Following the White House’s January 20, 2017, memorandum, “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” the U.S. Department of Labor (US DOL) has delayed the effective date of the final Beryllium Exposure Rule. The delay was put in place to give OSHA an opportunity to further review and allow for additional considerations regarding the rule.
Initially, the Beryllium Rule was published on January 9, 2017, with an effective date of March 21, 2017. As a result of the January 20th memo, the US DOL has proposed a change in effective date to May 20, 2017 “for the purpose of additional review into questions of law and policy.”
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The final rule on Beryllium exposure revises previous exposure limits reducing the eight-hour permissible limit from 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. Employers will have to comply with most of the standard’s provisions within the first year of the rule’s effective date (currently May 20, 2017). Among some of the staggered requirements of the final rule, employers must also provide change rooms and showers within two years of the effective date and implement engineering controls within three years.
The postponement will not affect the compliance dates of the rule. To read the full final rule on Occupational Beryllium Exposure be sure to click the link here. The full press release from the US DOL can be found below.
