Ready to Comply with OSHA's Silica Rule in June?

Beginning on June 23, 2017, contractors must comply with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s

(OHSA) respirable crystalline standard for construction. Although AGC continues to work towards the rule’s repeal and—at minimum—delay, contractors should be prepared to comply with it. As of today, nothing is certain except for the June 23 compliance date. To help educate AGC members, AGC has developed the "Respirable Crystalline Silica in Construction" webpage designed to provide contractors with a better understanding of what is expected of them by OSHA.

Although OSHA enforcement of the standard is delayed under the current administration, the notice does not alter the compliance date of June 23, 2017. OSHA will not take enforcement action against contractors that fail to meet the standard on their sites between June 23, 2017 and Sept. 22, 2017, but legally, the standard will still be in effect.

The information on the page includes the following:

Plain text summary of the rule;

Compliance flow chart;

Enhanced Table 1; and

Air monitoring and objective data collection form.

The standard – finalized on March 25, 2016 – provides a comprehensive and complex regulatory scheme for protecting construction workers from exposure to respirable crystalline silica containing dust. The scope of the standard applies to all occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica and significantly lowers the permissible exposure limit (PEL) from 250 micrograms/m3 to 50 micrograms/m3. In addition to the new PEL, contractors will also have to comply with a host of ancillary provisions such as respiratory protection (when required by the standard), housekeeping, medical surveillance, and recordkeeping.

AGC staff will continue to develop additional materials so check back periodically to see what’s new.

Back to The Blueprint