medical surveillance program, which
						  includes blood lead level tests and medical examinations, must be completed for
						  all covered employees within 150 days of the effective date of the lead
						  standard. Priority within this first round of medical surveillance must be
						  given to employees whom the employer believes to be at greatest risk from
						  continued exposure (for example, those with the longest prior exposure to lead,
						  or those with the highest current exposure). Thereafter, the employer must
						  periodically make medical surveillance both biological monitoring and medical
						  examinations available to all covered employees.
Biological monitoring under the standard consists of
						  blood lead level (PbB) and zinc protoporphyrin tests at least every 6 months
						  after the initial PbB test. If a worker's PbB exceeds 40 [MICRO]g/100g the
						  monitoring frequency must be increased from every 6 months to at least every 2
						  months and not reduced until two consecutive PbBs indicate a blood lead level
						  below 40 [MICRO]g/100g. Each time your PbB is determined to be over 40
						  [MICRO]g/100g, your employer must notify you of this in writing within five
						  working days of his receipt of the test results. The employer must also inform
						  you that the standard requires temporary medical removal with economic
						  protection when your PbB exceeds certain criteria (See Discussion of Medical
						  Removal Protection). During the first year of the standard, this removal
						  criterion is 80 [MICRO]g/100g. Anytime your PbB exceeds 80 [MICRO]g/100g your
						  employer must make available to you a prompt follow-up PbB test to ascertain
						  your PbB. If the two tests both exceed 80 [MICRO]g/100g and you are temporarily
						  removed, then your employer must make successive PbB tests available to you on
						  a monthly basis during the period of your removal.
Medical examinations beyond the initial one must be
						  made available on an annual basis if your blood lead level exceeds 40
						  [MICRO]g/100g at any time during the preceding year. The initial examination
						  will provide information to establish a baseline with which subsequent data can
						  be compared. An initial medical examination must also be made available (prior
						  to assignment) for each employee being assigned for the first time to an area
						  where the concentration of airborne lead equals or exceeds the action level. In
						  addition, a medical examination or consultation must be made available as soon
						  as possible if you notify your employer that you are experiencing signs or
						  symptoms commonly associated with lead poisoning or that you have difficulty
						  breathing while wearing a respirator or during a respirator fit test. You must
						  also be provided a medical examination or consultation if you notify your
						  employer that you desire medical advice concerning the effects of current or
						  past exposure to lead on your ability to procreate a healthy child.
Finally, appropriate follow-up medical examinations or
						  consultations may also be provided for employees who have been temporarily
						  removed from exposure under the medical removal protection provisions of the
						  standard (See Part IX, below).
The standard specifies the minimum content of
						  pre-assignment and annual medical examinations. The content of other types of
						  medical examinations and consultations is left up to the sound discretion of
						  the examining physician. Pre-assignment and annual medical examinations must
						  include (1) a detailed work history, (2) a thorough physical examination, and
						  (3) a series of laboratory tests designed to check your blood chemistry and
						  your kidney function. In addition, at any time upon your request, a laboratory
						  evaluation of male fertility will be made (microscopic examination of a sperm
						  sample), or a pregnancy test will be given. The standard does not require that
						  you participate in any of the medical procedures, tests, etc. which your
						  employer is required to make available to you. Medical surveillance can,
						  however, play a very important role in protecting your health. You are strongly
						  encouraged, therefore, to participate in a meaningful fashion The standard
						  contains a multiple physician review mechanism which provides you with the
						  right to a second medical opinion from a physician of your choice if you are
						  dissatisfied with an examination by a physician chosen by your employer. The
						  standard requires the two physicians to attempt a resolution of any difference
						  in their opinions. If any dispute remains unresolved, the standard provides
						  that a third physician, selected by you and your employer, shall make a final,
						  binding medical determination unless you and your employer reach an agreement
						  which is otherwise consistent with the recommendations of one of the
						  physicians. Generally, your employer will choose the physician who conducts
						  medical surveillance under the lead standard unless you and your employer
						  otherwise agree on the choice of a physician or physicians. Some companies and
						  unions have agreed in advance, for example, to use certain independent medical
						  laboratories or panels of physicians. Any of these arrangements are acceptable
						  so long as required medical surveillance is made available to workers.
