Abstract
Allowable worker exposure to beryllium will be reduced to one-tenth of the current level, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) announced earlier this month. Beryllium is used in multiple applications in areas such as aerospace, electronics, energy, and medicine. Industrial workers who inhale beryllium-containing dust or mist while mining or processing the metal can develop lung disease. The current permissible exposure limit for airborne beryllium dates to the 1940s, when the now-defunct Atomic Energy Commission set the limit at 2.0 µg/m3, as averaged over an eight-hour period. OSHA first proposed lowering it in 1975. The Department of Energy lowered its exposure limit for nuclear weapons workers to 0.2 µg/m3 in 1999. In 2012, the United Steelworkers union and Materion, the only U.S. beryllium materials maker, together proposed to OSHA that the agency also lower its limit to 0.2 µg/m3. Employers have one year to implement most of the new
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