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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued
additional clarifications and corrections to its final asbestos standards for
general industry, construction work and shipyard work.
The final standards were issued Aug. 10, 1994, and were corrected and
clarified June 29, 1995, and Sept. 29, 1995.
The corrections being made now are based on the existing rulemaking
record and are not intended to affect the worker protection afforded by the
standards in a significant way. OSHA therefore is promulgating the corrections
without opportunity for public comment.
Among the provisions are:
- Employers must inform employees required to wear respirators that
they may choose to require the employer to provide a powered air-purifying
respirator instead of a negative-pressure respirator.
- Employers must assure employee comprehension of warning signs and
labels required by the standards. OSHA is not mandating that the signs and
labels be written in languages other than English. Pictographs and graphics can
be used to assure comprehension.
- The requirement for a 32-hour training course for workers engaged in
Class II removals of asbestos containing material as part of general asbestos
abatement work was inadvertently deleted in an earlier correction, and is
restored and clarified. Thirty-two hour training is required when Class II
operations require controls such as critical barriers or negative-pressure
enclosures.
- Training for workers who engage in other Class II removals must
include training in each category of material the employee removes and in each
work practice and each removal method the employee uses.
- A training course may use written materials and electronic media such
as videotapes or computer-based training, but a knowledgeable person (such as a
person who qualifies as a "competent person" for the particular type of
asbestos work addressed in the training) must be available to answer questions
during the training.
Clarification or corrections also are made for provisions for medical
surveillance; Class III work (where a small amount of asbestos-containing
material must be cut away to access mechanical or structural components of
buildings), and Class IV work (where employees clean up an area after a Class
I, II, or III job in that area is completed).
Notice of the changes and clarifications was published in the Friday,
Aug. 23, 1996, Federal Register. The amendments are effective Sept. 23,
1996.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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