Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1)
General. For each employee working in a beryllium work area, who
can reasonably be expected to have dermal contact with beryllium, or who is
required to use personal protective clothing or equipment by this rule in
construction work, ship breaking, ship building, or ship repairing, the
employer must:
(a) Provide readily accessible
washing facilities in accordance with this standard and other applicable
sanitation standards (WAC
296-800-230 Summary (drinking
water, bathrooms, washing facilities and waste disposal); WAC
296-155-140 Sanitation; WAC
296-304-06002 Sanitation) to
remove beryllium from the hands, face, and neck; and
(b) Ensure that employees who have dermal
contact with beryllium wash any exposed skin at the end of the activity,
process, or work shift and prior to eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco
or gum, applying cosmetics, or using the toilet.
(2)
Change rooms. In addition to
the requirements of subsection (1)(a) of this section, the employer must
provide employees who are required to use personal protective clothing or
equipment under WAC
296-850-140(1)(b)
with a designated change room in accordance with this standard and other
applicable sanitation standards (WAC
296-800-230 Summary (drinking
water, bathrooms, washing facilities and waste disposal); WAC
296-155-140 Sanitation; WAC
296-304-06002 Sanitation) where
employees are required to remove their personal clothing.
(3)
Showers.
(a) The employer must provide showers in
accordance with other applicable sanitation standards (WAC
296-800-230 Summary (drinking
water, bathrooms, washing facilities and waste disposal); WAC
296-155-140 Sanitation; WAC
296-304-06002 Sanitation) where:
(i) Airborne exposure exceeds, or can
reasonably be expected to exceed, the TWA PEL or STEL; and
(ii) Employees' hair or body parts other than
hands, face, and neck can reasonably be expected to become contaminated with
beryllium.
(b) Employers
required to provide showers must ensure that each employee showers at the end
of the work shift or work activity if:
(i) The
employee reasonably could have had airborne exposure above the TWA PEL or STEL;
and
(ii) The employee's hair or
body parts other than hands, face, and neck could reasonably have become
contaminated with beryllium.
(4)
Eating and drinking areas.
Wherever the employer allows employees to consume food or beverages at a
worksite where beryllium is present, the employer must ensure that:
(a) Beryllium-contaminated surfaces in eating
and drinking areas are as free as practicable of beryllium;
(b) No employees enter any eating or drinking
area with beryllium-contaminated personal protective clothing or equipment
unless, prior to entry, it is cleaned, as necessary, to be as free as
practicable of beryllium by methods that do not disperse beryllium into the air
or onto an employee's body; and
(c)
Eating and drinking facilities provided by the employer are in accordance with
other applicable sanitation standards (WAC
296-800-230 Summary (drinking
water, bathrooms, washing facilities and waste disposal); WAC
296-155-140 Sanitation; WAC
296-304-06002
Sanitation).
(5)
Prohibited activities. The employer must ensure that no employees
eat, drink, smoke, chew tobacco or gum, or apply cosmetics in regulated areas
and other work areas where there is a reasonable expectation of exposure above
the TWA PEL or STEL.