1910.1052(e): Regulated areas

(e) Regulated areas. 6 citations

(1) The employer shall establish a regulated area wherever an employee's exposure to airborne concentrations of MC exceeds or can reasonably be expected to exceed either the 8-hour TWA PEL or the STEL. 5 citations

(2) The employer shall limit access to regulated areas to authorized persons.

(3) The employer shall supply a respirator, selected in accordance with paragraph (h)(3) of this section, to each person who enters a regulated area and shall require each affected employee to use that respirator whenever MC exposures are likely to exceed the 8-hour TWA PEL or STEL. 1 citations

An employer who has implemented all feasible engineering, work practice and administrative controls (as required in paragraph (f) of this section), and who has established a regulated area (as required by paragraph (e)(1) of this section) where MC exposure can be reliably predicted to exceed the 8-hour TWA PEL or the STEL only on certain days (for example, because of work or process schedule) would need to have affected employees use respirators in that regulated area only on those days.

(4) The employer shall ensure that, within a regulated area, employees do not engage in non-work activities which may increase dermal or oral MC exposure.

(5) The employer shall ensure that while employees are wearing respirators, they do not engage in activities (such as taking medication or chewing gum or tobacco) which interfere with respirator seal or performance.

(6) The employer shall demarcate regulated areas from the rest of the workplace in any manner that adequately establishes and alerts employees to the boundaries of the area and minimizes the number of authorized employees exposed to MC within the regulated area.

(7) An employer at a multi-employer worksite who establishes a regulated area shall communicate the access restrictions and locations of these areas to all other employers with work operations at that worksite.