OSHA has settled the Surface Finishing Industry Council’s (SFIC) legal challenge
to the hexavalent chromium standard. To implement the settlement, OSHA amended
the compliance date provision of its hexavalent chromium standard for general
industry, (71
FR 63238, (2006, October 30)). The Agreement with SFIC creates an
optional, alternative compliance timetable for metal- and surface- finishing
operations at eligible facilities. Facilities that become parties to the
Agreement (through the filing of a Declaration of Party Status) must implement
engineering controls for electroplating operations on an expedited schedule (by
December 31, 2008), but will have relief from certain respirator requirements in
the interim. An employer's facility is eligible to become a party to the
Agreement if (1) The employer is a member of SFIC or the facility is a
surface-finishing or metal-finishing job shop that sells plating or anodizing
services to other companies; and (2) the facility is within the jurisdiction of
Federal OSHA.
The terms of the Agreement apply only to surface- and
metal-finishing operations in those facilities.
SFIC members and other electroplating job shop facilities within the
jurisdiction of OSHA-approved State occupational safety and health plans may
contact their State plan agencies to determine if their State programs will
honor and implement the terms of this Federal Agreement, including the amendment
to the standard, or take an alternative position, which may include entering
into separate arrangements with surface- and metal-finishing job shop facilities
or their representatives. The 22 State plans covering the private sector are in
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Contact information for these State plans is available on OSHA's Web site.
Please download the PDF version above of the "Declaration of Party Status" and send
a completed and signed declaration to OSHA for each facility an employer intends
to make a party to the agreement.
Accessibility Assistance: Contact the OSHA Directorate of Science, Technology
and Medicine
at 202-693-2300 for assistance accessing OSHA PDF materials.
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