Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in Construction and Shipyard Sectors

OSHA is finalizing the proposed rule on occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds in construction and shipyards by delaying the compliance deadlines for nearly all provisions of the standards to September 30, 2020. The one exception to the September 30, 2020 compliance deadline is for the permissible exposure limit (PEL) and the short-term exposure limit (STEL), which OSHA has been enforcing since May 11, 2018. This rule confirms that the exposure limits remain in effect. OSHA is not adopting the portion of the proposed rule that would have revised OSHA's existing beryllium standards for construction and shipyards to revoke the ancillary provisions. OSHA finds that other OSHA standards do not duplicate the requirements of the ancillary provisions in the beryllium standards for construction and shipyards in their entirety. Thus revoking all of the ancillary provisions and leaving only the PEL and STEL would be inconsistent with OSHA's statutory mandate to protect workers from the demonstrated significant risks of material impairment of health resulting from exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. OSHA will publish a new proposal for the construction and shipyards beryllium standards, to seek comment on different changes OSHA is considering.