AGC Provides Educational Materials for Contractors
Beginning on June 23, 2017, contractors must comply with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s respirable crystalline standard for construction.  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 from OSHA.
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.
For more information, contact Kevin Cannon at [email protected] or (703) 837-5410.