Labor & Industries (L&I), Washington State

Benzene Chapter 296-849, WAC

Effective Date: 06/01/07

WAC 296-849-130 Rules for Exposure Control Areas

For printing

Your Responsibility

To protect employees from exposure to benzene by using feasible exposure controls and appropriate respirators.

IMPORTANT:

These sections apply when existing or potential employee exposure monitoring results are above either of the following permissible exposure limits (PELs):

• The 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA₈) of 1 part per million (ppm);
  or
• The 15-minute short-term exposure limit (STEL) of 5 ppm.

Exposure control plan	WAC 296-849-13005
Exposure controls	WAC 296-849-13020
Respirators	WAC 296-849-13045

 

WAC 296-849-13005

Exposure control plan

Exemption: This section doesn't apply to the cleaning and repair of barges and tankers that contained benzene.

You must

• Establish and implement a written exposure control plan for exposure control areas that include a schedule for developing and implementing feasible exposure controls to reduce benzene exposure to, or below, the PELs.

Note: Respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE) help protect employees from exposures, but aren't substitutes for feasible exposure controls.

You must

• Review and update your exposure control plan as needed, based on the most recent exposure evaluation results.
• Provide a copy of your exposure control plan to affected employees and their designated representatives when they ask to review or copy it.

WAC 296-849-13020

Exposure controls

IMPORTANT:

Respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE) do not substitute for feasible exposure controls.

You must

• Use feasible exposure controls to reduce exposures, as specified in Table 6.

Table 6
Exposure Control Requirements

If	Then
You have operations where employees clean and repair barges or tankers which have contained benzene	Keep all employee exposure concentrations below 10 parts per million (ppm).
You can document that benzene is used for less than 30 days a year in the workplace	Reduce 8-hour employee exposure monitoring results to a time-weighted average of 10 ppm or less. Note: If employee exposure monitoring results are between 1 and 10 ppm, you are permitted to use respirators or a combination of respirators and feasible controls to protect employees.
Employees are exposed to benzene above a PEL for at least 30 days a year	Reduce 8-hour employee exposure concentrations to the TWA8 of 1 ppm or less; and Reduce 15-minute employee exposure concentrations to the STEL of 5 ppm or less.

 

WAC 296-849-13045

Respirators

IMPORTANT:

These requirements are in addition to the requirements found in other chapters:

• Airborne contaminants, chapter 296-841 WAC
• Respirators, chapter 296-842 WAC

You must

• Provide each employee with an appropriate respirator that complies with the requirements of this section, and require that employees use them in circumstances where exposure is above either permissible exposure limit (PEL) for benzene, including any of the following circumstances:
  • – Employees are in an exposure control area
  • – Feasible exposure controls are being put in place
  • – Where you determine that exposure controls aren't feasible
  • – Feasible exposure controls don't reduce exposures to, or below, a PEL
  • – Emergencies.
• Provide employees, for escape, either:

  – Any full-facepiece organic vapor gas mask
  or

  – Any full-facepiece self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
  or

  – A hood-style SCBA that operates in positive-pressure mode.

• Use organic vapor cartridges or canisters on powered-air purifying respirators (PAPRs) and negative-pressure air-purifying respirators.
• Use only chin-style canisters on full-facepiece gas masks.

Note: When other contaminants present a hazard, then you will need to use a filter or other combination sorbent cartridge that removes the additional contaminants.

Make sure respirator cartridges or canisters are replaced at the beginning of each work shift, or sooner if their service life has expired.

Make sure canisters on air-purifying respirators have a minimum service life of 4 hours when tested under these conditions:

• – A benzene concentration of 150 ppm
• – A temperature of 25°C
• – A relative humidity of 85%
• – A flow rate of one of the following:
  • 64 liters per minute (lpm) for nonpowered air-purifying respirators
  • 115 lpm for tight-fitting PAPRs
  • 170 lpm for loose-fitting PAPRs.
• Provide an employee a respirator with low breathing resistance, such as a PAPR or an air-line respirator when the:

– Employee can't use a negative-pressure respirator
or

– A licensed health care professional's (LHCP's) written opinion allows this type of respirator