Finding of Emergency Section 5204 , Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica Business Meeting : December 14 , 2023 Page 31 of 36
disabling — and frequently deadly — consequences of exposure to RCS . The existing regulation also impedes the ability of Cal / OSHA to quickly identify RCS hazards and take efficient actions to protect employee safety and health , and it requires Cal / OSHA to devote large resources to air monitoring and laboratory analyses , and to gathering evidence of violations in shops where harmful RCS exposures are clearly taking place .
As a result , conditions in the artificial stone fabrication industry are such that workers are unnecessarily exposed to a deadly workplace hazard ; employers are unclear as to their obligations to protect employees ; and Cal / OSHA is unable to effectively enforce the requirements of title 8 and take efficient actions to protect worker safety and health .
The emergency regulations will provide clear and specific requirements to remedy these conditions . Emergency rulemaking is required in this matter to address the threat to employees of RCS exposure , which often results in silicosis , a permanently disabling disease that can cause death at an early age , particularly when exposures occurred while working with artificial stone . Regular rulemaking , which requires a fiscal analysis and approval from the Department of Finance , cannot be completed in time to address the risks to workers presented by the current epidemic .
The proposed changes to section 5204 will reduce worker exposures to RCS ; make compliance clearer and more straightforward for employers ; and improve the efficiency of Cal / OSHA ’ s compliance program by :
1 . Defining specific high-exposure trigger tasks that require special exposure protections ; 2 . Removing air monitoring requirements as a prerequisite for employers to implement essential RCS exposure prevention measures ; 3 . Removing existing provisions that give employers opportunities to declare that wellrecognized RCS exposure prevention strategies are infeasible ; 4 . Removing existing provisions that allow employers to rely on “ objective data ” to avoid implementing RCS exposure prevention measures ; 5 . Providing clarity on tasks that are expressly prohibited ; 6 . Updating the signage in “ regulated areas ” to convey the risk of death from RCS exposure ; 7 . Providing clarity on engineering and work practice controls that are expressly required ; 8 . Providing procedures for training of employees on the risks of exposure to RCS , the causes of silicosis , and how to implement protections in the workplace ; 9 . Requiring effective respiratory protection , even when engineering controls are in place ; and ,