Pit & Quarry, October 2017
DUST CONTROL Among the questions Lewis customers are asking Does OSHAs rule apply to us What measures should be taken to be in compliance with the rule And what are the consequences of non compliance THE RULES APPLICABILITY According to Adele Abrams an attorney whose practice is focused on occupational and mine safety and health operations that fall under the regulatory purview of the Mine Safety Health Administration MSHA are not obligated to meet OSHAs silica standard MSHA has tabled implementation of its own silica rule for the moment she says but the topic remains on the agencys regulatory agenda When developed though MSHAs rule will likely mirror OSHAs rule according to Abrams MSHA has had this on their regulatory OSHAs new silica rule is prompting employers in construction to turn to solutions such as vacuum dust collection systems for tasks like tuckpointing What sorts of dust collecting solutions might aggregate operations turn to should a new MSHA silica rule come to life agenda as long as OSHA has been working on this rule Abrams says MSHA just came out with a new semi annual regulatory agenda the first under the Trump administration They nuked about 90 percent of what was left on the Obama administrations regulatory agenda Yet silica remains on the agenda she says Its to be determined Abrams says Were very emphatic that what they do is going to parallel the OSHA rule For construction compliance with OSHAs rule means providing a work environment that reduces the permissible exposure limit PEL of crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter μg m3 averaged over an eight hour shift with an action level of 25 μg m3 A number of industries have argued over the last year and a half that the previous limit 100 μg m3 was protective when reliably 24 PIT QUARRY October 2017 pitandquarry com PHOTO COURTESY OF TECH IMAGE
You must have JavaScript enabled to view digital editions.
