The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) recently released its final rule covering occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica, which has been shown to contribute to a range of health issues including silicosis, respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and kidney disease. The final rule went into effect on June 17, 2024.
What does the rule do?
The most important changes to note are:
- Aligns MSHA regulations with those adopted by OSHA to provide clear guideline.
- Replaces the older standard—previously relied on a cumbersome calculation based on individual samples to determine the permissible exposure limit (PEL).
- Lowers the PEL standard to 50 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) calculated as an 8-hour time weighted average (TWA).
- Establishes a 25 µg/m3 action level for a full shift, calculated as an 8-hour TWA.
- Includes uniform controls and monitoring exposure requirements, medical surveillance requirements, and updates to existing respiratory protection requirements.
What does this mean for you?
Mining and associated companies will have to make sure that their employees are not exposed to respirable crystalline silica above the new mandated limits. While the new rule makes it easier for exposure determination, proper sampling technique and calculations of exposure over varying shift times are complex issues. Coal mine operators have 12 months and metals/non-metals (MNM) mine operators have 24 months to achieve compliance with the rule, including the medical surveillance requirement.
CTEH offers a range of related services that can support both short-term efforts to ensure compliance and longer-term strategic approaches to monitoring employee safety. These include:
- Planning and sampling by credentialed experts – CTEH has over 16 Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) to support your operations.
- Exposure risk assessments: through baseline and ongoing sampling of impacted areas, determine what your operations’ respirable crystalline silica levels are currently and track the impact of any future interventions.
- Human health monitoring and safety—including medical evaluations, industrial hygiene, occupational health, toxicology, and fit testing—to help spot issues, implement administrative and engineering controls, and proactively eliminate potential trouble spots.
These are essential parts of a comprehensive program development and implementation process. This process is designed to analyze operations across all sites while understanding your business goals, helping you determine the best plan of action for today and going forward. CTEH industrial hygiene experts can help you develop plans, supplement your internal safety or industrial hygiene staff, and achieve compliance quickly. Our network of laboratory partners guarantees fast turnaround times so you can make informed decisions quickly.
CTEH industrial hygienists have the expertise to work with you all the way through this process, and the ability to get to work quickly wherever your sites are located. Contact our team to learn more.
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About the Author
Cole Ledbetter, CIH, CSP
Director, Industrial Hygiene Services
Cole Ledbetter, CIH is a Senior Industrial Hygienist and Director of Industrial Hygiene Services at CTEH. He has more than fifteen years of experience within the industrial hygiene industry and has directed and organized more than 1,000 industrial hygiene and safety-related projects to successfully meet client expectations and land within established budgeting requirements. He also...
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