Finding of Emergency Section 5204 , Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica Business Meeting : December 14 , 2023 Page 20 of 36
Ship Building , Ship Repairing and Ship Breaking
1915.1053 - Respirable crystalline silica .
5204 . Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica .
Other federal OSHA regulations , such as those governing respiratory protection ( 29 Code of Federal Regulations ( CFR ) section 1910.134 ), sanitation and washing facilities ( 29 CFR section 1910.141 ), and PPE ( 29 CFR sections 1910.132 , 1910.133 and 1910.138 ), are similar to their counterpart regulations in title 8 , discussed above .
Proposed Amendments to Section 5204 , Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica
Subsection ( a ) Scope and application .
• Numbering has been modified for consistency with current formatting .
• The proposed emergency regulation would add a new “ Exception ” to subsection ( a )( 2 ), as follows : “ EXCEPTION : Subsection ( a )( 2 ) does not apply to high-exposure trigger tasks , as defined in subsection ( b ).”
• The existing subsection ( a )( 2 ) allows employers to avoid complying with section 5204 by using “ objective data ” to demonstrate that “ employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica will remain below 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air ( 25 μg / m 3 ) as an 8-hour time-weighted average ( TWA ) under any foreseeable conditions .” o “ Objective data ” is defined in subsection ( b )( 10 ) as information , such as “ industry-wide surveys or calculations ,” that the employer can use to characterize employee exposure to RCS during a specific process , task or activity . For example , the employer could show that industrial hygiene studies for a specific task in the same industry do not result in RCS exposures above the AL . If the employer ’ s operation uses those same tasks , the employer could claim that their employee exposures will be below the AL , and therefore section 5204 does not apply .
• The proposed “ Exception ” to subsection ( a )( 2 ) removes this regulatory gap from section 5204 for “ high-exposure trigger tasks ,” as defined in the proposal . The effect of this proposed addition is to prevent employers from using subsection ( a )( 2 ) as a way to avoid complying with section 5204 .
• The proposed emergency regulation would add a new subsection ( a )( 3 ), as follows : “ High-exposure trigger tasks are covered by this section regardless of employee exposures , exposure assessments , or objective data .”
• This addition is necessary to ensure that employers whose employees perform any “ high-exposure trigger tasks ” with artificial stone (> 0.1 % silica ) or natural stone (> 10 % silica ) are expressly covered by section 5204 . This addition prevents the employer from