Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 005C Hazard:

29 CFR 1910.1000(e): An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Tables Z-1, Z-2, or Z-3 of this section shall be limited in accordance with the requirements of the following paragraphs of this section. To achieve compliance with paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, administrative or engineering controls must first be determined and implemented whenever feasible. On March 14, 2017, employees working in the Refractory Ladle Repair area, the Tube Assembly Area, and the Sand Plant sand mixing area were exposed to respirable crystalline silica in excess of the 8-hour time weighted average limit (TWA) for the permissible exposure limit provided in Table Z-3: c. A Tube Builder employee performing tube assembly duties was exposed to an 8-hour TWA for respirable crystalline quartz silica of 3.1 milligrams per cubic meter air during a 459 minute sampling period. This exposure level was 1.75 times the calculated permissible exposure limit of 1.76 milligrams per cubic meter air. Zero exposure was assumed for the 21 minutes that were not sampled. d. A Sand Plant employee performing sand mixing duties was exposed to an 8-hour TWA for respirable crystalline quartz silica of 1.3 milligrams per cubic meter air during a 431 minute sampling period. This exposure level was 1.52 times the calculated permissible exposure limit of 0.884 milligrams per cubic meter air. Zero exposure was assumed for the 49 minutes that were not sampled. Abatement Note: Abatement Note: Step 1: Effective respiratory protection in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.134 shall be provided and used by exposed employees as an interim protective measure until feasible engineering and/or administrative controls can be implemented, or whenever such controls fail to reduce employee exposure to within permissible exposure limits. Step 2: Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or administrative measures to control employee exposure to hazardous substances as referenced in this citation. This plan shall include, at the minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be consistent with the abatement dates required by this citation: (1) Evaluation of engineering/administrative control options; (2) Selection of optimum control methods and completion of design (3) Procurement, installation, and operation of selected control measures; and (4) Testing and acceptance or modification/redesign of controls. All proposed control measures shall be approved for each particular use by a competent industrial hygienist, certified industrial ventilation specialist experienced in complex processes, or other technically qualified person. Step 3: Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation of feasible engineering and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness (by performance of air monitoring) in achieving compliance. Amsted Rail, Inc. was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard or its equivalent standard 29 CFR 1910.1000(e) which was contained in OSHA inspection number 793422, citation number 1, item number 3b and was affirmed as a final order on March 21, 2013 with respect to a workplace located at 3900 Bixby Rd, Groveport, OH 43125.