To protect employees from exposure to benzene
by using feasible exposure controls and appropriate respirators.
IMPORTANT:
These sections apply when existing or potential
employee exposure monitoring results are above either of the following
permissible exposure limits (PELs):
The 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA8)
of 1 part per million (ppm); or
The 15-minute short-term exposure limit (STEL)
of 5 ppm.
This section doesn't apply to the cleaning
and repair of barges and tankers that contained benzene.
You must
Establish and implement a written exposure
control plan for exposure control areas that include a schedule
for developing and implementing feasible exposure controls to
reduce benzene exposure to, or below, the PELs.
Note:
Respirators and other personal protective
equipment (PPE) help protect employees from exposures,
but aren't substitutes for feasible exposure controls.
You must
Review and update your exposure control
plan as needed, based on the most recent exposure evaluation
results.
Provide a copy of your exposure control
plan to affected employees and their designated representatives
when they ask to review or copy it.
WAC 296-849-13020
Exposure controls
IMPORTANT:
Respirators and other personal protective
equipment (PPE) do not substitute for feasible
exposure controls.
You must
Use feasible exposure controls to reduce
exposures, as specified in Table 6.
Table
6
Exposure Control Requirements
If
Then
You have operations where employees
clean and repair barges or tankers which have contained
benzene
Keep
all employee exposure concentrations below 10 parts per million
(ppm).
You
can document that benzene is used for less than 30 days
a year in the workplace
Reduce
8-hour employee exposure monitoring results to a time-weighted
average of 10 ppm or less.
Note:
If employee exposure monitoring results
are between 1 and 10 ppm, you are permitted to use respirators
or a combination of respirators and feasible controls to
protect employees.
Employees
are exposed to benzene above a PEL for at least 30 days a
year
Reduce
8-hour employee exposure concentrations to the TWA8
of 1 ppm or less; and
Reduce 15-minute employee exposure
concentrations to the STEL of 5 ppm or less.
WAC 296-849-13045
Respirators
IMPORTANT:
These requirements are in addition to the
requirements found in other chapters:
Provide each employee with an appropriate respirator that complies with the requirements of this section, and require that employees
use them in circumstances where exposure is above either permissible
exposure limit (PEL) for benzene, including any of the following
circumstances:
– Employees are in an exposure control
area
– Feasible exposure controls are
being put in place
– Where you determine that exposure
controls aren't feasible
– Feasible exposure controls don't
reduce exposures to, or below, a PEL
– Emergencies.
Provide employees, for escape, either:
– Any full-facepiece organic vapor
gas mask or
– Any full-facepiece self-contained
breathing apparatus (SCBA) or
– A
hood-style SCBA that operates in positive-pressure mode.
Use organic vapor cartridges or canisters
on powered-air purifying respirators (PAPRs) and negative-pressure
air-purifying respirators.
Use only chin-style canisters on full-facepiece
gas masks.
Note:
When other contaminants present a hazard,
then you will need to use a filter or other combination
sorbent cartridge that removes the additional contaminants.
Make sure respirator cartridges or canisters
are replaced at the beginning of each work shift, or sooner if
their service life has expired.
Make sure canisters on air-purifying respirators have a minimum
service life of 4 hours when tested under these conditions:
– A benzene concentration of 150 ppm
– A temperature of 25°C
– A relative humidity of 85%
– A flow rate of one of the following:
64 liters per minute (lpm) for nonpowered
air-purifying respirators
115 lpm for tight-fitting
PAPRs
170 lpm for loose-fitting
PAPRs.
Provide an employee a respirator with low
breathing resistance, such as a PAPR or an air-line respirator
when the:
– Employee can't use a negative-pressure
respirator or
– A licensed health care professional's
(LHCP's) written opinion allows this type of respirator
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