U.S. Department of Labor Approves New Respirator Fit Testing Protocols to Protect Workers from Airborne Contaminants The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule that provides employers with two new fit testing protocols for ensuring that employees’ respirators fit properly.
The new protocols are the modified ambient aerosol condensation nuclei counter (CNC) quantitative fit testing protocol for full-facepiece and half-mask elastomeric respirators, and the modified ambient aerosol CNC quantitative fit testing protocol for filtering facepiece respirators. Both protocols are variations of the original OSHA-approved ambient aerosol CNC protocol but have fewer test exercises, shorter exercise duration, and a more streamlined sampling sequence.
These two quantitative methods add to the four existing in Appendix A of OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard, which contains mandatory respirator fit-testing protocols that employers must choose from to protect employees from hazardous airborne contaminants. The rule does not require employers in general industries, shipyard employment, and construction to update or replace their current fit testing methods, and does not impose additional costs. The rule became effective September 26, 2019.
Learn more here: osha.gov/news/newsreleases/trade/09252019.
U.S. Department of Labor Proposes Revisions to OSHA’s Beryllium Standards for Construction and Shipyards OSHA has finalized its June 27, 2017 proposal to revise the construction and shipyards standards. In the final rule, to be published on September 30, 2019, OSHA:
- Does not implement the proposal to revoke all of the standards’ ancillary provisions
- Extends the compliance dates for the ancillary provisions to September 2020 to account for OSHA’s new proposal to revise or remove specific provisions
- Maintains enforcement of the permissible exposure limit
In a forthcoming rulemaking, OSHA will publish a proposal to amend the beryllium standards for construction and shipyards by more appropriately tailoring the requirements of the standards to the exposures in these industries. The proposed changes would maintain safety and health protections for workers, facilitate compliance with the standards, and increase cost savings.
