On December 11, 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published the final Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Beryllium Standard for General Industry. The NPRM amends the Beryllium Standard for General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1024) issued January 9, 2017 to clarify certain provisions of the standard in compliance with the Settlement Agreement signed by OSHA and Materion in April 2018. These changes are intended to simplify and improve compliance with the standard while maintaining a high level of protection for workers.
The public can provide comments on the proposed changes until February 11, 2019 and stakeholders are encouraged to submit comments in support of the proposed changes as contained in the NPRM. Comments can be submitted for Docket No. OSHA-2018-0003 electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, facsimile at (202) 693-1648, or by mail to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2018-0003, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3653, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210.
Following the comment period and any hearings requested by the public, OSHA will review and consider all submitted information and publish a final Beryllium Standard for General Industry. This will likely occur later this year and is expected to be very similar to that proposed in the NPRM.
Initial compliance with the elements of the Beryllium Standard was scheduled for December 12, 2018 and OSHA did not delay compliance in the NPRM. However, OSHA stated in the NPRM that they believe that the proposed changes will provide equivalent protection to the current standard and, therefore, while this rulemaking is pending, compliance with the proposed final changes to the standard will be accepted by OSHA as compliance with the standard.
Since May of 2018, our guidance has been to develop and implement a compliance program that is aligned with the language contained in the Settlement Agreement. In fact, the language and guidance contained in our on-line “Guide for Compliance” product stewardship tool, available at berylliumsafety.com, aligns with the Settlement Agreement language and matches the final proposed changes to the standard. Therefore, utilizing the Guide for Compliance to develop and implement your Beryllium Management Program will promote compliance with the standard.
Important information on this matter, as well as other beryllium health and safety information such as SDSs, Safety Facts, FAQs and the Beryllium Consultant Network, is available on the Materion website. Additionally, information on the Materion Beryllium Worker Protection Model and specific processes can be found in the Interactive Guide to Working Safely with Beryllium and Beryllium-containing Materials at berylliumsafety.com.
If you have any questions or comments, please call the Materion Information Hotline at 1-800-862-4118 or send an e mail to EHS@Materion.com.