The standard requires your employer to provide certain
						  information to a physician to aid in his or her examination of you. This
						  information includes (1) the standard and these appendices, (2) a description
						  of your duties as they relate to lead exposure, (3) your exposure level, (4) a
						  description of personal protective equipment you wear, (5) prior blood lead
						  level results, and (6) prior written medical opinions concerning you that the
						  employer may have. After a medical examination or consultation the physician
						  must prepare a written report which must contain (1) the physician's opinion as
						  to whether you have any medical condition which places you at increased risk of
						  material impairment to health from exposure to lead, (2) any recommended
						  special protective measures to be provided to you, (3) any blood lead level
						  determinations, and (4) any recommended limitation on your use of respirators.
						  This last element must include a determination of whether you can wear a
						  powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) if you are found unable to wear a
						  negative pressure respirator.
The medical surveillance program of the lead standard
						  may at some point in time serve to notify certain workers that they have
						  acquired a disease or other adverse medical condition as a result of
						  occupational lead exposure. If this is true, workers may have legal rights to
						  compensation from public agencies, their employers, firms that supply hazardous
						  products to their employers, or other persons. The results of the medical
						  surveillance program can significantly affect the legal remedies of a worker
						  who has acquired a job-related disease or impairment.
The medical surveillance subsection of the standard
						  also contains provisions dealing with chelation. Chelation is the use of
						  certain drugs (administered in pill form or injected into the body) to reduce
						  the amount of lead absorbed in body tissues. Experience accumulated by the
						  medical and scientific communities has largely confirmed the effectiveness of
						  this type of therapy for the treatment of very severe lead poisoning. On the
						  other hand, it has also been established that there can be a long list of
						  extremely harmful side effects associated with the use of chelating agents. The
						  medical community has balanced the advantages and disadvantages resulting from
						  the use of chelating agents in various circumstances and has established when
						  the use of these agents is acceptable. The standard includes these accepted
						  limitations due to a history of abuse of chelation therapy by some lead
						  companies. The most widely used chelating agents are calcium disodium EDTA, Ca
						  Na2 EDTA), calcium disodium versenate (Versenate), and
						  d-penicillamine (penicillamine or Cupramine). The standard prohibits
						  "prophylactic chelation" of any employee by any person the employer retains,
						  supervises or controls. "Prophylactic chelation" is the routine use of
						  chelating or similarly acting drugs to prevent elevated blood levels in workers
						  who are occupationally exposed to lead, or the use of these drugs to routinely
						  lower blood levels to predesignated concentrations believed to be 'safe'. It
						  should be emphasized that where an employer takes a worker who has no symptoms
						  of lead poisoning and has chelation carried out by a physician (either inside
						  or outside of a hospital) solely to reduce the worker's blood lead level, such
						  practice is generally considered prophylactic chelation. The use of a hospital
						  and a physician does not mean that prophylactic chelation is not being
						  performed. Routine chelation to prevent increased or reduce current blood lead
						  levels is unacceptable whatever the setting. The standard allows the use of
						  "therapeutic" or "diagnostic" chelation if administered under the supervision
						  of a licensed physician in a clinical setting with thorough and appropriate
						  medical monitoring. Therapeutic chelation responds to severe lead poisoning
						  where there are marked symptoms. Diagnostic chelation involves giving a patient
						  a dose of the drug then collecting all urine excreted for some period of time
						  as an aid to the diagnosis of lead poisoning.
In cases where the examining physician determines that
						  chelation is appropriate, you must be notified in writing of this fact before
						  such treatment. This will inform you of a potentially harmful treatment and
						  allow you to obtain a second medical opinion if you choose to do so.
IX. Medical Removal Protection
Excessive lead absorption subjects you to increased
						  risk of disease. Medical removal protection (MRP) is a means of protecting you
						  when, for whatever reasons, other methods such as engineering and
						  administrative controls, work practices, and respirators have failed to provide
						  the protection you need. MRP involves the temporary removal of a worker from
						  his or her regular job to a place of significantly lower exposure without any
						  loss of earnings, seniority, or other employment rights or benefits. The
						  purpose of this program is to cease further lead absorption and allow your body
						  to naturally excrete lead which has previously been absorbed. Temporary medical
						  removal can result from an elevated blood lead level, or a medical opinion. Up
						  to eighteen months of protection is provided as a result of either form of
						  removal. The vast majority of removed workers, however, will return to their
						  former jobs long before this eighteen-month period expires. The standard
						  contains special provisions to deal with the extraordinary but possible case
						  where a worker's blood-lead level does not adequately decline during eighteen
						  months of removal.
