Text For Citation: 02 Item/Group: 004C Hazard:

29 CFR 1910.1053(f)(1):The employer did not use engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the PEL, unless the employer can demonstrate that such controls are not feasible: a) Hard Iron, Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209. On or about 5/15/2024 the employer did not implement effective engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. Employees in Hard Iron were exposed to an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) of 63.8 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of respirable crystalline silica, approximately 1.27 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 50 mcg/m3. The sampling period was for 442 minutes. A zero increment is included for the 38 minutes not sampled. b) Sprue Table Area, Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209. On or about 5/15/2024 the employer did not implement effective engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. Employees in the Sprue Table Area were exposed to an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) of 81.9 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of respirable crystalline silica, approximately 1.64 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 50 mcg/m3. The sampling period was for 446 minutes. A zero increment is included for the 34 minutes not sampled. c) Shakeout/Hole, Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209. On or about 5/23/2024 the employer did not implement effective engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. An employee in Shakeout/Hole was exposed to an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) of 87.18 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of respirable crystalline silica, approximately 1.74 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 50 mcg/m3. The sampling period was for 479 minutes. A zero increment is included for the 1 minute not sampled. d) Sprue Table Area, Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209. On or about 5/23/2024 the employer did not implement effective engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. Employees in the Sprue Table Area were exposed to an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) of 89.3 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of respirable crystalline silica, approximately 1.79 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 50 mcg/m3. The sampling period was for 470 minutes. A zero increment is included for the 10 minutes not sampled. e) Annealing Area, Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209. On or about 6/6/2024 the employer did not implement effective engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. An employee in the Annealing Area was exposed to an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) of 346.59 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) of respirable crystalline silica, approximately 6.93 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 50 mcg/m3. The sampling period was for 466 minutes. A zero increment is included for the 4 minutes not sampled. EFFECTIVE MEANS OF ABATEMENT INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO: 1. Maintaining existing controls. 2. Filtration (general and source-capture) 3. Barriers 4. Operator rotation 5. Continue to conduct air monitoring until results are below the Silica PEL ABATEMENT WILL BE MULTI-STEP AS FOLLOWS: Step 1: Effective respiratory protection which complies with 29 CFR 1910.134 shall be provided and used by exposed employee(s) 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. (30 Days) 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 a minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be consistent with the abatement dates required by this citation: (60 days) (1) Evaluation of engineering/administrative control options (2) Evaluation to be conducted by a qualified person such as a certified industrial hygienist and/or licensed mechanical professional engineer. (3) Selection of optimum control methods and completion of design (4) Procurement, installation and operation of selected control measures (5) Testing and acceptance or modification/redesign of control measures Step 3: Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation of feasible engineering and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness in achieving compliance. (180 Days) Frazer & Jones, LLC, 3000 Milton Avenue, Solvay, New York, 13209, was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard or its equivalent standard 29 CFR 1910.1053(f)(1), which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1400452, citation number 1, item number 10 c) and was affirmed as a final order on 10/14/2021. Abatement documentation must be submitted for this item