May 11, 2007—The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced it will issue a new document that provides specific enforcement procedures for compliance officers to follow at all construction sites where employees are working with Portland cement.
This action comes as a result of an agreement OSHA signed in April with the Building Construction Trades Department (BCTD), AFL-CIO, Laborers’ International Union of North America, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters to settle their challenge to OSHA’s hexavalent chromium standard (BCTD, et al., v. OSHA, Case No. 06-2433 (3d Cir.)).
The new document, “Portland Cement Inspection Procedures,” explains how existing OSHA standards and requirements (air contaminants, personal protective equipment, sanitation, hazard communication and recordkeeping) apply to operations involving Portland cement, and collects all of the applicable provisions in a single inspection checklist.
Although the settlement agreement does not apply in the 22 states and territories with OSHA-approved state occupational safety and health plans in the private sector, OSHA strongly encourages these states to implement the new procedures.
For more information, see the Web site.