If your blood lead level is 50 [MICRO]g/100g or above,
						  you must be removed from any exposure where your air lead level without a
						  respirator would be 30 [MICRO]g/m3 or above. If you
						  are removed from your normal job you may not be returned until your blood lead
						  level declines to at least 40 [MICRO]g/100g.
You may also be removed from exposure even if your
						  blood lead levels are below these criteria if a medical determination indicates
						  that you temporarily need reduced lead exposure for medical reasons. If the
						  physician who is implementing your employer's medical program makes a written
						  opinion recommending your removal or other special protective measures, your
						  employer must implement the physician's recommendation. If you are removed in
						  this manner, you may only be returned when the doctor indicates that it is safe
						  for you to do so.
The standard does not give specific instructions
						  dealing with what an employer must do with a removed worker. Your job
						  assignment upon removal is a matter for you, your employer and your union (if
						  any) to work out consistent with procedures or agreements for job assignments
						  which may exist in your place of employment. Each removal must be accomplished
						  in a manner consistent with existing collective bargaining relationships. Your
						  employer is given broad discretion to implement temporary removals so long as
						  no attempt is made to override existing agreements. Similarly, a removed worker
						  is provided no right to veto an employer's choice which satisfies the
						  standard.
In most cases, employers will likely transfer removed
						  employees to other jobs with sufficiently low lead exposure. Alternatively, a
						  worker's hours may be reduced so that the time-weighted average exposure is
						  reduced, or he or she may be temporarily laid off if no other alternative is
						  feasible.
In all of these situations, MRP benefits must be
						  provided during the period of removal that is, you continue to receive the same
						  earnings, seniority, and other rights and benefits you would have had if you
						  had not been removed. Earnings include more than just your base wage; they
						  include overtime, shift differentials, incentives, and other compensation you
						  would have earned if you had not been removed. During the period of removal you
						  must also be provided with appropriate follow-up medical surveillance. If you
						  were removed because your blood lead level was too high, you must be provided
						  with a monthly blood test. If a medical opinion caused your removal, you must
						  be provided medical tests or examinations that the doctor believes to be
						  appropriate. If you do not participate in this follow up medical surveillance,
						  you may lose your eligibility for MRP benefits.
When you are medically eligible to return to your
						  former job, your employer must return you to your "former job status." This
						  means that you are entitled to the position, wages, benefits, etc., you would
						  have if you had not been removed. If you would still be in your old job if no
						  removal had occurred, you are to be returned to this job. If you would not be
						  in your old job, the job assignment to which you return must be consistent with
						  the decision which your employer would have been obliged to make had no removal
						  occurred. MRP only seeks to maintain your rights, not expand them or diminish
						  them.
If you are removed under MRP and you are also eligible
						  for worker compensation or other compensation for lost wages, your employer's
						  MRP benefits obligation is reduced by the amount that you actually receive from
						  these other sources. Similarly, if you obtain other employment during the time
						  you are laid off, the benefits you receive under MRP are reduced by the amount
						  you earn in such other employment.
The standard also covers situations where an employer
						  voluntarily removes a worker from exposure to lead due to the effects of lead
						  on the employee's medical condition, even though the standard does not require
						  removal. In these situations MRP benefits must also be provided as though the
						  standard required removal. Finally, it is important to note that in all cases
						  where removal is required, respirators cannot be used as a substitute.
						  Respirators may be used before removal becomes necessary, but not as an
						  alternative to a transfer to a low exposure job or to a lay-off with MRP
						  benefits.
X. Employee Information and Training
Your employer is required to provide an information and
						  training program for all employees exposed to lead at or above the action level
						  or who may suffer skin or eye irritation from lead. This program must inform
						  these employees of the specific hazards associated with their work environment,
						  protective measures which can be taken, the danger of lead to their bodies
						  (including their reproductive systems), and their rights under the standard. In
						  addition your employer must make readily available to all employees, including
						  those exposed below the action level, a copy of the standard and these
						  appendices.
Your employer is required to complete this training
						  program for all new employees (who may be exposed to lead at or above the
						  action level or for whom the possibility exists of eye or skin irritation from
						  lead exposure) prior to initial assignment.
This training program must also be provided at least
						  annually thereafter.
