Make sure you have your paperwork in order when OSHA shows up. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when OSHA will show up on a project and ask for your asbestos inspection report.
And guess what? OSHA can fine you and stop all work on your project if you don’t have the required certified asbestos test results. Take OSHA asbestos compliance seriously.
We Know the Rules
As the top Denver asbestos testing company, we know the rules and can help you with regulatory compliance issues. Enviocore is here to help you with your OSHA asbestos compliance. Remember: With OSHA, there is zero tolerance allowance for exposing employees to asbestos.
If you’ve been served with a letter to perform an asbestos inspection on the behalf of OSHA, call Enviocore now. With same day service. we’re ready to get you OSHA compliant now.
About OSHA Asbestos Compliance
Here’s the bottom line: There are numerous strict laws that hold industrial service providers responsible for asbestos health hazards in the workplace.
Construction, demolition, renovation and restoration contractors, as well as other industrial operators, are highly regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency within the United States Department of Labor.
Here’s a quick rundown of OSHA standards, directly from OSHA:
OSHA Standards
OSHA has three standards to protect workers from the hazards of asbestos depending on the type of workplace. For complete information on all of the requirements, see the standard specific to your type of workplace:
General Industry: 29 CFR 1910.1001 covers work in general industry, such as exposure during brake and clutch repair, maintenance work, and manufacture of asbestos-containing products.
Shipyards: 29 CFR 1915.1001 covers construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, renovation and demolition of structures containing asbestos during work in shipyards.
Construction: 29 CFR 1926.1101 covers construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, or renovation and demolition of structures containing asbestos.
What protections exist in the Standards?
- Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for asbestos is 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter of air as an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA), with an excursion limit (EL) of 1.0 asbestos fibers per cubic centimeter over a 30-minute period. The employer must ensure that no one is exposed above these limits.
- Assessment of workplaces covered by the standards must be completed to determine if asbestos is present and if the work will generate airborne fibers by a specific method under each standard.
- Monitoring necessary to detect if asbestos exposure is at or above the PEL or EL for workers who are, or may be expected to be exposed to asbestos. Frequency depends on work classification and exposure. The construction and shipyard standards require assessment and monitoring by a competent person.
- If the exposure has the potential to be above the PEL or EL, employers must use proper engineering controls and work practices to the extent feasible to keep it at or below the PEL and EL. Where feasible engineering controls and work practices do not ensure worker protection at the exposure limits, employers must reduce the exposures to the lowest level achievable and then supplement with proper respiratory protection to meet the PEL. The construction and shipyard standards contain specific control methods depending on work classification, and the general industry standard has specific controls for brake and clutch repair work.
- Proper hazard communication and demarcation with warning signs containing specified language in areas that have exposures above the PEL or EL is necessary. No smoking, eating, or drinking should occur in these areas and proper PPE must be provided and used to prevent exposure.
- Separate decontamination and lunch areas with proper hygiene practices must be provided to workers exposed above the PEL to avoid contamination.
- Training requirements depend on the workplace exposure and classification. Training must be provided to all workers exposed at or above the PEL before work begins and yearly thereafter. All training must be conducted in a manner and language in which the worker is able to understand. Workers who perform housekeeping operations in buildings with presumed asbestos-containing materials but not at the PEL must also be provided asbestos awareness training.
- Medical surveillance requirements are different depending on the industry. Medical surveillance must be provided for workers who engage in certain classifications of work, or experience exposures at or above the PEL in construction and shipyards. In general industry, medical examinations must be provided for workers who experience exposure at or above the PEL.
- Records must be kept on exposure monitoring for asbestos for at least 30 years, and worker medical surveillance records retained for the duration of employment plus 30 years. Training records must be kept for at least 1 year beyond the last date of employment.
Enviocore provides the fast, accurate asbestos testing Denver needs and the asbestos testing Colorado needs to keep up with the economic growth that’s sweeping the state.
More information: OSHA Asbestos Quick Reference Page
Why Choose Us?
WE’RE SERIOUS ABOUT OUR WORK
We’ll show up at your door with a smile and treat you like a new friend. But be assured that we’re all business when it comes to delivering professional testing and consulting services.
FAST, ACCURATE TEST RESULTS. VERY FAST.
For any environmental testing to be meaningful, much less valuable, you need the results to be reliable and fast. If it takes until mold spores become visible over a large area to get positive mold contamination test results, those results aren’t really “news.” They’re “olds.”
WE TREAT YOUR FAMILY AND BUSINESS LIKE OURS
We never forget that our business is about people. Protecting people from hazards. When we enter your home or business, we consider how we would want to protect our home or business.