Proposed Hex-Chrome REL Leaves Industry Nervous About OSHA PEL

Factiva: "A new NIOSH proposal to lower the recommended exposure limit (REL) for hexavalent chromium to one-fifth the agency's previous level and 25 times lower than OSHA's permissible exposure limit may have some in industry nervous that it could lead to calls for a stricter OSHA PEL."

NIOSH is proposing to lower its REL based on two new risk assessments, and will hold a public hearing on the document in Cincinnati on Jan. 22.

The new NIOSH criteria document lowers the REL for all hexavalent chromium compounds from the level of 1 µg/m3 established in 1988 to 0.2 µg/m3 , a level which it says carries a 1/1,000 risk of cancer death to workers. NIOSH cites two risk assessments completed shortly before it commented on OSHA's rulemaking

OSHA published its final rule regulating the chemical in 2006 with a PEL of 5 µg/m3 after a court-order mandated it develop a standard. According to the OSHA standard, the limit poses a 6/1,000 risk of cancer to death to workers, but represents the lowest economically feasible limit the agency could set.