ASSE Joins Opposition to Calif. Bill to Update PELs

DES PLAINES, IL -- The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is the latest group to express its opposition to California legislation that requires the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt standards specifying permissible exposure limits (PELs) for workplace hazardous substances, and calls for a limit on the type of professionals who would be able to supervise or direct the monitoring of control methods.

ASSE said efforts to amend the bill, AB 553, would allow only California industrial hygienists (CIH) to do the work and bar employers from hiring occupational safety and health professionals to do a job many are already doing when it comes to PELs.

“To be clear, ASSE is not opposed to CIHs supervising or directing the monitoring of the control methods for PELs as we have many CIHs among our members,” said ASSE President Terrie S. Norris, CSP, ARM, of Long Beach, CA. “As a matter of fact, our Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty is one of our fastest growing specialty groups. What we oppose is any effort that would, without basis, give one certification an unfair competitive advantage. Giving all CIHs the exclusive right under California law to supervise and direct such monitoring will bar a much larger group of qualified safety and health professionals from doing work they already succeed at doing.”

Such a change in law could harm California employers as they could be forced to hire only CIHs to manage occupational safety and health for their workplaces, Norris stated.

“Given how few CIHs there are in California, many workplaces could go without needed professional expertise and workers could go unprotected from the very risks your legislation is meant to address,” Norris said. “We reject any effort to limit this work to any one occupational safety and health designation. At the very least, if CIHs are included, CSPs (Certified Safety Professional) and CHMMs (Certified Hazardous Materials Management) must also be included.”

AB 553 would require the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to recommend periodical updates to the state’s PELs based on quantitative risk assessments performed by other agencies.

In California, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board sets enforceable PELs to protect workers against the health effects of exposure to hazardous substances.  PELs are a regulatory limit on the maximum amount or concentration of a chemical to which a worker may be exposed.

Proponents of this bill state that, because of shortcomings in the current process, many workers remain exposed to chemicals known to cause cancer and other health risks. They state that industry representative have been able to defeat or stall efforts to strengthen workplace standards. 

According to the bill’s author, Assembly member William Monning (D-Carmel), "The process for setting PELs in California can take years.  One reason for the delay is that before the chemicals are even brought to the Standards Board for a public hearing, these chemicals are re-evaluated by numerous advisory committees made up of volunteers with varying credentials and interests. The volunteers re-evaluate the research and findings regarding what is a protective health-based OEL…In essence, the current process ‘reinvents the wheel’ and often does so without sufficient expertise and control for conflict of interest." 

This bill requires the Standards Board to adopt standards specifying PELs for workplace hazardous substances, using existing quantitative risk assessments determined by state and federal agencies.

Opponents of the bill argue it is an attempt to undermine the Standards Board's authority and ability to adopt consensus standards for workplace exposure to hazardous substances. 

According to the California Healthcare Institute, AB 553 is an unwarranted attempt to pre-empt California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Board) and Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Division) from crafting and adopting rational consensus standards for workplace exposures to hazardous substances. The Board is the only agency in the state authorized to adopt, amend or repeal occupational safety and health standards. AB 553 would undermine the Board’s authority and mission by constraining its ability to consider all relevant data and derive reasonable Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs).

This bill is intended to drive PELs lower using risk estimates based on worst-case exposure

scenarios that do not reflect actual workplace conditions. It would lead to:

o Unreasonable PELs;

o A loss of transparency and due process;

o Lawsuits against the Board;

o Higher Cal/OSHA program costs;

o Punitive and unjustified employer compliance costs;

o Droves of workers unnecessarily hooded in respirators; and

o Yet another significant impediment to doing business in California.

AB 553 constructs unreasonable hurdles for the consideration of feasibility as a real factor in setting PELs, said CIHC. It requires a series of findings that demand original research and analysis well beyond Board and Division capacity and would make the Board a target for litigation.

CIHC says the lowest value may not be a solid foundation on which to set a PEL. The current PEL development process takes all available and relevant information into account, including the levels recommended by agencies listed in AB 553. It is designed to evaluate discrepancies in the available data and professional opinions in order to facilitate the most informed and scientifically defensible decision possible.

Other opponents to AB 553 include the following:

American Chemistry Council (ACC)
Associated General Contractors (AGC)
BIOCOM
California Chamber of Commerce
California Framing Contractors Association
California Healthcare Institute (CHI)
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Chemical Industry Council of California
Consumer Specialty Products Association
Industrial Environmental Association
Residential Contractor’s Association
Styrene Information and Research Center
Western Growers
Western Plant Health Association
Western States Petroleum Association.