Does your facility have hexavalent chromium dust, mist, or fumes are in the air? Don’t say “no”
too quickly! The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued more stringent safety and health rules
for businesses to comply with OSHA’s new hexavalent chromium, or Cr(VI), requirements. The new standards reduce
the permissible exposure limits by more than 90 percent. To protect your workers, reduce your liability and remain in
compliance, you need to be familiar with these new OSHA standards and the causes and effects of chromium dust.
Many production processes at industrial companies, construction companies and shipyards result in chromium
dust particles being released into the air. Hexavalent chromium compounds are widely used in the chemical industry as
ingredients and catalysts in pigments for dyes, paints, inks, and plastics; in chromates added as anti-corrosive agents to
paints, primers, and other surface coatings; and in chromic acid electroplating. Cr(VI) can also be produced when welding
on stainless steel or chromium painted surfaces.
You may not even be aware of this health hazard in your facility because you may not be directly using chromium
hexavalent compounds in your production. But if you do contract work on materials, parts and components provided to
you by other companies then you might be producing chromium hexavalent dust particles thus falling under the new and more
rigorous OSHA guidelines.
Hexavalent chromium dust, mist or fumes can contaminate hands, clothing, beards, food and beverages and
the long-term health effects can be serious. The primary means of human exposure to hexavalent chromium and chromate
salts are inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact. Hexavalent chromium is considered a potential lung carcinogen and
long-term health effects can include: lung cancer; asthma, nasal ulceration and even perforation of the septum (the
wall separating the nasal passages), as well as skin dermatitis and ulcerations. Affected organs can include the respiratory
system, liver, kidneys, eyes and skin. For your company, this is a hazard and a potential liability that needs to be
addressed.
The preferred approach to managing this air quality hazard is to use engineering controls such as proper
ventilation or equipment and process modification. Air Purification, Inc. can help your company meet and exceed the new OSHA
rules. Please contact us today to discuss this issue and to learn methods of indoor air quality improvement, total facility ambient air filtration,
source capture methods, and blow off decontamination to remove airborne contaminants at the source.
From locations in Raleigh, NC, Charlottesville, VA, and Knoxville, TN, and Summerville, SC, Air
Purification, Inc. serves customers nationwide and throughout the southeast and North Carolina (NC) including the cities and
metro areas of Raleigh, Durham, RTP, Research Triangle Park, Cary, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Greenville, Goldsboro, Wilson,
Rocky Mount, Burlington, Graham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, the Triad, Asheboro, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and all regions
of North Carolina. Air Purification, Inc. also serves Virginia (VA) and South Carolina (SC) including the Virginia
(VA) cities and metro areas or regions of Richmond, Newport
News, Charlottesville,
Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Danville,
Roanoke, Lynchburg, Petersburg, Hampton Roads, and all other regions of Virginia. The South Carolina (SC) cities and metro areas or regions include Greenville, Spartanburg, Columbia, Anderson, Charleston, Florence and Myrtle Beach. Air Purification, Inc. also serves Georgia (GA), Maryland (MD), Tennessee
(TN) and throughout the southeast and mid-atlantic states.
Also serving the following cities,
metro areas, and states: Abilene, Akron, Albuquerque, Alexandria, Allentown, Amarillo, Anaheim, Anchorage, Ann Arbor,
Arlington, Arlington, Arvada, Athens-Clarke, Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond, Aurora, Aurora, Austin, Bakersfield, Baltimore, Baton
Rouge, Beaumont, Bellevue, Berkeley, Birmingham, Boise City, Boston, Bridgeport, Brownsville, Buffalo, Burbank, Cambridge,
Cape Coral, Carrollton, Cedar Rapids, Chandler, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chesapeake, Chicago, Chula Vista, Cincinnati, Clarksville,
Clearwater, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Concord, Coral Springs, Corona, Corpus Christi, Costa Mesa;
Dallas, Daly City, Dayton, Denver,
Des Moines, Detroit, Downey, Durham, East Los Angeles, El Monte, El Paso, Elizabeth, Erie, Escondido, Eugene, Evansville,
Fayetteville, Flint, Fontana, Fort Collins, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Wayne, Fort Worth, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove,
Garland, Gary, Gilbert, Glendale, Glendale, Grand Prairie, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Greensboro, Hampton, Hartford, Hayward,
Henderson, Hialeah, Hollywood, Honolulu, Houston, Huntington Beach, Huntsville, Independence, Indianapolis, Inglewood, Irvine,
Irving, Jackson, Jacksonville, Jersey City, Joliet, Kansas City, Knoxville;
Lafayette, Lakewood, Lancaster,
Lansing, Laredo, Las Vegas, Lexington-Fayette, Lincoln, Little Rock, Livonia, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louisville, Lowell,
Lubbock, MacAllen, Macon, Madison, Manchester, Memphis, Mesa, Mesquite, Metairie, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Mobile, Modesto,
Montgomery, Moreno Valley, Naperville, Nashville, New Haven, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Newport News, Norfolk, Norwalk,
Oakland, Oceanside, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orange, Orlando, Overland Park, Oxnard;
Palmdale, Paradise, Pasadena,
Paterson, Pembroke Pines, Peoria, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Plano, Pomona, Portland, Portsmouth, Providence, Provo,
Pueblo, Raleigh, Rancho Cucamonga, Reno, Richmond, Riverside, Rochester, Rockford, Sacramento, Saint Louis, Saint Paul, Saint
Petersburg, Salem, Salinas, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Bernardino, San Buenaventura, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose,
Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Savannah, Scottsdale, Seattle, Shreveport, Simi Valley, Sioux Falls, South
Bend, Spokane, Spring Valley, Springfield, Stamford, Sterling Heights, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Sunrise Manor, Syracuse
Tacoma, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tempe,
Thousand Oaks, Toledo, Topeka, Torrance, Tucson, Tulsa, Vallejo, Vancouver, Virginia Beach, Waco, Warren, Washington," Washington,
D.C.", Washington DC," Washington, DC", Waterbury, West Covina, West Valley City, Westminster, Wichita, Wichita Falls, Winston-Salem,
Worcester, Yonkers
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Dist. of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Washington,
West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
AL, AK, AZ, AR,
CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, GU, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC,
ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, VI, WA, WV, WI, WY, WV, WI, WY
