§ 1910.1028 Benzene.
(a) Scope and application. (1) This section applies to all occupational exposures to benzene. Chemical Abstracts Service Registry No. 71-43-2, except as provided in paragraphs (a)(2) and (a)(3) of this section.
(2) This section does not apply to:
(i) The storage, transportation, distribution, dispensing, sale or use of gasoline, motor fuels, or other fuels containing benzene subsequent to its final discharge from bulk wholesale storage facilities, except that operations where gasoline or motor fuels are dispensed for more than 4 hours per day in an indoor location are covered by this section.
(ii) Loading and unloading operations at bulk wholesale storage facilities which use vapor control systems for all loading and unloading operations, except for the provisions of 29 CFR 1910.1200 as incorporated into this section and the emergency provisions of paragraphs (g) and (i)(4) of this section.
(iii) The storage, transportation, distribution or sale of benzene or liquid mixtures containing more than 0.1 percent benzene in intact containers or in transportation pipelines while sealed in such a manner as to contain benzene vapors or liquid, except for the provisions of 29 CFR 1910.1200 as incorporated into this section and the emergency provisions of paragraphs (g) and (i)(4) of this section.
(iv) Containers and pipelines carrying mixtures with less than 0.1 percent benzene and natural gas processing plants processing gas with less than 0.1 percent benzene.
(v) Work operations where the only exposure to benzene is from liquid mixtures containing 0.5 percent or less of benzene by volume, or the vapors released from such liquids until September 12, 1988; work operations where the only exposure to benzene is from liquid mixtures containing 0.3 percent or less of benzene by volume or the vapors released from such liquids from September 12, 1988, to September 12, 1989; and work operations where the only exposure to benzene is from liquid mixtures containing 0.1 percent or less of benzene by volume or the vapors released from such liquids after September 12, 1989; except that tire building machine operators using solvents with more than 0.1 percent benzene are covered by paragraph (i) of this section.
(vi) Oil and gas drilling, production and servicing operations.
(vii) Coke oven batteries.
(3) The cleaning and repair of barges and tankers which have contained benzene are excluded from paragraph (f) methods of compliance, paragraph (e)(1) exposure monitoring-general, and paragraph (e)(6) accuracy of monitoring. Engineering and work practice controls shall be used to keep exposures below 10 ppm unless it is proven to be not feasible.
(b) Definitions. Action level means an airborne concentration of benzene of 0.5 ppm calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average.
Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor, or designee.
Authorized person means any person specifically authorized by the employer whose duties require the person to enter a regulated area, or any person entering such an area as a designated representative of employees for the purpose of exercising the right to observe monitoring and measuring procedures under paragraph (l) of this section, or any other person authorized by the Act or regulations issued under the Act.
Benzene (C6 H6) (CAS Registry No. 71-43-2) means liquefied or gaseous benzene. It includes benzene contained in liquid mixtures and the benzene vapors released by these liquids. It does not include trace amounts of unreacted benzene contained in solid materials.
Bulk wholesale storage facility means a bulk terminal or bulk plant where fuel is stored prior to its delivery to wholesale customers.
Container means any barrel, bottle, can, cylinder, drum, reaction vessel, storage tank, or the like, but does not include piping systems.
Day means any part of a calendar day.
Director means the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or designee.
Emergency means any occurrence such as, but not limited to, equipment failure, rupture of containers, or failure of control equipment which may or does result in an unexpected significant release of benzene.
Employee exposure means exposure to airborne benzene which would occur if the employee were not using respiratory protective equipment.
Regulated area means any area where airborne concentrations of benzene exceed or can reasonably be expected to exceed, the permissible exposure limits, either the 8-hour time weighted average exposure of 1 ppm or the short-term exposure limit of 5 ppm for 15 minutes.
Vapor control system means any equipment used for containing the total vapors displaced during the loading of gasoline, motor fuel or other fuel tank trucks and the displacing of these vapors through a vapor processing system or balancing the vapor with the storage tank. This equipment also includes systems containing the vapors displaced from the storage tank during the unloading of the tank truck which balance the vapors back to the tank truck.
