A coalition of construction trade groups has claimed a proposed rule limiting exposure to crystalline silica in the workplace will cost the industry nearly $5 billion a year–10 times the estimates from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The National Association of Home Builders released the report from a group called the Construction Industry Safety Coalition on March 26 even as OSHA continues to sort through public comments gathered after the rule was proposed in 2013.
At the time, OSHA said the new workplace rules would could save hundreds of lives per year and prevent 1,600 new cases of silicosis annually. The cost to the average workplace would be about $1,242 a year with the annual cost to a firm with fewer than 20 employees less than $550.
NAHB argued at the time that compliance would add up to $1 billion a year, but the new report goes well behond that prediction. And it adds the rules will result in the loss of 52,700 full time jobs a year among building material suppliers, equipment manufacturers, architects and others.
“The CISC report estimates that about 80 percent of the cost ($3.9 billion/year) will be direct compliance expenditures by the industry such as additional equipment, labor and record-keeping costs,” NAHB said in a written statement. “The remaining 20 percent of the cost ($1.05 billion/year) will come in the form of increased prices that the industry will have to pay for construction materials and building products such as concrete block, glass, roofing shingles and more.
Claiming OSHA lacked a “real world understanding” of the construction industry, NAHB said added costs ultimately would be passed along to consumers.
Proposed rule is still under review
OSHA’s proposal, the first update to the law in 40 years, drew more than 1,700 comments after it was first published in the Federal Register in September 2013. Public hearings last year attracted 200 people representing 70 organizations, OSHA said.
“OSHA is now carefully reviewing the evidence in the rulemaking record,” an agency spokesperson said. “Based upon this review, the agency will determine an appropriate course of action with regard to workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica.”
OSHA didn’t give a timetable on when to expect a final rule.
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One way of reducing exposure to construction dust containing silica is to keep the work area wet, as this specially adapted saw does.
