Safety and Health Program- Cadmium Chapter

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Cadmium

Scope:

This standard applies to all occupational exposures to cadmium and cadmium compounds, in all forms, in all construction work where an employee may potentially be exposed to cadmium. Construction work is defined as work involving construction, alteration and/or repair, including but not limited to the following:

· Wrecking, demolition or salvage of structures where cadmium or materials containing cadmium are present;

· Use of cadmium containing-paints and cutting, brazing, burning, grinding or welding on surfaces that were painted with cadmium-containing paints;

· Construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, or renovation of structures, substrates, or portions thereof, that contain cadmium, or materials containing cadmium;

· Cadmium welding; cutting and welding cadmium-plated steel; brazing or welding with cadmium alloys;

· Installation of products containing cadmium;

· Electrical grounding with cadmium welding, or electrical work using cadmium-coated conduit;

· Maintaining or retrofitting cadmium-coated equipment;

· Cadmium contamination/emergency cleanup; and

· Transportation, disposal, storage, or containment of cadmium or materials containing cadmium on the site or location at which construction activities are performed.

Definitions:

Action level (AL) is defined as an airborne concentration of cadmium of 2.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (2.5 µg/ m3), calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA).

Authorized person means any person authorized by the Company and required by work duties to be present in regulated areas or any person authorized by the OSH Act or regulations issued under it to be in regulated areas.

Competent person, in accordance with 29 CFR 1926.32(f), means a person designated by the Company to act on the Company's behalf who is capable of identifying existing and potential cadmium hazards in the workplace and the proper methods to control them in order to protect workers, and has the authority necessary to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate or control such hazards.

The duties of a competent person include at least the following:

· Determining prior to the performance of work whether cadmium is present in the workplace;

· Establishing, where necessary, regulated areas and assuring that access to and from those areas is limited to authorized employees; assuring the adequacy of any employee exposure monitoring required by this standard;

· Assuring that all employees exposed to air cadmium levels above the PEL wear appropriate personal protective equipment and are trained in the use of appropriate methods of exposure control;

· Assuring that proper hygiene facilities are provided and that workers are trained to use those facilities; and

· Assuring that the engineering controls required by this standard are implemented, maintained in proper operating condition, and functioning properly.