OSHA using ‘housekeeping’ standard to regulate combustible dust

OSHA announced recently that agency compliance officers had visited 104 companies in four southeastern states where it said employees may have been exposed to potential combustible dust hazards.

The visits, conducted over the previous 16 months, resulted in 667 violations, with more than 80 percent categorized as willful, serious, repeat or failure to abate.

Some of the violations were issued under OSHA’s “housekeeping” standard (29 CFR 1910.22) which says in part: “All places of employment, passageways, storerooms, and service rooms shall be kept clean and orderly and in a sanitary condition.”

This is one example of attempts to regulate industry without promulgating appropriate standards.

To see an example of what OSHA is saying about the combustible dust initiative, take a look at this release about its activities in Georgia, where visits to 32 companies resulted in 311 citations. It also announced violations issued in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. The program is being carried out elsewhere in the country as well.