OSHA 1910.1000: Air contaminants

An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Tables Z-1, Z-2, or Z-3 of this section shall be limited in accordance with the requirements of the following paragraphs of this section.

(a) Table Z-1—(1) Substances with limits preceded by “C”—Ceiling Values. An employee's exposure to any substance in Table Z-1, the exposure limit of which is preceded by a “C”, shall at no time exceed the exposure limit given for that substance. If instantaneous monitoring is not feasible, then the ceiling shall be assessed as a 15-minute time weighted average exposure which shall not be exceeded at any time during the working day.

(2) Other substances—8-hour Time Weighted Averages. An employee's exposure to any substance in Table Z-1, the exposure limit of which is not preceded by a “C”, shall not exceed the 8-hour Time Weighted Average given for that substance in any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week.

(b) Table Z-2. An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Table Z-2 shall not exceed the exposure limits specified as follows:

(1) 8-hour time weighted averages. An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Table Z-2, in any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week, shall not exceed the 8-hour time weighted average limit given for that substance in Table Z-2.

(2) Acceptable ceiling concentrations. An employee's exposure to a substance listed in Table Z-2 shall not exceed at any time during an 8-hour shift the acceptable ceiling concentration limit given for the substance in the table, except for a time period, and up to a concentration not exceeding the maximum duration and concentration allowed in the column under “acceptable maximum peak above the acceptable ceiling concentration for an 8-hour shift.”

(3) Example. During an 8-hour work shift, an employee may be exposed to a concentration of Substance A (with a 10 ppm TWA, 25 ppm ceiling and 50 ppm peak) above 25 ppm (but never above 50 ppm) only for a maximum period of 10 minutes. Such exposure must be compensated by exposures to concentrations less than 10 ppm so that the cumulative exposure for the entire 8-hour work shift does not exceed a weighted average of 10 ppm.

(c) Table Z-3. An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Table Z-3, in any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week, shall not exceed the 8-hour time weighted average limit given for that substance in the table.

(d) Computation formulae. The computation formula which shall apply to employee exposure to more than one substance for which 8-hour time weighted averages are listed in subpart Z of 29 CFR part 1910 in order to determine whether an employee is exposed over the regulatory limit is as follows:

(1)(i) The cumulative exposure for an 8-hour work shift shall be computed as follows:

(ii) To illustrate the formula prescribed in paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section, assume that Substance A has an 8-hour time weighted average limit of 100 ppm noted in Table Z-1. Assume that an employee is subject to the following exposure:

(2)(i) In case of a mixture of air contaminants an employer shall compute the equivalent exposure as follows:

(ii) To illustrate the formula prescribed in paragraph (d)(2)(i) of this section, consider the following exposures:

(e) To achieve compliance with paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, administrative or engineering controls must first be determined and implemented whenever feasible. When such controls are not feasible to achieve full compliance, protective equipment or any other protective measures shall be used to keep the exposure of employees to air contaminants within the limits prescribed in this section. Any equipment and/or technical measures used for this purpose must be approved for each particular use by a competent industrial hygienist or other technically qualified person. Whenever respirators are used, their use shall comply with 1910.134. Table Z-1—Limits for Air Contaminants Table Z-2 Table Z-3—Mineral Dusts