Titles of Regulations: 16VAC25-100. Federal Identical Shipyard Employment Standards.

16VAC25-175. Federal Identical Construction Industry Standards.

Statutory Authority: § 40.1-22 of the Code of Virginia; Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-596).

Agency Contact: Holly Trice, Senior Staff Attorney; Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Labor and Industry, 600 East Main Street, Suite 207, Richmond, VA 23219, telephone (804) 786-2641, FAX (804) 371-6524, or email holly.trice@doli.virginia.gov.

Effective Date: January 7, 2021.

Summary:

In a final rule, federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) amending its existing construction and shipyard standards for occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds to clarify certain provisions and simplify or improve compliance (i) to more appropriately tailor the requirements of the construction and shipyards standards to the particular exposures in these industries in light of partial overlap between the requirements of the beryllium standards and other OSHA standards; (ii) to aid compliance and enforcement across the beryllium standards by avoiding inconsistency between the shipyards and construction standards and recent revisions to the general industry standard; and (iii) to clarify certain requirements with respect to materials containing only trace amounts of beryllium. In this regulatory action, the Safety and Health Codes Board is adopting this final rule.

Note on Incorporation by Reference: Pursuant to § 2.2-4103 of the Code of Virginia, 29 CFR 1915 (Shipyard Employment Standards) and 29 CFR Part 1926 (Construction Industry Standards) are declared documents generally available to the public and appropriate for incorporation by reference. For this reason, these documents will not be printed in the Virginia Register of Regulations. A copy of each document is available for inspection at the Department of Labor and Industry, Main Street Centre, 600 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, and in the office of the Registrar of Regulations, General Assembly Building, 9th and Broad Streets, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Statement of Final Agency Action: On November 12, 2020, the Safety and Health Codes Board adopted federal OSHA's Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in Construction and Shipyard Sectors Final Rule, as published in 85 FR 53910 through 85 FR 539998 on August 31, 2020, with an effective date of January 7, 2021.

Federal Terms and State Equivalents: When the regulations as set forth in federal OSHA's Final Rule for the Occupational Exposure to Beryllium for Shipyard Employment Standards and Construction Industry Standards are applied to the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry or to Virginia employers, the following federal terms shall be considered to read:

Chapter 100

Federal Identical Shipyard Employment Standards

Chapter 175

Federal Identical Construction Industry Standards