(c) Permissible exposure limits (PELs)—(1) Time-weighted average limit (TWA). The employer shall assure that no employee is exposed to an airborne concentration of benzene in excess of one part of benzene per million parts of air (1 ppm) as an 8-hour time-weighted average.
(2) Short-term exposure limit (STEL). The employer shall assure that no employee is exposed to an airborne concentration of benzene in excess of five (5) ppm as averaged over any 15 minute period.
(d) Regulated areas. (1) The employer shall establish a regulated area wherever the airborne concentration of benzene exceeds or can reasonably be expected to exceed the permissible exposure limits, either the 8-hour time weighted average exposure of 1 ppm or the short-term exposure limit of 5 ppm for 15 minutes.
(2) Access to regulated areas shall be limited to authorized persons.
(3) Regulated areas shall be determined from the rest of the workplace in any manner that minimizes the number of employees exposed to benzene within the regulated area.
(e) Exposure monitoring—(1) General. (i) Determinations of employee exposure shall be made from breathing zone air samples that are representative of each employee's average exposure to airborne benzene.
(ii) Representative 8-hour TWA employee exposures shall be determined on the basis of one sample or samples representing the full shift exposure for each job classification in each work area.
(iii) Determinations of compliance with the STEL shall be made from 15 minute employee breathing zone samples measured at operations where there is reason to believe exposures are high, such as where tanks are opened, filled, unloaded or gauged; where containers or process equipment are opened and where benzene is used for cleaning or as a solvent in an uncontrolled situation. The employer may use objective data, such as measurements from brief period measuring devices, to determine where STEL monitoring is needed.
(iv) Except for initial monitoring as required under paragraph (e)(2) of this section, where the employer can document that one shift will consistently have higher employee exposures for an operation, the employer shall only be required to determine representative employee exposure for that operation during the shift on which the highest exposure is expected.
(2) Initial monitoring. (i) Each employer who has a place of employment covered under paragraph (a)(1) of this section shall monitor each of these workplaces and work operations to determine accurately the airborne concentrations of benzene to which employees may be exposed.
(ii) The initial monitoring required under paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section shall be completed by 60 days after the effective date of this standard or within 30 days of the introduction of benzene into the workplace. Where the employer has monitored within one year prior to the effective date of this standard and the monitoring satisfies all other requirements of this section, the employer may rely on such earlier monitoring results to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section.
(3) Periodic monitoring and monitoring frequency. (i) If the monitoring required by paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section reveals employee exposure at or above the action level but at or below the TWA, the employer shall repeat such monitoring for each such employee at least every year.
(ii) If the monitoring required by paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section reveals employee exposure above the TWA, the employer shall repeat such monitoring for each such employee at least every six (6) months.
(iii) The employer may alter the monitoring schedule from every six months to annually for any employee for whom two consecutive measurements taken at least 7 days apart indicate that the employee exposure has decreased to the TWA or below, but is at or above the action level.
(iv) Monitoring for the STEL shall be repeated as necessary to evaluate exposures of employees subject to short term exposures.
(4) Termination of monitoring. (i) If the initial monitoring required by paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section reveals employee exposure to be below the action level the employer may discontinue the monitoring for that employee, except as otherwise required by paragraph (e)(5) of this section.
(ii) If the periodic monitoring required by paragraph (e)(3) of this section reveals that employee exposures, as indicated by at least two consecutive measurements taken at least 7 days apart, are below the action level the employer may discontinue the monitoring for that employee, except as otherwise required by paragraph (e)(5).
(5) Additional monitoring. (i) The employer shall institute the exposure monitoring required under paragraphs (e)(2) and (e)(3) of this section when there has been a change in the production, process, control equipment, personnel or work practices which may result in new or additional exposures to benzene, or when the employer has any reason to suspect a change which may result in new or additional exposures.
(ii) Whenever spills, leaks, ruptures or other breakdowns occur that may lead to employee exposure, the employer shall monitor (using area or personal sampling) after the cleanup of the spill or repair of the leak, rupture or other breakdown to ensure that exposures have returned to the level that existed prior to the incident.
(6) Accuracy of monitoring. Monitoring shall be accurate, to a confidence level of 95 percent, to within plus or minus 25 percent for airborne concentrations of benzene.
