Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/661312
8 • APRIL 2016 www.concreteproducts.com As indicated in initial proposals to revise and harmonize respirable silica dust thresholds for general industry and construction worksites, Occupational Safety and Health Administration maintains limits—25 and 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over an eight-hour shift—for action levels and offering workers medical surveillance, respectively, in its final Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crys- talline Silica rule, issued late last month. In addition to lowering the crystalline permissible exposure limit (PEL) to 50 µg/m 3 from prior thresholds—100 µg/m 3 for general industry, 250 µg/m 3 for construc- tion—the rule: • Requires employers to use water, ventilation or other engineering controls and work practices to limit worker exposure; provide respi- ratory protection when controls are not able to limit exposures to the PEL; limit access to high exposure areas; train workers; and, provide medical exams to highly exposed workers. • Provides what OSHA contends is greater certainty and ease of com- pliance to construction employers, including smaller contractors and builders, with a table of specified controls they can follow to be in compliance, without having to monitor exposures. • Staggers compliance dates to ensure employers have sufficient time to meet the requirements, e.g., extra time for all general indus- try employers to offer medical surveillance to employees exposed between the PEL and 50 µg/m 3 and the 25 µg/m 3 action level. The final rule is written as separate standards. Employers covered by the construction version have until June 23, 2017, to comply with most requirements; those subject to the general industry and mari- time version have another year. OSHA officials foresee the new rule curbing lung cancer, silicosis, plus chronic obstructive pulmonary and kidney disease in workers. The agency estimates that when fully effective, the final Occupa- tional Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica rule will a) save more than 600 lives and prevent more than 900 new cases of silicosis annu- ally; and, b) provide an estimated $7.7 billion in net benefits per year. INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE After brief review of a 1,772-page document, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Compliance and Operations staff reports that con- cerns the industry voiced in 2013-14 when OSHA opened the proposed rule to public comment had carried to a final version. Ahead of com- pliance assistance materials to be prepared through the NRMCA Opera- tions, Environmental and Safety Committee, staff will update members as the rule's concrete plant-specific requirements are analyzed. During the comment period, NRMCA and peer groups in manufac- tured concrete, along with the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Associ- ation, presented exhaustive documentation challenging the merits of halving the PEL. "The current limit sufficiently protects worker health when fully adhered to and enforced. There is no sound science to show that lowering it to the levels mandated by this [final] rule would meaningfully improve worker protection, but it will add tre- mendous expense for employers and cost jobs," says National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs Pam Whitted. NSSGA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cite U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures indicating that silicosis mor- tality fell by more than 90 percent from 1968 to 2010 under the cur- rent PEL. The trend line shows that achieving full compliance with, and enforcement of, the current general industry PEL is the best and most cost-effective way to protect silica exposed workers, NSSGA con- tends. Respiratory hazards silica exposure poses are already success- fully regulated, concurs the Chamber, which maintains that a) new compliance burdens will be felt most by small business owners, and b) OSHA did not make a persuasive case for revising the silica PEL. "The new OSHA regulation is neither technologically nor econom- ically feasible," says Chamber Executive Director of Labor Policy Marc Freedman. "Compliance will be undermined by laboratories not being capable of measuring silica at the new specified levels. Installing the control systems OSHA requires will cost hundreds of millions of dol- lars that most employers, and certainly small businesses, will not be able to afford. "Instead of crafting new and innovative ways to get more firms to comply with the current silica standard, which we know would save even more workers each year, administration officials appear to have instead opted to set a new standard that is well beyond the capabil- ities of current air filtration and dust removal technologies," noted Associated General Contractors of America CEO Stephen Sandherr in statement on the rule. "Wishing firms could meet this new but unat- tainable standard will undoubtedly deliver many positive headlines for the administration, but it will be all but impossible for most con- struction firms to comply with this new rule. "We will continue our exhaustive review of this new regulation, consult with our members and decide on a future course of action that will best serve the health and safety of millions of construction workers across the country." GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS REGULATIONS OSHA sets 2017, 2018 compliance deadlines in final silica exposure rule Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration CONCRETE PLANT WORKER EXPOSURE LEVELS The Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica rule covers more than two million workers, including 134,600 in the Commerce Department-designated (NACIS) manufacturing segments of Ready Mixed Concrete, Concrete Block & Brick, Concrete Pipe and Other Concrete Products—the latter three grouped here under Concrete Products. Within the 1,772-page rule, the agency calculates annualized compliance costs of $70 million-plus for producers in the four segments, and charts estimated crystalline silica exposure levels by plant worker category. CONCRETE PRODUCTS Crystalline silica < 25µg/m 3 25-50µg/m 3 50-100µg/m 3 100-250µg/m 3 > 250µg/m 3 Total 63.0% 11.0% 11.0% 9.6% 6.8% Abrasive blasting operator 11.8% 5.9% 23.5% 23.5% 35.3% Finishing operator 52.0% 18.0% 8.0% 12.0% 10.0% Forming line operator 86.2% 6.2% 6.2% 1.5% – Material handler 56.5% 17.4% 13.0% 8.7% 4.3% Mixer operator 74.3% 5.7% 2.9% 14.3% 2.9% Packaging operator 33.3% – 33.3% 16.7% 16.7% READY MIXED CONCRETE Crystalline silica < 25µg/m 3 25-50µg/m 3 50-100µg/m 3 100-250µg/m 3 > 250µg/m 3 Total 69.7% 6.1% 12.1% 6.1% 6.1% Batch operator 87.5% – 12.5% – – Maintenance operator 60.0% 20.0% 20.0% – 0.0% Material handler 69.2% 7.7% 15.4% 7.7% 0.0% Quality control technician 100.0% – – – – Truck driver – – – 33.3% 67.7% Standard measures exposure as a weighted average of crystalline silica micrograms (µg) per cubic meter over eight-hour period ANNUALIZED COMPLIANCE COSTS All establishments Small Smallest (per SBA) (<20 employees) Ready-Mix Concrete $30,004,503 $20,250,184 $5,616,970 Concrete Block & Brick $7,020,737 $4,550,565 $1,383,138 Concrete Pipe $3,810,088 $1,900,067 $336,697 Other Concrete Products $20,878,235 $14,539,705 $4,568,859 In descending order, segments reflect Commerce Department's NAICS 327320, 3273331, 327332 and 327390 codes. Small column reflects companies with 500 or fewer payrolls, as designated by the U.S. Small Business Administration for the four Concrete segments.