For workers and supervisors who machine, cast, grind or otherwise process beryllium and its alloys: sensitization and chronic beryllium disease, the PELs, STEL and action level, exposure assessment, work areas and regulated areas, controls, respirators and PPE, hygiene and housekeeping, medical surveillance and removal, signs, labels and training.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1024 · about 7 min read
Need proof of training? The full course (30 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
Sensitization is an immune response in someone exposed to beryllium. By itself it causes no symptoms, but it lets the body react to beryllium.
Not every sensitized person develops chronic beryllium disease (CBD), but sensitization must come first. CBD is a lung disease caused by breathing beryllium after becoming sensitized.
Beryllium can also cause cancer, acute beryllium disease, skin sensitization and irritation of skin, eyes and airways.
Skin counts too. Dermal contact includes visible dust, fumes or mists, and soluble compounds or solutions, at 0.1 percent beryllium by weight or more. Handling beryllium material in non-particulate solid form that is free from such visible dust is not dermal contact under the standard.
A beryllium work area is anywhere material with at least 0.1 percent beryllium by weight is processed in a listed operation or at or above the action level. It is marked by signs or other methods.
A regulated area is where exposure is or could be above the PEL or STEL. Access is limited to people with work duties there, employee representatives observing monitoring, and people authorized by law.
Each person entering a regulated area wears a respirator and protective clothing and equipment.
No eating, drinking, smoking, chewing or cosmetics in regulated areas.
Signs at each approach read DANGER / REGULATED AREA / BERYLLIUM / MAY CAUSE CANCER / CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS / AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY / WEAR RESPIRATORY PROTECTION AND PERSONAL PROTECTIVE CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT IN THIS AREA.
Your employer keeps a written exposure control plan listing beryllium operations and jobs, controls, PPE, and procedures for cleaning, laundering and keeping beryllium from spreading. It is reviewed at least annually and you can see a copy.
Each operation in a beryllium work area that releases airborne beryllium has at least one of these controls, unless your employer can show they are not feasible, or that exposure is below the action level using at least two representative breathing-zone samples taken at least 7 days apart for each affected operation:
Material or process substitution
Isolation, such as ventilated enclosures
Local exhaust ventilation at the point of operation, handling and transfer
Process control, such as wet methods and automation
Where controls cannot reach the PELs, respirators supplement them. Rotating workers to meet the PELs is not allowed.
Respirators are provided at no cost where exposure exceeds, or can reasonably be expected to exceed, the PEL or STEL while controls are being installed, when controls are not feasible, or when all feasible controls are not enough; in emergencies; and for a worker eligible for medical removal who chooses to stay in the job. If you ask for a PAPR instead of a negative pressure respirator, and it protects adequately, you get a PAPR.
Protective clothing and equipment are provided at no cost above the PEL or STEL, or where skin contact is reasonably expected.
Take it off at the end of the shift, when beryllium tasks are done, or when it is visibly contaminated, whichever comes first.
Store it separate from street clothes, and do not take it home.
Do not blow or shake beryllium off it. Contaminated items leave in sealed, labeled impermeable bags.
Washing facilities are readily accessible to remove beryllium from hands, face and neck.
After skin contact, wash exposed skin at the end of the task or shift and before eating, drinking, smoking, chewing, applying cosmetics or using the toilet.
Where showers are required, shower at the end of the shift or activity if you could have had airborne exposure above the PEL or STEL and your hair or body parts other than hands, face and neck could have been contaminated.
Workers required to wear protective clothing because skin contact is reasonably expected get a designated change room where they must remove their personal clothing.
Clean contaminated PPE, without dispersing dust, before entering an eating or drinking area.
Keep surfaces as free as practicable of beryllium, and clean up spills and releases promptly.
Clean with HEPA-filtered vacuuming or other low-dust methods. Dry sweeping and brushing are allowed when those methods are not safe or effective, and then with respirators and PPE.
No compressed air unless a ventilation system captures the dust.
Containers of contaminated clothing, equipment and materials are labeled DANGER / CONTAINS BERYLLIUM / MAY CAUSE CANCER / CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS / AVOID CREATING DUST / DO NOT GET ON SKIN.
Medical surveillance is free for employees exposed at or above the action level for more than 30 days a year, those with signs or symptoms of CBD, those exposed in an emergency, and those whose physician recommends it.
Exams repeat at least every two years while you still qualify. They offer a BeLPT blood test for sensitization (not repeated once you are confirmed positive), lung function tests, and checks of the respiratory system and skin. The examiner explains the risks and benefits, and you may opt out of any or all parts.
You receive a written medical report within 45 days. Your employer gets a limited opinion; details about your exposure limits go to the employer when you give written authorization.
If you work in a job at or above the action level and give your employer a written medical report showing you are confirmed positive or diagnosed with CBD (or recommending removal), or your employer receives a physician's written opinion recommending removal, you are eligible for medical removal. It is your choice: move to a comparable job below the action level, or stay and wear a respirator. Earnings, seniority and benefits are maintained for six months; if no comparable job is available, for six months or until one becomes available, whichever comes first.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1024. It is not an OSHA card or license, and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 29 CFR 1910.1024(m)(4). Your employer must still provide each employee who has, or can reasonably be expected to have, airborne exposure to or dermal contact with beryllium with information and training in accordance with the HCS (29 CFR 1910.1200(h)), by the time of initial assignment and repeated annually; ensure that each employee who is, or can reasonably be expected to be, exposed to airborne beryllium can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the topics listed in 29 CFR 1910.1024(m)(4)(ii), including the written exposure control plan with emphasis on the locations of beryllium work areas and any regulated areas; and provide additional training when a workplace change results in new or increased airborne exposure that exceeds, or can reasonably be expected to exceed, the TWA PEL or STEL. Where respirators are required, their selection and use must follow 29 CFR 1910.134, and your employer must make medical surveillance available where 29 CFR 1910.1024(k) requires it.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.