Silica Standard (Part 4): Regulated Areas for General Industry

Miller & Martin PLLC Blog | November 15, 2018

As part of exposure control, general industry may use the concept of regulated areas to limit employee exposure to respirable silica.

Areas that are reasonable expected to be or are in excess of the 50 micro grams per cubic meter permissible exposure limit must be marked off from the rest of the worksite to minimize employee entrance and exposure in those areas. Appropriate signage is required and appropriate respirators are required for entry into the regulated area.

General industry can also create and enforce adequate rules precluding employees from entering and remaining in a regulated area that would exceed the permissible exposure limits over an 8 hour time limit average. The creation and enforcement or work rules to limit exposure and entry into these areas can serve as alternate compliance to marking and assigning an area as a regulated area.

Tags: OSHA, Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard, Regulated Areas