An analysis of violations of Osha's (1987) occupational exposure to benzene standard

Our plain-English summary of An analysis of violations of Osha's (1987) occupational exposure to benzene standard, by P.R. Williams (Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part B, Critical Reviews, 2014).

The study

• Author: P.R. Williams
• Journal: Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part B, Critical Reviews
• Published: 2014;17(5):259-83
• Cited by: 12 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which was formed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), establishes enforceable health and safety standards in the workplace and issues violations and penalties for non-compliance with these standards. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the number and type of violations of the OSHA (1987) Occupational Exposure to Benzene Standard. Violations of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), particularly those that may pertain to specific provisions of the benzene standard, were also assessed. All analyses were based on OSHA inspection data that have been collected since the early 1970s and that are publicly available from the U.S. Department of Labor enforcement website. Analysis of these data shows that fewer than a thousand OSHA violations of the benzene standard have been issued over the last 25+ years. The results for benzene are in contrast to those for some other toxic and hazardous substances that are regulated by OSHA, such as blood-borne pathogens, lead, and asbestos, for which there have been issued tens of thousands of OSHA violations. The number of benzene standard violations also varies by time period, standard provision, industry sector, and other factors. In particular, the greatest number of benzene standard violations occurred during the late 1980s to early/mid 1990s, soon after the 1987 final benzene rule was promulgated. The majority of benzene standard violations also pertain to noncompliance with specific provisions and subprovisions of the standard dealing with initial exposure monitoring requirements, the communication of hazards to employees, and medical surveillance programs. Only a small fraction of HCS violations are attributed, at least in part, to potential benzene hazards in the workplace. In addition, most benzene standard violations are associated with specific industries within the manufacturing sector where benzene or benzene-containing products may be used or produced during production processes, such as petroleum refineries, metal industries, and chemical companies. Not surprisingly, the greatest number of benzene standard violations have been issued to private facility owners (rather than government entities), given that the OSH Act primarily covers private sector employers. More violations have also been issued during inspections where union representation was present and from complaint-driven (vs. planned or other) inspections, which is consistent with OSHA inspection priorities. Violations of the benzene standard have typically involved a single instance per facility and 10 or fewer exposed employees. Because the OSH Act prescribes penalty caps for citations, initial penalties issued for noncompliance with the benzene standard have generally been less than $5,000 per violation. Despite some potential limitations, the OSHA inspection database contains the best available data for assessing historical and current violations of the benzene standard. These data, which have not been previously analyzed or published for benzene, may be of interest to professionals and practitioners involved in benzene risk assessment, risk management, and/or public policy issues.

In plain English

This study was about benzene, not asbestos. Asbestos appeared only as a point of comparison. The author analyzed publicly available U.S. Department of Labor enforcement data, downloaded on November 6, 2013, on violations of OSHA's 1987 benzene standard. The data showed 938 benzene-standard violations. By comparison, there were 27,004 violations of the asbestos standard and more than 80,000 each for the bloodborne pathogens and lead standards. The most benzene violations were issued in 1989 (136). Violations most often involved failure to conduct exposure monitoring (345, 37%) or to communicate hazards to employees (217, 23%). Only 57 (6%) involved exposures above OSHA's limits. Manufacturing accounted for 517 (55%) of the violations, and petroleum refining had the most of any manufacturing industry (184). Fewer than 200 of about 550,000 Hazard Communication Standard violations appeared linked to benzene. About 80% of violations involved a single instance, and where a penalty was recorded it was usually under $5,000. The author noted that the database's quality and completeness were unclear and that inspections finding no violation could not be counted. The author concluded that fewer than a thousand benzene violations had been issued over 25-plus years.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Descriptive analysis of U.S. government (OSHA) inspection and violation records
• Who was studied: All OSHA violations of the benzene standard recorded in the U.S. Department of Labor enforcement database (938 violations from 381 inspections), with data downloaded November 6, 2013
• Exposure: Benzene, as regulated by OSHA's 1987 benzene standard. The asbestos standard was included only in a comparison table of violation counts.
• Main results:
  • 938 violations of the benzene standard had been issued, associated with 381 inspections
  • By comparison, about 27,000 violations of the asbestos standard (27,004 in the table; number of inspections not available) and more than 80,000 violations each of the blood-borne pathogens and lead standards had been issued
  • More than 80,000 violations each had been issued for the blood-borne pathogens and lead standards
  • The most benzene-standard violations in a single year were issued in 1989 (136)
  • 345 (37%) of benzene violations concerned failure to conduct exposure monitoring, and 217 (23%) concerned failure to communicate hazard information to employees
  • 57 (6%) of benzene violations concerned employee exposures above the OSHA permissible exposure limit or short-term exposure limit
  • 517 (55%) of benzene violations were in the manufacturing sector
  • Within manufacturing, 184 (36%) of violations were in petroleum refining and related industries
  • Fewer than 200 of about 550,000 Hazard Communication Standard violations were judged likely to be attributable, at least in part, to benzene
  • 80% of benzene violations involved a single instance
  • 55% of benzene violations did not record an initial penalty. Where one was recorded, it was usually under $5,000 per violation.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that fewer than a thousand violations of the 1987 benzene standard had been issued over more than 25 years, and that noncompliance with the general Hazard Communication Standard did not appear to be driven by benzene situations.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Little information could be found on the overall quality or completeness of the OSHA inspection database
  • Inspections that assessed benzene compliance but issued no violation could not be counted, so yearly counts may not reflect true trends
  • It was uncertain whether the database includes all benzene violations for some states with their own OSHA-approved plans, such as California
  • Possible selection bias in which industries were chosen for inspection could not be assessed
  • It was uncertain whether the benzene findings apply to other toxic and hazardous substances

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: OSHA, Occupational Exposure.

Related studies

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• Comparison of U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and German Berufsgenossenschaften Guidelines for Preventive Occupational Health Examinations — K. Straif, M. Silverstein (1997)
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