2014

HomeWashington Letter2014 ▶ ATS Submits Comments OSHA’s Proposed Silica Exposure Standard
ATS Submits Comments OSHA’s Proposed Silica Exposure Standard

February 2014

This week, the American Thoracic submitted comments supporting the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule to issue a stricter exposure standard of silica dust. In the comments, the ATS noted that the existing OSHA standard have not been revised for decades and that workers were currently being exposed to dangerous levels of silica dust. The ATS comments agreed that OSHA should replace the existing standard of 110 ug/m3 permissible exposure limit with a new stricter standard of 50 up/m3. The ATS comments also supported the need for medical monitoring and strongly recommend that OSHA ban the use of silica as a sandblasting agent.

The ATS was joined in submitting the comments by the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the American College of Chest Physicians.

Last Reviewed: October 2017