XI. Signs
The standard requires that the following warning sign
						  must be posted in work areas where the exposure to lead exceeds the PEL:
DANGER
LEAD MAY DAMAGE FERTILITY OR THE UNBORN CHILD
						  CAUSES DAMAGE TO THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DO NOT EAT, DRINK OR SMOKE IN THIS
						  AREA
However, prior to June 1, 2016, employers may use the
						  following legend in lieu of that specified above:
WARNING
LEAD WORK AREA
POISON
NO SMOKING OR EATING
XII. Recordkeeping
Your employer is required to keep all records of
						  exposure monitoring for airborne lead. These records must include the name and
						  job classification of employees measured, details of the sampling and analytic
						  techniques, the result of this sampling, and the type of respiratory protection
						  being worn by the person sampled. Your employer is also required to keep all
						  records of biological monitoring and medical examination results. These must
						  include the names of the employee, the physician's written opinion, and a copy
						  of the results of the examination. All of the above kinds of records must be
						  kept for 40 years or for at least 20 years after your termination of
						  employment, whichever is longer.
Recordkeeping is also required if you are temporarily
						  removed from your job under the medical removal protection program. This record
						  must include your name and social security number, the date of your removal and
						  return, how the removal was or is being accomplished, and whether or not the
						  reason for the removal was an elevated blood lead level. Your employer is
						  required to keep each medical removal record only for the duration of an
						  employee's employment.
The standard requires that if you request to see or
						  copy environmental monitoring, blood lead level (PbB) monitoring, or medical
						  removal records, they must be made available to you or to a representative that
						  you authorize. Your union also has access to these records. Upon your request,
						  your complete medical records must also be provided to you, to your physician
						  or to any other person whom you may specifically designate. Your union does not
						  have access to your personal medical records unless you authorize such
						  access.
XIII. Observation of Monitoring
When air monitoring for lead is performed at your
						  workplace as required by the standard, your employer must allow you or someone
						  you designate to observe the monitoring. The observer is entitled to an
						  explanation of the measurement procedure and to record the results obtained.
						  Since results will not normally be available at the time of the monitoring, the
						  observer is entitled to record or receive the results of the monitoring when
						  returned by the laboratory. Your employer is required to provide the observer
						  with any personal protective devices required to be worn by employees working
						  in the area that is being monitored. The employer must require the observer to
						  wear all such equipment and to comply with all other applicable safety and
						  health procedures.
XIV. Effective Date
The standard's effective date is September 8, 1979, and
						  the employer obligations under the standard begin to come into effect as of
						  that date.
XV. For Additional Information
A. Copies of the Federal lead standard and explanatory
						  materials can be obtained free of charge by calling or writing the OSHA Office
						  of Publications, Room S-1212, United States Department of Labor, Washington,
						  D.C. 20210; Telephone, (202) 523-6138. The following publications are
						  available:
1. The Federal lead standard and summary of the
						  statement of reasons (preamble), Federal Register, Volume 43, pp. 52952-53014,
						  November 14, 1978.
2. The full statement of reasons (preamble), Federal
						  Register, Volume 43, pp. 54354-54509, November 21, 1978.
3. Partial Administrative Stay and Corrections to the
						  Federal lead standard, Federal Register, Volume 44, pp. 5446-5448, January 26,
						  1979.
4. Notice of the Partial Judicial Stay, Federal
						  Register, Volume 44, pp. 14554-14555, March 13, 1979.
5. Corrections to the preamble, Federal Register,
						  Volume 44, pp. 20680-20681, April 6, 1979.
6. Additional correction to the preamble concerning the
						  construction industry, Federal Register, Volume 44, p. 50338, August 28,
						  1979.
7. Appendices A, B and C to the Federal lead standard,
						  Federal Register, Volume 44, pp. 60980-60994, October 23, 1979. Corrections to
						  the appendices, Federal Register, Volume 44, p. 68828, November 30,
						  1979.
8. Notice of Limited Reopening of Rulemaking Record
						  (and summary of U.S. Court of Appeals decision), Federal Register, Volume 45,
						  pp. 63881-3, September 26, 1980.
9. Supplemental feasibility statement (in response to
						  U.S. Court of Appeal's remand order), Federal Register, Volume 46, pp.
						  6134-6228, January 21, 1981.
10. Revised supplemental feasibility statement, Federal
						  Register, Volume 46, pp. 60758-60776, December 11, 1981.
11. Revisions of the Federal standard and appendices
						  and new Appendix D. Federal Register, Volume 47, pp. 51110-51119, November 12,
						  1982.
B. Additional information about the California lead
						  standard, its enforcement, and your employer's compliance can be obtained from
						  the nearest CAL/OSHA Consulting Service Office in Downey, Fresno, Panorama
						  City, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco. The CAL/OSHA Consulting Service
						  is listed in telephone directories under California State Government/Industrial
						  Relations Department.