OSHA tightens asbestos rules.New Federal regulations intended to reduce the risk of death and disease from exposure to asbestos by 90 percent have received mixed reactions from labor and industry. The regulations were announced last week by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA OSHA n. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the US Department of Labor responsible for establishing and enforcing safety and health standards in the workplace. ) and are scheduled to go into effect next month. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. OSHA, the reduced risk derives directly from a 90 percent reduction in the acceptable level of asbestos exposure, from 2 fibers per cubic centimeter cu·bic centimeter n. Abbr. cc A unit of volume equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a liter or to one milliliter. , (f/cc) of contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. airspace to 0.2 f/cc -- more than the 0.1 f/cc level wanted by industry. Covering 1.3 million U.S. workers exposed to the cancer-causing fiver, the OSHA regulations for the first time specifically protect construction workers, who encounter asbestos in the renovation and demolition of old, asbestos-ridden buildings and who therefore suffer the highest risk of exposure. Under the new regulations, all workers must receive training in working safely with asbestos and must wear protective masks in regulated areas. But "no mask is 100 percent safe," argues Jack Keane This article is about the U.S. Army general. For others named John or Jack Keane, see John Keane (disambiguation). John (Jack) Keane (born 1945) is a retired four-star general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a defense analyst. , safety officer for the Washington, D.C.-based International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers. According to Keane, workers frequently take off their masks in contaminated areas, inhaling dangerous quantities of asbestos. Robert Percival of the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., agrees: "OSHA's own inspection standards show quite high rates of violations of using the respirators." Industry representative, however, say the construction trades already adequately regulate worker exposure to asbestos. "In the renovation business, we've been doiing it for a long time," says Dennis Bradshaw of the Associated General Contractors Associated General Contractors of America is the nation's oldest and largest trade association representing the construction industry. It was formed in 1918 following a request by President Woodrow Wilson. of America, based in Washington, D.C. The real problem of the new regulations, he says, is that they fail to recognize the variety of jobs encountered in construction. "They become a waste of time and money without any real benefit to the worker who isn't exposed to asbestos," he says. Union leaders and environmentalists ruge that no level of exposure to asbestos is safe and that the stricter regulations are only a stopgap measure. "The only way to protect the public," says Percival, "is to what the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and [SN:2/1/86, p.70] is trying to do: Phase out asbestos products completely." |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion