Archive for category: Construction & Remediation

Four Key Changes to the OSHA Beryllium Standard

With both long and short-term exposure limits reduced under new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, practice controls and plans for those who work with beryllium-containing products may need updating in order to ensure worker safety and OSHA compliance.

A lightweight but extremely strong metal, beryllium and its related compounds are often found in construction materials as insulation for electric wiring and in products made of ceramic or copper. As an insulation material, beryllium has come to replace polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as the material of choice because it is deemed less harmful to human health and the environment, but it is still highly toxic.

When inhaled, beryllium can cause lung damage and lead to diseases such as pneumonia, lung cancer and chronic beryllium disease (CBD). CBD is a life-threatening pulmonary disease that workers can develop following exposure to beryllium at levels below permissible exposure limits. Workers can also be at risk from skin exposure to airborne beryllium or materials that contain beryllium.

New OSHA Beryllium Standard Designed to Save Lives

In December 2018, OSHA began enforcing its stricter standards for beryllium exposure in industrial settings, including construction. The new standards, which reduce both long-term and short-term exposure limits, are expected to prevent as many as 90 deaths from beryllium-related diseases, including lung cancer, and prevent 46 new cases of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) each year.

So what do property managers and other construction stakeholders need to know about OSHA’s new beryllium standard? Here are four key takeaways.

1. Long-Term Exposure Limits Have Decreased

OSHA’s new rule “reduces the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for beryllium to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over 8-hours.” Employers must use engineering and work practice controls to prevent beryllium from becoming airborne where workers can breathe it in.”

2. Short-term Exposure Limits Have Also Decreased

The rule also “establishes a new short term exposure limit for beryllium of 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air, over a 15-minute sampling period.” Even in workplaces where beryllium exposure is minimal and where workers are exposed in small increments, changes in scheduling and other work practice controls may be necessary to meet OSHA’s new standard.

3. Employers May Have to Update or Adopt New Work Practice Controls & Plans

The rule requires employers to utilize engineering controls and best workplace practices to prevent worker exposure to beryllium. These measures include ventilation or enclosure of work spaces, the provision of personal protective equipment such as respirators, the development of a written exposure control plan, and training on the hazards of working with beryllium.

4. Employers May Have to Adopt a New Employee Medical Benefits Policy

The rule requires employers to provide routine medical examinations and proper healthcare surveillance to beryllium-exposed workers, and to provide medical removal protection healthcare benefits for those diagnosed with a disease related to beryllium exposure.

Not Sure How to Address OSHA’s New Beryllium Standard?

Omega Environmental Services can help you expedite the development of new work practice controls, including worker scheduling, to reduce exposure in projects where workers may come into contact with beryllium. We can also help you address other regulatory concerns and ensure you are in compliance.  Contact us to get started today.

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Los Angeles Hotel Rich in History Tackles Remediation with Omega’s Help

The remodeling of L.A.’s Hotel Figueroa, a deteriorating 1920’s era landmark in the city’s newly thriving downtown, revived a rich backstory of 1920s-era women, newly enfranchised and making their way in the world.

Built in 1926 by the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), and managed by a “first of her kind” female general manager whose portrait now hangs in the check-in area, the hotel was originally a Spanish Colonial-style inn dedicated to providing a safe space for female travelers and professionals. According to the Los Angeles Times, the hotel was, at the time, “the largest project of its kind in the United States to be financed, owned, and operated by women” – a substantial feat considering women had won the right to vote only six years prior. According to the hotel’s website, the hotel was women-only for its first two years.

But the restoration of this iconic structure required dealing with the less celebratory historical legacy of 1920s-era construction, which made liberal use of materials now known to be hazardous.

Reviving a Vivid Historical Era – Minus the Asbestos and Lead

Known for its incredible versatility and heat resistance, asbestos was favored in the 19th and early 20th centuries for everything from insulation to pipelines and other building materials. Lead, also a common household and commercial material, was used for things like paint and gasoline.

A year after Hotel Figueroa was erected, the first official workers’ compensation claim for asbestos-related disease in the U.S. was filed, according to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. At the same time, many developed countries such as Australia and Sweden passed lead paint prevention acts, but the United States was not among them. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that national asbestos and lead regulations were enacted.

In 2014, Hotel Figueroa’s new owners undertook a multi-million-dollar renovation. The new owners envisioned a luxury hotel with some of the original 1920s flair. Their initial plan was to remodel certain parts of the hotel, but after Omega conducted a hazardous materials assessment of the property, it was determined that major components and areas of the building required remediation. This entailed a full demolition of the interior – a project that took nearly two years to complete.

Because the hotel is a protected historical landmark, significant portions of the hotel’s original structure had to remain intact. This added to the challenge of remodeling a building that already had unreliable elevators and other safety concerns.

To facilitate the asbestos and lead remediation process, an exterior elevator was installed to move securely between the 14 floors. Some of the ductwork in the building had to be removed to work around the mechanical system, and gaping holes in the floors had to be covered to ensure worker safety. Omega engineered solutions that allowed remediation to proceed safely and effectively.

Assessing, Remediating and Remodeling in Partnership

Property managers and general contractors understand that environmental assessment and remediation are necessary steps in the remodeling process, both to safeguard the environment and the health of the occupants as well as to ensure regulatory compliance. Omega Environmental is a trusted partner in this effort, as much for our broad experience with landmark renovation projects as for our deep expertise in environmental assessment and remediation. We have decades of experience and Ph.D. level expertise in managing the process of lead and asbestos remediation – along with remediation for other hazardous materials – safely, efficiently and cost effectively.

Contact us to earn more about best practices for environmental remediation in historical renovation.

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