Employers must ensure they are in compliance with most of OSHA’s beryllium rule’s requirements for general-industry and with the PEL and STEL in construction and shipyard industries by May 11, 2018. 

The rule (29 CFR 1910.1024, 29 CFR 1915.1024, and 29 CFR 1926.1124), promulgated in January 2017, sets a new, lower eight-hour permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter and a new short-term (15-minute) exposure limit (STEL) of 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter.

OSHA will not enforce any other part of the construction and shipyard beryllium standards such as ancillary provisions (engineering controls and medical surveillance) in construction and shipyard operations until further notice. According to OSHA, these are subject to additional rulemaking.

Further, OSHA said the general-industry rule has been the topic of “extensive settlement talks” with several parties. Except for certain provisions requiring changing rooms and showers and some engineering controls, all aspects of the rule in general industry will be enforced beginning May 11, 2018. The changing rooms and showers provisions are effective on March 11, 2019, and requirements for engineering controls on March 10, 2020.

Please contact Jackson Lewis if you have any questions about the rule or would like compliance assistance.

 

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Photo of Tressi L. Cordaro Tressi L. Cordaro

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state…

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state OSHA enforcement agencies.

Ms. Cordaro has advised employers faced with willful and serious citations as the result of catastrophic events and fatalities, including citations involving multi-million dollar penalties. Ms. Cordaro’s approach to representing an employer cited by OSHA is to seek an efficient resolution of contested citations, reserving litigation as the option if the client’s business objectives cannot otherwise be achieved. As a result, she has secured OSHA withdrawals of citations without the need for litigation.

Ms. Cordaro’s unique experience with government agencies involved in OSHA enforcement enables her to provide employers with especially insightful guidance as to how regulators view OSHA compliance obligations, and evaluate contested cases.

Ms. Cordaro served as the Presidentially-appointed Legal Counsel and Special Advisor to the past Chairman and Commissioner Horace A. Thompson, III at the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in Washington, DC, the agency that adjudicates contested federal OSHA citations. As the Commissioner’s chief counsel, Ms. Cordaro analyzed all cases presented to the OSHRC and advocated the Commissioner’s position during decisional meetings.

In addition, Ms. Cordaro worked at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration developing OSHA standards, regulations and enforcement and compliance policies, with emphasis on the construction industry. She has in-depth experience on technical issues including, in particular, issues related to cranes and derricks in construction.