Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The proposed Air Quality Standard would have required employers in
both industrial and nonindustrial environments to take steps to protect
employees from ETS by either eliminating smoking or restricting it to sepa-
rately ventilated spaces. It would also have required employers in non-
industrial environments to (1) establish a written IAQ compliance program,
(2) designate an individual for implementing IAQ programs, (3) maintain
and operate HVAC systems to conform with original design specifications
and consensus standards on outdoor air flow rates, (4) establish an employee
complaint record, (5) use general or local exhaust ventilation where mainte-
nance and housekeeping activities could cause other areas to be exposed to
potentially hazardous substances or particulate matter, (6) conduct periodic
IAQ-related building inspections, (7) establish a program of IAQ-related
record-keeping, and (8) form an employee information and training program.
Because of the storm of criticism from the tobacco industry and other
interest groups subject to regulation (e.g., Building Owners and Managers
Association), OSHA deferred action on the proposed IAQ standard indefi-
nitely. The proposed OSHA IAQ standard is notable in that a federal agency
concluded that IAQ was a health issue of sufficient magnitude to warrant
regulatory action. It is notable also in the degree of opposition that the
proposed rule-making engendered and the difficulties that federal efforts to
regulate IAQ would face in any future regulatory attempts.
F.
Other actions and authorities
The USEPA has primary rule-making and enforcement authority for the use
of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA). As such, it has authority to approve the use of pesticides for various
applications as well as to restrict their use should it determine that such use
poses a risk to public health. Under this authority, USEPA reconsidered the
use of mercury biocides in paints and worked out a voluntary agreement
with paint manufacturers to allow the use of mercury biocides only in
exterior latex paints. It has also used this authority to effect a voluntary
phaseout and elimination of the use of chlorpyrifos for termiticidal treat-
ments and residential indoor and lawn use.
Pesticides designed to be used indoors must be approved by USEPA. For
example, benzoic acid esters used as acaricides in European countries to con-
trol dust mite populations and reduce allergy and asthma risk cannot be legally
used in the U.S. since they have not been approved for such use by USEPA.
The USEPA has authority to regulate the use of a large number of
substances under TSCA. Under this authority, it has placed restrictions on
the use of methylene chloride, a suspected human carcinogen present in
paint strippers commonly used indoors. USEPA's authority to regulate var-
ious aspects of asbestos and LBP in the U.S. is also derived from TSCA.
Under the 1988 Radon Reduction Act, USEPA has limited authority to
regulate various aspects of radon testing and mitigation efforts. The USEPA