(7) Employee notification of monitoring results. (i) The employer must, within 15 working days after the receipt of the results of any monitoring performed under this section, notify each affected employee of these results either individually in writing or by posting the results in an appropriate location that is accessible to employees.
(ii) Whenever the PELs are exceeded, the written notification required by paragraph (e)(7)(i) of this section shall contain the corrective action being taken by the employer to reduce the employee exposure to or below the PEL, or shall refer to a document available to the employee which states the corrective actions to be taken.
(f) Methods of compliance—(1) Engineering controls and work practices. (i) The employer shall institute engineering controls and work practices to reduce and maintain employee exposure to benzene at or below the permissible exposure limits, except to the extent that the employer can establish that these controls are not feasible or where the provisions of paragraph (f)(1)(iii) or (g)(1) of this section apply.
(ii) Wherever the feasible engineering controls and work practices which can be instituted are not sufficient to reduce employee exposure to or below the PELs, the employer shall use them to reduce employee exposure to the lowest levels achievable by these controls and shall supplement them by the use of respiratory protection which complies with the requirements of paragraph (g) of this section.
(iii) Where the employer can document that benzene is used in a workplace less than a total of 30 days per year, the employer shall use engineering controls, work practice controls or respiratory protection or any combination of these controls to reduce employee exposure to benzene to or below the PELs, except that employers shall use engineering and work practice controls, if feasible, to reduce exposure to or below 10 ppm as an 8-hour TWA.
(2) Compliance program. (i) When any exposures are over the PEL, the employer shall establish and implement a written program to reduce employee exposure to or below the PEL primarily by means of engineering and work practice controls, as required by paragraph (f)(1) of this section.
(ii) The written program shall include a schedule for development and implementation of the engineering and work practice controls. These plans shall be reviewed and revised as appropriate based on the most recent exposure monitoring data, to reflect the current status of the program.
(iii) Written compliance programs shall be furnished upon request for examination and copying to the Assistant Secretary, the Director, affected employees and designated employee representatives.
(g) Respiratory protection—(1) General. For employees who use respirators required by this section, the employer must provide each employee an appropriate respirator that complies with the requirements of this paragraph. Respirators must be used during:
(i) Periods necessary to install or implement feasible engineering and work-practice controls.
(ii) Work operations for which the employer establishes that compliance with either the TWA or STEL through the use of engineering and work-practice controls is not feasible; for example, some maintenance and repair activities, vessel cleaning, or other operations for which engineering and work-practice controls are infeasible because exposures are intermittent and limited in duration.
(iii) Work operations for which feasible engineering and work-practice controls are not yet sufficient, or are not required under paragraph (f)(1)(iii) of this section, to reduce employee exposure to or below the PELs.
(iv) Emergencies.
(2) Respirator program. (i) The employer must implement a respiratory protection program in accordance with § 1910.134(b) through (d) (except (d)(1)(iii), (d)(3)(iii)(b)(1) and (2)), and (f) through (m), which covers each employee required by this section to use a respirator.
(ii) For air-purifying respirators, the employer must replace the air-purifying element at the expiration of its service life or at the beginning of each shift in which such elements are used, whichever comes first.
(iii) If NIOSH approves an air-purifying element with an end-of-service-life indicator for benzene, such an element may be used until the indicator shows no further useful life.
(3) Respirator selection. (i) Employers must:
(A) Select, and provide to employees, the appropriate respirators specified in paragraph (d)(3)(i)(A) of 29 CFR 1910.134.
(B) Provide employees with any organic vapor gas mask or any self-contained breathing apparatus with a full facepiece to use for escape.
(C) Use an organic vapor cartridge or canister with powered and non-powered air-purifying respirators, and a chin-style canister with full facepiece gas masks.
(D) Ensure that canisters used with non-powered air-purifying respirators have a minimum service life of four hours when tested at 150 ppm benzene at a flow rate of 64 liters per minute (LPM), a temperature of 25 °C, and a relative humidity of 85%; for canisters used with tight-fitting or loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators, the flow rates for testing must be 115 LPM and 170 LPM, respectively.