OSHA FACTSHEET PPE

1 Exposureis hig hly irritating toth e eyes,nose, andthroatandcanmake anyone exposur e maycausesevereal lergic reactio ns of theskin , eyesandrespiratorytract. Inges ti onof formaldehyde canbefatal,andlo ng-t ermexpos uretolow levelsin theai r orontheskincancause as thma-lik e respiratoryprob-lemsandskinir ritatio n su ch asder matiti s anditc hin g. Concentr at ions of 100ppmareimmedi -at elydangerous toli feand health (I DLH).Note:The NationalIn stit ute fo r OccupationalSafetyand Health (NIOSH)co nsid ers20ppmofformaldehydeto be ut es of Expo su reWorkers canin halefor maldehydeasa gasorvapor or absorbit th ro ugh th e skin asa ng thetreatmentoftex-tilesand th e pro ducti onof resins . Inadditiontohealth care pr of essional s and medicallabtechni-ci ans, gr oups atpotentially hig h riskincludemor-tuary work ersaswellasteachersandst udentswhohandle bio lo gical spec imens preservedwithformaldehydeor for Emp loy ers Ca n Pro tect WorkersAirborn e concentrations of fo rmaldehydeabove0.

2 1 ppmcancauseirri tation of th e respiratorytract. The severityof irri tation in tensifiesascon-centratio ns si onsof th e OSHA standardrequireemploy-er s to do th e fo ll owi ng: Id entif y allwor kers whomaybe exposedtofo rmaldehyde ator aboveth e ac ti onlevelorSTEL th ro ugh in iti al monitori ng and determineth ei r expos thetermformaldehydedescribesvari-ousmixt uresof fo rmaldehyde,water,andalcohol,theterm f ormalin is used todescribea saturatedsolut ionof formaldehydedissolved inwater,typicallywith anotheragent, most commonlymeth anol, addedtostabilize theso typic all y 37%formaldehydebyweight(40%byvolu me)and6- 13%methanol componentprovidesthedisin-fectanteffects of t Employers ShouldKno wTheOSHAF ormaldehydest andar d ( )andequivalentregulationsinstateswi thOSHA-approvedstat e plansprotectswor kersexpos edtofo rmaldehydeandapplytoalloccupa-ti onalexpos ur estoformaldehydefromformalde-hydegas, its sol utions,andmaterialsthatreleasefo rmaldehyde.

3 The permissi bl e exposurelimit(PEL)forformaldehydein theworkplaceis 0. 75partsformaldehydepermillionparts ofair( )measuredasan8- hourtime-weightedaverage(TWA). The standardinc ludesa secondPEL in thefor mofa short-termexposurelimit(STEL)of2 ppmwhichis th e maximumexposureal lo weddur-in g a 15-minuteperiod. The action level whichis thest andard strig-gerfo r increasedindustrialhygienemonitoringandi ni ti ation ofworkermedicalsurveillance is 0. 5 ppmwhencalculatedasan8-hour rmf ul Effe cts on Work ersFormaldehydeis a sensitizingagentthatcancause animmunesystemresponseuponinitialexpos is al soa mal deh ydeFor ma ld ehyde is a colorless, st ro ng-smellingga s oftenfoundin aqueous(water-ba se d) solu usedas a preservativein medical labor atoriesandmortuarie s, formaldehydeis also foundin manyproductssuchas chemicals,particlebo ar d, house hold products, gl ue s, permanentpressfab rics, pap er pro duct coati ngs,fibe rb oa rd , and is al so widelyused as an industrialfungicide,germicideand disin fe cta nt.

4 Thi s is one in a seriesof informationalfa ct she et s highlightingOSHA programs, policiesorsta ndar ds. It doe s not imposeany new compliancerequirements. For a com prehensivelist ofcom pli ancerequirements of OSHAsta ndardsor re gulations,referto Tit le 29 of the Codeof FederalRegul s information will be madeava ilableto se nsory-impaire d indiv idua ls voi ce phoneis (202) 69 3-1 999 ; the teletypew rite r (TTY)numberis (8 77) 889 -5 627. Reassignworkers whosu ffersignificantadverse effectsfr omformaldehydeexposure tojobs wi thsig nifi cantly lessornoexposure untiltheir co nditi monthsuntil theworkerisdeterminedtobe ableto returnto theor iginaljobortobe unable toreturntowor k which-evercomesfi rs t. Implementfeasible engineeringandworkprac-tic e controls toreduceandmaintainworkerexpos uretofo rmaldehydeatorbelowthe8-hour TWA and thesecontrolscan-notreduce exposureto or belowthePELs,emplo yersmust provide workerswithrespira-tors.

5 Label al l mixturesorsolutionscomposedofgreaterth an0. 1 percentformaldehydeandmaterialscapable ofreleasingformaldehydeintotheai r Forallmaterialscapableofreleasin g fo g normalus e, thelabelmustcontainthewords potentialcancerhazard. Tr ainallworkers exposedto formaldehydecon-centrationsof al jobas si gnmentandwhenevera newexpos uretofo rmaldehydeis introducedintothework Select, pro vide andmaintainappropriate per-sonal pr otecti veequipment(PPE). EnsurethatworkersusePPEsuchasimperviousc lothing,gl oves,apro ns , andchemical splashgogglestopr eventsk in and eyecont ac t withformalde-hyde. Pro vide showersand eyewas h stationsifsp lashingis lik ely. Pro vide medic al su rveill ance fo r al l workersexposedtofo rmaldehyde atconc entrations atoraboveth e ac ti onlevelor exceedingtheSTEL, fo r th ose who develop signs andsymp-to msof overexposure, and fo r allworkersexposedtofo rmaldehyde in or dke epin g Re qu ir emen tsEmployersarerequiredtodo th e fol lowingregardin g work erexposu rerecord s: Retainexposu rerecord s fo r 30years.

6 Retainmedic al record s fo r 30yearsafteremploymentends. Allowacces s tomedic al and exposurerecordstocu rr entandfo rmerwork ersortheirdesignat-edrepresentativesupon reques itio nal In fo rma tio nFor morein fo rmation on th is, and otherhealth-relatedissu esaffecti ng wor kers, vi si t OSHA cu pa ti on al Saf etyan d Hea lt h Adm in is ha. gov 1- 800 -321- 674 2Fo r as sis tan ce, contactus. We can s confi dent G 4/2 011