environmental Strategist, between the lines: This competitive environmental intelligence is excellent for any business involved in the abrasive blasting business. While it is designed with shipyards in mind, it’s appropriate for any business involved in abrasive blasting, from contractors, to manufacturer’s. While many involved in the abrasive blasting business are moving into less harmful abrasive materials such as ice, air contaminants are still a big exposure.
Most insurance policies now have silica exclusions due to the known environmental liabilities that can be generated from this type of operation. Since transferring the liability is not easy if not impossible to do, developing proactive in house risk management strategies will be invaluable for businesses involved in abrasive blasting operations.
OSHA Issues Guidance On Abrasive Blasting in Shipyards, Information Useful To Similar Working Environments
OSHA has released a guidance to alert shipyard employers and their employees about abrasive blasting hazards and the controls that can be implemented to reduce, avoid or eliminate them.
The document focuses on air contaminants because they are a major hazard during abrasive blasting. Other abrasive blasting safety and health hazards are discussed, and the guidance offers recommendations on how to avoid these occupational hazards, such as engineering controls, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), exposure monitoring, medical surveillance and training on the OSHA Hazard Communication and PPE standards.
“This new guidance focuses on silica alternatives since most shipyards have moved away from using silica as a blasting agent,” said OSHA Administrator Edwin G. Foulke Jr. “However, alternative blasting materials may bring a different set of hazards, so we want shipyard employees and their employers to have the most up-to-date safety and health information possible.”
OSHA also recommends that employers perform an inspection of the worksite to identify additional hazards, such as excessive noise, static electricity, confined spaces, heat exposure and fall hazards. The guidance also encourages employers to research each of the discussed hazards, as well as understand the suggested preventative measures and the abatement that has been detailed in the guidance.
Although these guidelines are designed specifically for shipyard employment, OSHA hopes that employers with similar work environments also will find this information useful.
The guidance can be accessed at http://www.osha.gov/dts