Document 0LJvKNmzBn2xYBdLmkrE18qwm

What the taw means to you Jerome H. Heckman41 Legal Exchange Readerinquiries are solicited for this department, which is ajorumfor the discussion of legal questions ofhnktd interest to ihe plastics industry. Inquiries will lw used m the heists Jor general comment. The comments arc in no urn1 meant to serve as a substitute for expert legal advice. Names will he withheld on request. We have been swamped with questions regarding appli ,cation of specific provisions in the osha Vinyl Chloride Standard adopted on October 4 1974. The questions be low are among those askpd most frequently. At (he time of this writing, intensive appellate procedures were under way to attempt to have the entire Standard declared un lawful and invalid. Likewise, proceedings looking towards the slaying of the effective date of the Standard were in process. Thus, while the responses to the questions are based on the assumption that the Standard will become ef fective January I, 1975. it is our hope that it will not go into effect as written, that a Slay may have been grunted by the time this column appears, and that the entire matter will be remanded to the Department of Labor for com plete reconsideration. An Interpretation Is needed concerning the Standardfor Ex posure to Vinyl Chloride (29 C.F.R. 191(19Jq) promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on October 4. The question relates to the need for warning signs required by subparagraph (I) of the Standard If a processorfabricator facility is below the "permissible Ami/** or defined, is the facility all! deemed to be a regulated area? Is it required to post the area with the sign "Cancer Suspect Agent Area-Authorized Personnel Only"? No. "Regulated areas** are discussed in subparagraph (e) of the Standard. This subparagraph states that (1) a regulated area shall be established where: fi) vinyl chlo ride or polyvinyl chloride is manufactured, reacted, re packaged, stored, handled or used: and (ii) vinyl chloride concentrations are in excess of the permissible exposure limit (1 p p m., 8 hour TWA, and 5 p.p.m. maximum for any 15-min. period). If the facility is below the permissible exposure limit then no regulated area need be set up and consequently the signs are not required. (If monitoring shows less than 0.05 p.p.m. employee exposure to vt m, vir tually no further action is requited under ihe Standard; this "action level** concept is not to be confused with the "permissible exposure limit** concept.) Although the question is limited to "processor-fabrica tors," Ihe answer is equally applicable to all operations falling within the scope of this Standard. Paragraph (!) (3) requires that ''containers of... other waste contaminated with vinyl chloride shall he legibly la- Keller ud Mevkmin. (ISO 17th Si. NW. Wubinpton. DC J00.1A. Mr. Hcckmes i$ general counsel of vt, die tnurnaihwal Non-Woven end DlpraaMei Aaao., and other itade group* end private companio. heled: Contaminated with Vtnvt Chloride--Cancrr Suspect Agent." Are such labels required on PVC scrap within a fa cility in Inventory for further processing? The purpose of the labels required by this subparagraph would be to warn employees that waste material is or moy be contaminated with vinyl chloride so that a hazard might be posed to those who handle it without taking proper precautions. The provision in the Standard is aimed primarily at dealing with waste from polymer ization reactors where the possibility of entrapment of rel atively large quantities or vinyl chloride exists, or other..*r~. waste generated in vc or i*vc producing facilities, where ' contamination with vinyl chloride can be expected to oc cur. On the other hand, scrap produced in processors* or fabricators' plants by trimming of processed material poses little or no problem in this regard since such scrap can properly be considered to be a fabricated material which is outside the scope of the Standard. In other words, the type of scrap generated in the plant of a processor-fab ricator that has already been through the mass melting stage need not carry the label while it is in inventory awaiting further processing. To the contrary, compounded ^ material which has not been through u fabrication process (for example, excess compound remaining after a run has been completed), when stored in "in-plant" containers does require labeling, but such labeling should be in ac cordance with subparagraph (1) (4) which applies to con tainers of polyvinyl chloride. Labeling should read: "Polyvinyl Chloride Contains Vinyl Chloride Vinyl Chloride is a Canccr-Suspect Agent" It should also be noted that we have confirmed this in- > (erpretation of the requirements of the Standard infor-' mally with the appropriate osha officials. URL 17946 Shipments ofpolyvinyl chloride resin received from a manyfat turer will no doubt hear the required labeling. If bulk shipments are received arc labels required on any polyvinyl chloride container within a facility? The intent of the Standard is to warn employees of the possible hazard thut exists in handling polyvinyl chloride which has not previously been subjected to mass melting and which may be expected to release vinyl chloride when it is mass melted. Consequently, if bulk shipments of poly vinyl chloride resins arc received, and if the pvc is placed in containers within a facility which employes arc in tended to handle, those container^ should cany the label ing required by subparagraph (I) (4) of the Standard. Bulk shipments contained mi silos and transported within a plant by pneumatic tubes so that there is no em ployee contact with the materia) do not pose the same em ployee exposure ns might he posed by drums or bags of the same polyvinyl chloride that would have to he opened and emptied by hand. It is in these latter cases that the contain ers require hazard labeling. Consequently, if the bulk ship ments are stored within a facility in containers that require opening and emptying by employees who might thereby be exposed to residual vc vapor, it b only these containers that will require the cautionary labeling.--END .. ue Miriam Plastics. January 197#