The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued a final rule to extend the compliance date for specific ancillary requirements of the general industry beryllium standard to December 12, 2018.

This extension affects provisions for methods of compliance, beryllium work areas, regulated areas, personal protective clothing and equipment, hygiene facilities and practices, housekeeping, communication of hazards, and recordkeeping.

Maintains Essential Protections

This compliance date extension does not affect the compliance dates for other requirements of the general industry beryllium standard.

OSHA said it determined that the extension will maintain essential safety and health protections for workers while the agency prepares a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to clarify certain provisions of the beryllium standard to maintain the standard’s worker safety and health protections, while also addressing employers’ compliance burdens.

Other Compliance Dates Unaffected

OSHA began enforcing the new permissible exposure limits for general industry, construction, and shipyards, and the general industry provisions for exposure assessment, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, and medical removal on May 11, 2018. Those requirements are unaffected by this rule.

Any provisions for which the standard had already established compliance dates — such as change rooms and showers by 2019, and engineering controls by 2020 — are also unaffected by this rule.

For more information, contact: OSHA, (202) 693-7828, www.osha.gov