Employers in Oregon that are seeking detailed insights into how Oregon OSHA staff interpret and enforce specific safety and health rules need look no further than the written policy guides issued by the division: program directives.
Program directives encompass internal instructions and policy guidance to Oregon OSHA’s staff to ensure consistent enforcement of workplace safety and health requirements. They show how Oregon OSHA field staff interpret requirements, conduct safety and health inspections or nonenforcement consultations, and address specific hazards. It is important to note that no new requirements are established in the program directives. Instead, the directives show how rules are interpreted and evaluated by Oregon OSHA staff.
For employers, they offer an understanding of how Oregon OSHA evaluates potential hazards under certain requirements, and which requirements may apply under certain scenarios. The directives address Oregon OSHA’s enforcement procedures, too. The directives can help employers across industries better understand specific safety and health rules and to improve their safety and health programs for workers. The free documents are published online, and they are searchable by topic. They address everything from agriculture, asbestos, and bloodborne pathogens to fall protection, forest activities, and walking-working surfaces.
In fact, Oregon OSHA recently updated its program directive addressing respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Oregon OSHA maintains a local emphasis program (LEP) to reduce and eliminate worker exposures to RCS in construction and general industries.
Common sources of exposure to silica dust include cutting, sawing, drilling, and crushing concrete, brick, ceramic tiles, rock, and stone products. When inhaled, silica particles become trapped in the lungs and damage the tissue. The lung tissue scars and forms small rounded masses called nodules. Over time, the nodules grow, making breathing increasingly difficult. In particular, silica exposure during the fabrication of artificial stone countertops is an emerging hazard. It has been associated with several recent outbreaks of severe accelerated silicosis in young workers in the U.S.
The RCS program directive describes Oregon OSHA’s procedures for implementing the LEP. It includes, for example, a table that matches common construction tasks with dust control methods. That way, employers know precisely what they need to do to limit work-related exposures to silica. The directive also includes detailed information about written exposure control plans; a competent person to implement such plans; appropriate housekeeping practices; training for workers; and recordkeeping.